I often confront clients in the classic home page debate.
Most organisations put too much content on their home pages. Due to the paradox of choice, this practice hurts their conversions and, by extension, their business objectives.
Here we go:
The Classic Home Page Debate
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The Classic Home Page Debate
“We must put all these items on our home page because they’re all important to us.”
I often get involved in heated debates on what to include on the home page. If I weigh into the debate that they should remove certain elements, the chances are that someone will get offended. Like, “How dare you remove my work from our home page?”
Since this situation is tricky, here’s a mental model to help you clean up your home page approach:
The key to an efficient home page design is to stop thinking about what’s “important” and “not important”.
Take a look at Google’s de facto home page:
Now, Google has many essential products:
… to name a few. However, the only service on the home page apart from Google Search is Gmail (top right corner), which isn’t prominent on the home page.
All these Google products are reasonably significant, right? However, they still don’t replace Google’s de facto home page — the Google Search page.
If Google can keep its home page clean, why can’t you? Is everything in your business more important to your visitors than, let’s say, Google Drive?
Small Ask vs Big Ask
What single CTA (call-to-action) should you focus your home page on? Instead of basing your design decision on “bottom line importance,” focusing on a small rather than a big ask often makes sense.
Small ask = a value proposition that requires little effort and resources for a prospect to accept. It works best when the ask offers a swift, hassle-free solution for an urgent pain point.
Big ask = a value proposition that requires high engagement and a substantial transaction by the prospect. It works best when mutual understanding and trust are thoroughly established.
By prioritising a small ask on the home page design, you increase the likelihood of building a “yes ladder” by asking posing slightly bigger asks in sequence over time.
Learn more: The Classic Home Page Debate
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Conversion Cannibalism
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Conversion Cannibalism
Imagine a web page with 1,000 visitors per day. The page has only one button for the users to click. On average, the site’s conversion rate is 2%, equal to 20 clicks on your button.
So, what if you add another button? The page’s conversion rate doesn’t increase in most use cases — it falls. Instead of getting 20 clicks on one button, you might get 10 clicks on two.
Two call-to-actions in the same browser view will typically cannibalise each other.
The Paradox of Choice
An easy way to think of website CTAs (call-to-actions) is to think of buttons and forms.
Buttons and forms are subject to the paradox of choice.
In 1995, Professor Shena Iyengar from Columbia University launched a market stall with different jam flavours. When she offered twenty-four options, more people came to the booth. When she only offered six choices, more people converted into paying customers.
Our decision-making process is complex, but researchers have offered many possible explanations, such as decision fatigue, analysis paralysis, and buyer’s remorse. 1Piasecki, M., & Hanna, S. (2011). A Redefinition of the Paradox of Choice. , 347 – 366. https://doi.org/10.1007/978 – 94-007‑0510-4_19
Horizontal vs Vertical CTAs
On the web today, we see a trend where there is white space to both the left and right of buttons and forms. We also see a trend where more of the same CTAs are stacked from top to bottom.
There is a form of “alignment cannibalism” taking place when it comes to buttons and forms. These alignment issues should be considered when designing a web page:
Learn more: Beware of Conversion Cannibalism
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PR Resource: Inbound vs Outbound
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Inbound vs Outbound
The inbound mindset is a fundamental shift in the PR- and marketing industry.
Historically, many PR- and marketing departments have argued:
“Why should we spend our PR- and marketing budgets on ‘already acquired’ audiences?”
The truth is — it’s the other way around.
Instead of “spamming” non-existing audiences, public relations and marketing can do much more with existing online publics. 2Silfwer, J. (2015, June 11). The Publics in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://doctorspin.net/publics-in-public-relations/
Drawing a line between those who know you and those who don’t know you is nothing new:
This inbound shift is the online equivalent of drawing the line between those who know you and those who don’t know you:
If your Inbound Shift PR Strategy is good, you might not need to prioritise outbound PR strategies — because your inbound audience will attract outbound publics.
Learn more: The Inbound Shift PR Strategy: Beauty From Within
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ANNOTATIONS
| 1 | Piasecki, M., & Hanna, S. (2011). A Redefinition of the Paradox of Choice. , 347 – 366. https://doi.org/10.1007/978 – 94-007‑0510-4_19 |
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| 2 | Silfwer, J. (2015, June 11). The Publics in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://doctorspin.net/publics-in-public-relations/ |
