Is your homepage about you or your customer?

Key takeaways

A customer focused homepage talks about the visitor's problem and outcome before it talks about the business. Count 'we', 'our' and 'us' against 'you' and 'your' in the first two screens; if the business wins by a wide margin, rewrite the sentences around what the customer gets, and keep facts about you only where they prove it.

• Count 'we' against 'you' in the first two screens.
• Lead with the customer's problem and the result they get.
• Keep facts about you only where they prove the result.
• History and values belong on the About page.

What is a customer focused homepage?

A customer focused homepage is written from the buyer's side: it names their situation, the result they want and how you get them there. Facts about the business still appear, but as evidence. A business-focused homepage leads with the company: its history, values, team and pride.

• Why your homepage is not converting visitors into customers
• Website copywriting for small businesses that sells

How do you tell if your homepage is too much about you?

Run the 'we' count. Copy the text of the first two screens and count 'we', 'our' and 'us' against 'you' and 'your'. As a GBL rule of thumb, if 'we' outnumbers 'you' by more than two to one, the page is facing inwards. Also check where the first mention of a customer problem appears; it should be in the first screen.

• The five questions every homepage visitor needs answered

How do you rewrite 'we' copy?

Turn each claim round to the result it gives the customer, then add proof.

• 'We have 20 years' experience' becomes 'Your extension planned by a team that has built 600 of them'.
• 'We offer a wide range of services' becomes 'Everything from a leaking tap to a new bathroom, from one firm'.
• 'We pride ourselves on customer service' becomes 'You get a named contact and a reply within 2 working hours'.

• Features vs benefits: website copy that sells
• Why specific claims convert better than adjectives

When does copy about the business help?

Copy about the business helps when it answers a buyer's worry: being local, qualified, insured, long-established or small enough to care. Then say it plainly and link it to the worry it answers. Founder stories help for personal services and new brands, usually lower on the page.

• Your founder story on the website: when it builds trust
• 'Established in': should you show years in business?

Can a homepage be too customer focused?

Yes, if it becomes a list of 'you' sentences with no evidence. 'You deserve the best' is customer-focused and empty. Balance every promise to the customer with a specific fact about how you deliver it.

• Numbers on your homepage: proof or decoration?

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: a professional firm's homepage opens with its founding partners, its values and its office. Rewriting the first screen around the three problems clients bring, with the partners' experience as proof underneath, keeps every fact and changes what visitors see first.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses

Customer focus checklist

• Count 'we' against 'you' in the first two screens.
• Name a customer problem in the first screen.
• Turn each 'we' claim into a customer result.
• Back every promise with one fact.
• Move history and values to the About page.

• 'Welcome to our website': the wasted first line
• Mission statements on a homepage: why they rarely help

Next step

Run the 'we' count on your first two screens today and rewrite the three sentences with the most 'we' in them.