Every website has one. Every website needs it. At least we do think it´s needed. The Homepage.
Do not trust the old and standard rules any longer. Times have changed, user behavior is different, consumption methodologies are new, visitors (internet users) have learned a lot.
Website owners haven´t. It seems. But they need to adapt to the visitor behavior. That means, it is most likely that the visitors do not enter your site via the homepage. But that is what it is built for, right? All links, all relevant content, all structure, all help functions are gathered on that platform.
While visitors enter your website via so many channels (mobile, tablet, referrer, landing page, social media, viral marketing, streaming etc.) the homepage is no longer the most important entry point. Maybe by percentage of entrances in total, but not by quality of entry.
Internet surfers don’t have time
Internet surfers love direct and fast info on topics or products they have been searching or shopping for. Yes, there is also a difference: if they search for something to buy their behavior is much different to the behavior after they bought something and do a research on add-ons, chats, user groups etc. about that product. Engagement is the magic word here.
So, they love fast output. That is why the homepage gets less important. When I bought a digital camera I was not looking on the homepages of Canon, Nikon, Olympus etc. I was looking in the results of my search engine after I entered different search words (digital camera, camera with optical zoom, digital camera test, etc.). This way I get to different portals, blogs and user platforms to get more insights in the product range of all those vendors. And within the chats, the user groups, the tests I clicked links to the relevant vendor-websites to see the details of the described cameras. I never came across a homepage. Not once!
Forget about old fashioned hierarchical structure
Homepage is Old School
Visitors are no longer entering and browsing websites by the traditional top-down approach and website owners should be acting on this change. Internal search functions need to be on every relevant site, not only the homepage. Product comparison needs to be on more than one area of the website, help functions like Call back button or bot-chat need to be on many different pages within the website.
What does this mean? Get away from hierarchical thinking. The homepage is no longer number one. It is the user behavior that is number one. It is the detailed check of entry points to your website that is number one. And it is analyzing those channels in terms of success (turnover, lead generation, feedback etc.).
The learned relevant homepage functions need to be everywhere the visitor enters your site. The visitor will be thankful (without actively noticing) that all required details and functionalities are available without being forced to click the company logo in the top left corner to get to the main menu, the search function or the website overview.
If you ruin the joy of use while surfing on your website, you ruin the relationship with the website-visitor. You ruin your business model. The more information about your company or your product can be found on the internet the more likely it is that a visitor does not enter your brand name and puts a “.com” behind it. Be aware of the change in the user behavior. If your online agency tells you the homepage is the most relevant spot at all, fire them and search for new experts to support you.
Welcome to the real online world.
That’s a partial truth. Homepages are still important. Ex: distributing relevant content, editor’s choice, content hub. It isn’t made for organizing the chaos of content, but organizing what the editor/publisher wants to, etc.
Thanks for your input, Andre. My statement is of course quite provocative to start a discussion and make website managers aware of the changing channels and entry points to the website in general. The homepage will always be there and still is a platform of high relevance but this will change even more in the future
I have to disagree (even though deep down I guess I’d like to do something radical like deleting a homepage). But I think you are missing the human element here.
All those behaviour trends you’ve mentioned are true, but only half the story. Regardless of the reduced effectiveness of the homepage as an entity. The homepage goes much deeper that just to top of a navigational site taxonomy. A homepage is like the face.
Would you buy a car that had no grill (mouth) headlamps (eyes), brand badge (nose)? No, you’d feel awkward in its midst. and the same goes for website with no homepage (face) . What would you remember about it once you left? did you come away feeling you could trust it? It leaves you feeling uneasy…don’t you think? Event smartphone apps have fronts (home/start pages, loading screens with brand names etc etc)
There are some conventions that lie deep in users minds, one of which is the face being firmly where it should be, at the front.
Dear Viv,
Thanks for adding a comment to my article. And many thanks for including the human element in the provocative discussion here. I agree that website visitors are looking for security, branding and brand recognition, but only those who surf further into the site. If visitors arrive via landing page or any other direct channel they want to get the information they were looking for first. After that they might ask who the owner of that website is and start trying to recognize a company behind etc.
So, yes, it is important to leave a brand recognition if possible but it is not needed in some of the cases. Your comparison between car and homepage is important for B2C behaviour, for B2B purposes it might be less relevant.
Regards, Ralf.
…”might be less relevant for B2B”?
I work in B2B media / publishing and I can assure its no less relevant here than it is for B2C.
One of our most profitable sites gets nearly 70% of its traffic from deep landing pages. The second most popular page for new visitors is the homepage. For return visitors the journey it more fragmented.
This behaviour pattern is the same across our free content sites, pay-wall sites, e-commerce and recruitment job boards, awards and conference sites. Across all of these, the homepage is the next port of call for new visitors who what to know where they have landed from their Google search.
Sorry Ralf, I’m far from convinced.
Regards
Viv
Viv, Thanks for your active comments and the detailed insights in your business model. Interesting to see that your homepage is not the most important site.
Somehow I don’t really agree. Two things. User coming directly to the website type the homepage. If it’s coming from search, the tendency of a user would land to a specific page depends on the relevancy of his/her search query. Thus it is not totally because of the behaviour of the user but some other contributing factors.
Yes, visitors coming directly to your website are most likely to entering via the homepage, because it is easier to type http://www.bmw.com than http://www.bmw.com/com/de/newvehicles/5series/sedan/2010/showroom/index.html for example. But if you search for a BMW 5er Series on Google & Co you will never get to the homepage of BMW because you will be directly forwarded to the specific content page (which then works like a landing page).
Thanks for your comment, Nievo. Regards, Ralf.
Never thought of the homepage as irrelevant- it is an easy navigation page but, true, usually it is not the intended end goal. It is hard when you target B2B and B2C, because the intentions could be different for diverse users. Interesting article, thanks for something to think about! @XypressLLC
Brianna, Thanks for your feedback. You are completely right: the homepage is almost never the conversion page. And I agree: it is hard to combine B2B and B2C behavior.