Ask new enquirers what your homepage told them

Key takeaways

The cheapest way to learn whether a homepage works is to ask customers about your website when they first get in touch. Two short questions will do: what made you contact us, and what nearly stopped you? Their answers reveal which messages landed, which objections remain and what your analytics can never tell you.

• Ask two questions in your first conversation.
• Record the answers in a simple shared place.
• Look for patterns after about 20 enquiries.
• Feed the phrases back into your copy.

What should you ask new enquirers?

Ask 'What made you get in touch with us?' and 'Was there anything that nearly stopped you?'. Add 'How did you find us?' if you want source data. Open questions work better than ratings, because you want their words. Ask early in the conversation, while the visit is still fresh.

• How to create a high-converting homepage for an SME
• Website trust survey questions that get honest answers
• Use your customers' own words on your homepage

Who should ask, and when?

Whoever takes the first call or replies to the first email should ask, near the end of the conversation. Make it casual and quick. Adding an optional field to the form works too, but a spoken question gets better answers. Train staff to write down the actual words.

• 'How did you hear about us?' Asking the question properly
• Who you need to create a homepage

How should you record the answers?

Use a shared spreadsheet, or a CRM field, with the date, the source, the answer and whether the enquiry became a sale. Keep it simple, as complicated systems get abandoned. About 20 answers usually start to reveal a pattern. Avoid storing unnecessary personal data about each person.

• Score website leads so the best get called first
• Enquiry-to-sale rate: where the website hands over

What should you do with the answers?

Use recurring reasons as proof that your message lands, and move them higher up. Treat recurring worries as objections to answer on the page. Copy their language into your headings and FAQs. If people say they found you through a referral and only checked the site, your homepage is doing a reassurance job.

• Answer buyer objections on your website before they ask
• Referral journeys: designing for visitors sent by a friend

What about people who never enquire?

New enquirers only represent the people the page persuaded. To reach the others, try a short on-page question, or ask lost prospects why they went elsewhere. Lost deals reveal what the homepage failed to answer. Use both sources, as one group shows what works and the other shows what does not.

• Ask visitors why they did not enquire: on-site surveys
• Lost deals: what buyers who chose someone else can teach you

When is the feedback misleading?

Feedback misleads when one person's strong view is taken as a pattern, or when people give polite answers. People often cannot recall exactly what they saw. Use comments as clues and compare them with behaviour in GA4. Over-weighting one complaint can lead you to change something that was working.

• Check your homepage's performance in GA4

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern worth trying: adding one question to the first sales call often reveals that a detail nobody on the team rated, such as a named engineer or a clear price, was what prompted the enquiry. That detail tends to move higher up the homepage once the team hears it repeatedly.

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

Homepage feedback checklist

• Add two questions to your first contact.
• Train staff to note exact words.
• Log answers in one place.
• Review after 20 enquiries.
• Move common reasons up the page.
• Answer common worries on the page.

• The first 30 days after launching a homepage
• A 90-day review of a new homepage

Next step

Ask the next three people who get in touch what nearly stopped them. Write down their exact words.