The people arriving at your own front door at home have different expectations and it can be tricky to meet them all. The delivery driver is trying to establish whether your package will fit through your letterbox and, if not, where the best place to leave it is; your friends with a baby are trying to negotiate those steps which they hadn’t even noticed before their new arrival; your techie friend will be admiring your new doorbell camera arrangement; while your Mother will be looking to check that you’ve been watering those hanging baskets she gave you a couple of months ago…
In many ways, the home page of your company’s website is the front door to your business. It is tasked with being all things to all people and, very often, failing.
The home page of any business will be welcoming existing customers and potential customers, as well as suppliers, investors, the media and, of course, competitors having a sneaky look at what you’re up to! Typically, your customers are also all different too. The trick is to navigate this without making your home page confusing.
However you approach it, visitors will expect to some typical elements on your home page, such as links to easily navigate to other pages on your website, such as news and contact us. And they will expect these to be in the usual positions. It also needs to reflect your business’ culture and show what it is your company stands for (easier said than done on one page) as well as being attractive to look at.
But, what about the key messaging on your home page? It’s probably sensible to prioritise your target audiences and look at your business goals. This doesn’t mean making sure that your home page engages with your most loyal customers. It could be that you prioritise potential revenue and set a goal of attracting a whole new raft of customers who head to your home page – perhaps by highlighting a new product or service. That said, you don’t want to alienate existing customers and those looking for the answers to a customer service question.
We’ve spoken before about how your customers are on a journey and they will all typically all be at a different location along that route. Some potential customers might be keen to learn more about your offering, while new customers who have already purchased, might be looking for customer support. Again, it’s hard to get the proposition right for everyone.
Today though businesses are finding ways of achieving a home page which reflects the needs of their individual customers. For instance, once you’ve visited the websites of some businesses and, more than likely, created an account (such as on Amazon or other retail stores) then the home page you’ll see on your return will be very much your own. It’ll welcome you back by name and over time, as it learns more about your buying habits, it will become even more personalised.
Increasingly though many first-time visitors actually get given the key to another door – a door which leads into a room which has been specifically created for them, sometimes for a limited period of time. We are talking about landing pages. These can be linked to a particular campaign, for instance, so you know that potential customer is going to find something that they are going to find engaging.
Companies also need to consider that a large number of visitors simply appear in the middle of their website, bypassing all the usual doors, due to their Google search. If, for instance, somebody is searching for a red sofa, they’ll be delivered links which go straight to pages of retailers which offer red sofas. Some customers might never to see that business’ home page at all, deciding to click off straightaway if the sofa isn’t their style or they like it and click on ‘buy now’.
All that being said, there are customers who will visit your company via your home page first, so it is best to make it as engaging as possible.
If you’ve got any questions about home pages, do get in touch with our team at Lake Solutions on tel: 020 3397 3222.