The Covid-19 lockdown has caused many businesses to struggle.

Even if you are continuing to trade, you may well find that sales levels are not at their best. Whilst you may have coped with this type of scenario fine pre-COVID, now every pound counts.

If you sell goods or services online, much of your business sales or leads should come in via your website.

If this is not happening or the volume is just not sufficient, it’s time for a makeover. Today we’re going to look at how a homepage redesign can improve your conversions during lockdown.

But I can’t afford a website redesign

However, you will be thinking that this is a Catch-22 scenario; you need more conversions but don’t have the money to spend on a new website. Don’t worry. We understand that now may not seem like the ideal time to be thinking about investing in your website.

Many businesses have cut back on their marketing budgets. But there is a flip side – it’s more than likely that your website won’t need to be created from scratch.

Instead, we will evaluate your current website and see what is good about it and what is not. From this point on, the focus will be on a redesign. Often, concentrating on the homepage can work wonders.

This is the page that viewers land on so if this is working perfectly, the effect upon your conversions will be a positive one. You end up with more sales without having to spend a lot of money.

It’s all about keeping things balanced, particularly during these tough times when people are spending less.

Revamping your homepage

By revamping your homepage and making it more powerful, you are presenting your best possible face to viewers.
This is the first impression they are going to get of your business so it has to be spot-on.
If your homepage is weak and unappealing, or maybe hard to navigate, viewers will click on and then off. It is vital that your homepage grabs their attention in the first few seconds and keeps them with you. It needs to not only look good but also encourage them to want to buy from you. No matter how good your offer is, if they don’t act as you want them to, the sale can be lost.

When the competition gets tougher

The Coronavirus lockdown has made all businesses very competitive. Everyone is fighting to gain more clients and you want them to come to you, not someone else. When you have an eCommerce website, it needs to be working hard. Its human nature to not want to spend anything on marketing while money is tight.

Nevertheless, look at what your competitors are doing; if they are taking sales that should have been yours, then waiting for things to get back to normal might take too long. Whilst you need to accept that sales are going to less than pre-COVID, by using clever tactics, you can still make sufficient ROI.

Once the economy does start to bounce back, it is also essential that buyers have your business at the forefront of their mind. If your operation has been stagnant during the lockdown period, this just won’t happen. You will be in a potentially damaging situation again.

How we improve your homepage

We have already worked with several clients during the lockdown period, helping them to improve their homepages. By collaborating with them and gaining a good understanding of their business, we have been able to make persuasive and effective changes to their homepages.

Already, many ALT Agency clients are seeing a marked difference in results. By analysing website statistics provided by Google Analytics, we have been able to see decreases in homepage bounce rates and homepage drop-off rates and a vast increase in eCommerce conversion rates.

The changes made and result obtained varied from site to site, but were always incredibly positive. Here are just a few things that we took into consideration:

Renewing the homepage content –

this needs to align with each client’s primary selling point. If you have an eCommerce site, then your primary goal is to get viewers to buy from you. In this instance, our focus would be on getting clients to browse by making this a key feature of the page header.

We would also refresh the call-to-action, placing this so that would-be buyers see it immediately after browsing.

If products were split according to design or price, we would also make this division a feature of the homepage. Call-to-actions are spread throughout the page without being too pushy. As well as restructuring the product content, many of the homepages needed to be more personable.

We made the sites more person-centred in a variety of ways. Often we would give more focus to the ‘about us’ pages and ‘why choose us?’ It’s all about making it easy for a customer to buy. The site does the thinking for them so all they have to do is push the ‘buy now’ button.

Ensuring the site is fully responsive –

if your website is not mobile-friendly, you take the risk of losing clients. A large number of visitors are going to view using their phone so if your homepage doesn’t fit the screen or they have to zoom in and out, they will go elsewhere.

We eradicate this disadvantage by making your site fully responsive and viewable on any mobile device, focusing heavily on the homepage.

Refreshing the visuals –

your homepage needs to look fresh, appealing and enticing. If it looks outdated or amateur in design, it just won’t attract conversions. Very popular at the moment is the more contemporary look with plenty of white space.

Depending upon what you are selling, we will revitalise your homepage by using different colours, typefaces and images – all in line with your brand. Any images used have to be of top quality with high resolution. There is no room for amateur shots on the homepage.

When selling products online the images have to be detailed and true-to-life. Skimp on your photography and buyers will lose interest.

Conclusion

None of us knows how long it is going to take the economy to get back to normal. By investing a carefully calculated amount of money and reworking your website homepage, you are taking an important step in fighting back against Covid-19. When money is tight but change is required, working on your homepage makes sense.

It provides you with a way of boosting conversions without having to invest heavily. Prevent falling sales and increase revenue by getting your eCommerce site working as it should.

By being proactive about your web design, you are providing your business with the opportunity to gain some ground and begin to move forward.

If you require help or advice concerning redesigning your homepage, then contact ALT Agency on 0121 663 0202 or click here to fill out our online form.