Show your availability on the homepage, honestly

Key takeaways

Show availability on your website homepage, such as 'Now booking from 10 March' or 'Most jobs started within 2 weeks', and you answer a question many buyers have before they enquire: can you actually do it when I need it? Keep it honest and current. Fake scarcity breaks consumer law and real availability is persuasive enough.

• Answer 'when can you start?' before buyers ask.
• Use a date or a range: 'booking from 10 March'.
• Update it weekly, or show it from your booking system.
• Never invent scarcity; it can breach consumer law.

Why does availability matter on a homepage?

Availability matters because timing is often the deciding factor. A homeowner with a broken boiler, a firm with a deadline or a couple planning a wedding needs to know you can do it in time. If they have to enquire to find out, many will try a competitor who says it upfront.

• Why your homepage is not converting visitors into customers
• The five questions every homepage visitor needs answered

How should you show availability?

Use the format that fits your work: a next available date for bookable services, a typical lead time for projects ('most kitchens fitted within 6 weeks of order'), or a same-day promise for urgent work. Place it in the subheadline, the trust bar or the microcopy next to the button.

• The trust bar under your hero: what goes in it
• Microcopy: the small words beside your homepage buttons

How do you keep it accurate?

Either connect it to your booking system so it updates itself, or give one person the job of updating it every Monday. An out-of-date date is worse than none, because buyers who enquire and hear a different answer feel misled.

• Who should be responsible for your homepage?
• Online booking from the homepage: when it lifts bookings

What about scarcity tactics?

Fake countdown timers and 'only 2 slots left' messages that are not true are risky. The CMA treats false urgency as an unfair commercial practice, and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 gives it direct fining powers. Genuine availability is honest scarcity and needs no exaggeration.

• Dark patterns: conversion tricks that break UK law

When should you not show availability?

Do not show it if lead times swing wildly and you cannot keep it current, or if a long wait would put off buyers who would happily wait once they have met you. In those cases say 'we will give you a start date with your quote' instead.

• Free quote, visit or call: the offer behind the button

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see with busy trades: the phone rings with urgent jobs the firm cannot take, while planned work goes to competitors. A clear 'now booking from' date filters urgent callers politely and reassures planners that the date is real.

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

Availability checklist

• Choose a format: next date, lead time or same-day.
• Place it near the headline or main button.
• Assign someone to update it weekly.
• Connect it to your booking system if you can.
• Never show urgency that is not real.

• An FAQ section on your homepage: when it helps
• Visitors switching from another supplier: what they need

Next step

Decide how you would answer 'when can you start?' today, and put that answer in one line near your main button.