Homepage mistakes that send buyers to competitors

Key takeaways

The homepage mistakes that cost the most enquiries are a vague headline, a slider instead of a message, several equal buttons, proof buried at the bottom, a contact route that is hard to use on a phone and a hero image that loads slowly. Most are fixed with words and order, not a redesign.

• A slogan headline instead of what you do, for whom and where.
• A slider or video where the message should be.
• Four equal buttons and no clear main action.
• Proof and contact details buried at the bottom.
• A hero image that loads in 5 seconds on a phone.

What are the most damaging homepage mistakes?

The most damaging homepage mistakes are the ones that break a low rung of the ladder: unclear messages, slow loading and missing next steps. They are more costly than cosmetic issues because they stop visitors before anything else on the page has a chance to work. Fix them before colours, fonts or icons.

• Why your homepage is not converting visitors into customers
• Small business website mistakes that cost enquiries

Which message mistakes lose visitors?

The common message mistakes are a slogan instead of a description, 'Welcome to our website' as the opening line, a mission statement in the hero and copy that talks about the business rather than the customer. Each spends the first seconds of attention without telling visitors whether they are in the right place.

• 'Welcome to our website': the wasted first line
• Mission statements on a homepage: why they rarely help
• Is your homepage about you or your customer?

Which layout mistakes hide the next step?

Sliders rotate the message away before people read it, and Nielsen Norman Group has long found that carousels are often ignored. Full-screen hero images with no text push everything below the fold. Several equal buttons make people hesitate, and contact forms placed only at the very bottom are missed by visitors who never scroll that far.

• Carousels on mobile websites: keep, fix or remove?
• Too many buttons on your homepage? Pick one path
• Homepage design trends that cost enquiries

Which technical mistakes stop visitors early?

Slow heroes, layout that jumps as it loads, pop-ups that cover the first screen on mobile and phone numbers that cannot be tapped all stop visitors before the message lands. Google treats intrusive interstitials as a poor experience on mobile, and visitors treat them the same way.

• Core Web Vitals on your homepage: what to fix first
• Is your homepage broken on someone else's phone?

Which mistakes can wait?

Fonts, colours, icons and photo styles matter less than owners expect, as long as text is readable and buttons stand out. If the message, proof and next step work, a dated look costs some credibility but rarely stops enquiries outright. Fix those after the rungs are sound.

• Which homepage problem should you fix first?

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: an owner asks for a new homepage design because the old one 'looks tired'. A ladder check finds the real problems are a slogan headline and a contact form that fails on iPhones. Fixing those two issues takes a day; the redesign can then be judged on its own merits.

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

Homepage mistakes checklist

• Replace any slogan or welcome line in the headline.
• Replace a slider with one fixed message and image.
• Reduce the hero to one main button.
• Move a short proof strip directly under the hero.
• Make the phone number tappable and visible on mobile.
• Remove pop-ups that cover the first screen on phones.
• Check the hero loads within 2.5 seconds on mobile.

• Give your homepage one conversion goal
• How visitors read a homepage: scanning, not reading

Next step

Go through the checklist on your phone, not your laptop, and mark each mistake you find. Fix the message ones first.