Category: UX advice / Ecommerce guides

How small ecommerce websites can create strong homepage introductions

Photo by Mabel Amber on Pexels

The ‘introduction’ to a website is defined mostly by what sits above-the-fold on a landing page: those first things that a user sees to understand what your site offers. This is almost always done through a combination of imagery and copy, and it sets the tone for the whole user experience.

Whilst most people instinctively know this is an important part of a website, it can be hard to get this message right for newcomers. Especially if you’re immersed in the business.

It’s not about shouting at the user and trying to get their attention—after all the user is already on your site. Instead it’s about confidently showing what you offer and telling them why you’re different and worth their time.

Bigger brands have the luxury of more long term marketing and advertising, and as such can use the top of their landing pages to showcase new products or offers. This introduction is most important for smaller brands, where they have a pitch to get across.

Here are six examples of homepages that do a great job of this in 2018. Let me explain a few different ways you can do this well too…

Bellroy

Bellroy homepage top banner

The image does a nice job of showing several Bellroy products, looking suitably classy (or ‘considered’) by cropping the photo in a non-obvious way. The line ’enhance your everyday’ is good way of encouraging users to think about how these products could make small improvements to their life, without making an overblown statement.

I’ve used Bellroy as an example before, in my article on product page special features. They get a lot right with their website and do so in an understated way.

Eve

Eve mattresses homepage banner

There’s been an explosion in direct-to-consumer mattress brands recently. Almost all of them lead with some promise about how they have developed one for the best possible night’s sleep and usually make some technical claim.

I much prefer Eve’s approach where they give the user concrete reasons why theirs is good with the copy ‘no matter how you sleep, or what bed you place it on’. This is a strong way of answering questions users will have about their product and doesn’t feel like they’re trying to blind you with science.

Petcube

Petcube homepage banner

This one makes good use of a video behind the copy to demonstrate people using the product in a few different clips. This is a useful approach for when you have a bit more to explain than can fit into a single image.

The copy does well at packing in a lot into a small space: ‘See, talk, play, and treat’ gives the user four product features in one line. Also referring to target users as ‘pet parents’ is a nice way of showing they understand how important people’s animals are to them.

Ringly

Ringly homepage banner

The Ringly homepage looks suitably fashion-like nicely showing that the product can be considered jewellery. The headline nails the USP in three words—explaining how your product combines two different sectors is often a great way to do it.

The claim to help with ‘guided meditation’ is a different feature to other tech products and so promotes a bit of intrigue to find out more.

Ultimate Ears

Ultimate Ears homepage brand pitch

This isn’t quite the top of their homepage but takes space below the main banner to introduce the brand. It has a few more words than the others I’ve covered here but it makes good use of them and tells a bit of a story.

It gives some background by telling users that they ‘pioneered’ portable speakers, and have since grown to have a ‘whole family’. It then gives a couple of examples to illustrate the range and shows off the products below.

Whoosh!

Whoosh homepage banner

This site uses a carousel to display a few different products but the first slide offers a quick explainer of the product. The image clearly shows it’s something to do with mobile phones, and more specifically, using them.

The copy is smart as it equivocates what they offer with essential cleaning tasks that everyone does (brush teeth, wash face) and turns this into a question of the user, potentially making them ask why they don’t use the product. The button CTA does a good job of then answering the question posed in the copy (thought it’s not quite clear where it will take people!).

Start well, and build from there

Get the top of your homepage right and you’re off to a great start in a user’s experience. They now have the right context to build on.

Of course there’s a whole ecommerce funnel to follow, and I’ve put together a book delivering advice on how to make every step of the ecommerce flow sing. You can also sign up below to get ecommerce tips from the book emailed to you for free.

Last updated on 21 October 2019
Designing Ecommerce Websites 2nd edition book cover

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