The homepage remains a crucial element of an e-commerce store, even though numerous users, including newcomers, often arrive directly at an intermediary category page or a specific product page via direct links (such as those shared on social media), promotions (ads and PPC), or organic search results.
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AB Testing Team
UX Team
Figma
Content Square
Baymard
Analytics
Benchmarking
Heatmaps
Attractiveness Rate
Click Rate
Revenue
Click Distribution
UX Researcher • Full Report & Analysis via Content Square
Is the home page optimized for our users? In this discussion, we will explore the main goals of the homepage and the potential opportunities it presents for both new and returning users.
This report seeks to identify issues that exist within checkout that might be causing this abandonment and propose potential solutions that could improve the checkout conversion rate. This report will also address options for getting the user to return to the site and complete their purchase after abandoning their cart.
Enhance User Experience: The primary goal of updating the home page is to improve the overall user experience by making it more intuitive, visually appealing, and user-friendly.
Increase Conversions: Updating the home page aims to optimize it for better conversion rates, such as increasing sales, sign-ups, or other desired user actions.
Communicate Brand Identity: The home page update should align with the brand's identity and effectively communicate its values, mission, and unique selling propositions to create a strong connection with the target audience.
Content Organization: One challenge in updating the home page is organizing the content clearly and concisely, ensuring that important information is easily accessible without overwhelming the user.
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SEO Optimization: Updating the home page for SEO requires balancing changes to page structure, content, and metadata with optimization practices like keyword targeting, meta tags, and headers to improve search engine rankings.
Testing & Feedback: It is crucial for validating home page updates. Implementing methods to collect user insights, analyze behavior, and incorporate feedback is challenging yet essential for refining and improving the updated page.
Here are insightful metrics detailing user interactions with various sections of the home page.
Click Rate
Lower on the page users were not as interested in clicking these sections.
Attractiveness
Users who ended up scrolling down found Shop by Category the most attractive, even over deals
Heatmap
The top hot spots are the menu, fitment, tire category, and all deals.
Baymard guidelines are vital for effective UX and e-commerce design, offering proven best practices that enhance usability and boost conversion rates. I will highlight most of these guidelines below:
<aside> <img src="/icons/warning_yellow.svg" alt="/icons/warning_yellow.svg" width="40px" /> Feature a Broad Range of Product Types on the Homepage #237
Our home page has categories and speaks to product range in main navigation, however I marked this neutral as Content Square display that pg organization can be adjusted for user preference and needs
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<aside> <img src="/icons/clear_red.svg" alt="/icons/clear_red.svg" width="40px" /> Carefully Consider How to Use Bespoke Imagery and Design to Present the Site’s Brand #238
A strong first impression is vital; Baymard testing demonstrated that an elegant homepage design and captivating photography not only boosted user loyalty but also increased tolerance for design quirks and technical issues.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/checkmark_green.svg" alt="/icons/checkmark_green.svg" width="40px" /> Consider Offering “Thematic” or “Guided” Product Browsing #249
We utilize a tool called “Fitment” which is our guided way to help users find tires that fit.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/clear_red.svg" alt="/icons/clear_red.svg" width="40px" /> Be Cautious if Displaying Ads on the Homepage #240
Ads on the homepage are generally perceived negatively, often set a poor first impression, and may distract users from exploring the site and its products
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<aside> <img src="/icons/warning_yellow.svg" alt="/icons/warning_yellow.svg" width="40px" /> Always Highlight Core Product and Brand Features on the Homepage #1707
Baymard's extensive testing showed users heavily rely on homepage content to judge the site's value and decide whether to explore more. However, users tend to avoid overwhelming, dense text blocks, similar to their behavior with product descriptions and other site text.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/checkmark_green.svg" alt="/icons/checkmark_green.svg" width="40px" /> Consider Using IP GeoTargeting to Select Country and Language #239
DT uses a splash page to ask the user if “this is their store.” We also include the ability to change store in the menu.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/warning_yellow.svg" alt="/icons/warning_yellow.svg" width="40px" /> If Providing a Scoped Path on Mobile Homepages, Include the Full Scope in the Link Text #958
On the homepage, either only provide links to top-level scopes or include the full (multiword) scope for the link text or button microcopy (not just in a header or similar text placed in close proximity to it).
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<aside> <img src="/icons/warning_yellow.svg" alt="/icons/warning_yellow.svg" width="40px" /> Consider Including the Main Navigation Categories Directly on the Homepage #236
The main navigation categories may either be promoted center stage on the homepage or listed in a sidebar or as a section partway down the page, depending on how beneficial a category-browsing strategy is for users on a particular site within a particular industry.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/checkmark_green.svg" alt="/icons/checkmark_green.svg" width="40px" /> Make It Clear Where Hit Areas in Visual Elements Lead #264
Desktop: Hover effects, styling make it clear where it leads to a single or multiple different locations.
Mobile: Single hit areas > one location. Very clear matches action.
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Below are consolidated insights for updates to the home page for Discount Tire.