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We offer training across a wide range of course formats and disciplines. Speak to our team today to get you, your team, or your organisation digital ready!
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We offer training across a wide range of course formats and disciplines. Speak to our team today to get you, your team, or your organisation digital ready!
Speak to us today!
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More from Academy Xi
- For Individuals
- Digital Transformation Academy
- AI Futures Academy
- Academy Xi: Nano Labs
Most homepages get treated like decoration. A splash of branding, a few buzzwords, and a button that goes nowhere useful. Then people wonder why leads aren’t coming in.
Your homepage is doing the heavy lifting in your sales funnel, but most businesses don’t realise it. It’s where people decide if you’re worth their time. These decisions happen fast. According to research, 94% of people say poor design is the reason they don’t trust or engage with a site. That’s a sales problem.
Small design tweaks can shift these numbers dramatically. The way your homepage is laid out (how it reads, how it looks, and how it guides someone through) sets the tone for everything that follows.
If you’re not using UX and UI to support your sales funnel from the first click, you’re already behind. This article breaks down how to fix that.
Awareness Stage
The awareness stage is where someone sees your business for the first time. They’re not ready to buy, but to look, scan, and decide if you’re relevant.
That’s where UX/UI comes in. Clear structure, strong messaging, and intuitive design help your homepage quickly answer, “What is this, and why should I care?”
Write a Value Proposition that Highlights Benefits, Not Features
When someone lands on your site for the first time, they’re not hunting for product specs. They’re trying to figure out if you can solve a problem they care about.
That’s why your value proposition matters so much at the awareness stage. It’s the first piece of copy most people will read, and if it doesn’t connect, they’ll leave.
A strong value proposition that clearly highlights benefits, not features, gives visitors a reason to keep going. Unbounce discovered that well-crafted value propositions can increase conversion rates by up to 30%.
Here’s how to write a benefit-focused value proposition that works in the awareness stage:
- Name the outcome your audience wants.
- Be specific. Say what changes when they choose you.
- Skip buzzwords like “innovative solutions” or “cutting-edge platforms.”
- Instead, write in plain language that speaks directly to their priorities.
- For example, if you offer software that speeds up reporting, don’t lead with “real-time data dashboards.” Say “Cut reporting time by 60%.” It’s the same product, just phrased with the user’s goals in mind.
One company that does this well is RE Cost Seg, a firm offering cost segregation services to real estate businesses. Their homepage leads with “Lower Your Taxes and Increase Cash Flow.”
That’s direct, useful, and instantly relevant to their audience. There’s no guessing what they offer or who it’s for. That one line frames the entire experience of the site and moves people from scanning to considering.
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This is the kind of clarity you need to make your homepage earn its spot in your sales funnel.
Use Video to Quickly Introduce Your Brand and Offer
People don’t read every word on your homepage. They skim, scroll, and decide in seconds if it’s worth sticking around.
That’s where video becomes a smart move, especially at the awareness stage. It lets you introduce your brand, show your offer in action, and build credibility fast.
Video is also proven to work. According to recent data, 96% of video marketers say video has helped increase brand awareness. It’s powerful enough to make your product easy to understand and trust without asking visitors to do any work.
Here’s how to use video effectively on your homepage:
- Keep it short, ideally under 90 seconds.
- Focus on the problem you solve, who you solve it for, and how it works.
- Use captions so people can watch without sound.
- If you can, show the product in action. Real visuals beat polished animations when it comes to building trust.
WorkForms, a platform for building customizable forms, gets this right. Their homepage opens with an animated walkthrough of their form builder. It shows the interface, the drag-and-drop features, and how fast it is to use.
Right after that, there’s a one-minute explainer video with more detail. Visitors don’t have to dig around to figure out what the product does. It’s all right there, in motion, within seconds of landing.
This is how you reduce friction and move someone from awareness to interest without relying on paragraphs of explanation.
Interest Stage
The interest stage starts when someone decides you might be the right fit. Now, they’re looking for reasons to confirm it.
This is where good UX/UI helps you hold attention, build credibility, and guide their next step. If your design makes exploration feel easy and rewarding, you’ll keep them moving deeper into your funnel.
Make Lead Magnets Enticing and Easy to Engage With
Once someone’s interested, your job is to keep the momentum going. Lead magnets help you do that by offering something useful in exchange for contact details.
But not just any PDF will do. To work at the interest stage, lead magnets need two things: clear value and low effort.
When done right, lead magnets do more than collect emails. They position your brand as a trusted source of insight. They also give you a chance to start nurturing the lead with relevant follow-up. But if the offer feels vague or the form is long, most visitors will skip it.
Here’s how to create lead magnets that work during the interest stage:
- Keep it simple. Choose a topic that directly helps your audience make smarter decisions, especially ones tied to what you sell.
- Make the content feel current and practical. Think: data-backed reports, short guides, checklists.
- As for the form, strip it back. No one wants to fill out ten fields just to download a PDF.
- Stick to essentials: name, email, and maybe one or two qualifiers if they help with segmentation.
A strong example here is Somewhere, a service that helps companies hire remote employees in places like Latin America, the Philippines, and South Africa. They offer a salary report packed with up-to-date data across roles and regions, which is exactly the kind of insight their audience needs. It helps businesses save on payroll while positioning Somewhere as a go-to authority in remote hiring.
What makes it even better is how easy it is to access. The form is embedded right on the homepage, no popups or extra steps, and it only asks for five fields. It feels fast, relevant, and worth it.
That’s how you turn interest into a lead.
Let Prospects Interact with Your Product Before They Commit
At the interest stage, people want more than claims. They want proof. That’s why offering a hands-on experience of your product is such a smart move.
It helps potential buyers see how your solution works for them without needing to sit through a sales pitch or read long descriptions.
Recent research found that 65% of B2B buyers request a demo before making a decision. And while scheduled demos still work, giving users the option to explore your product on their own terms creates less friction and more engagement.
Here’s how to implement this strategy on your homepage:
- The key is to make it feel easy and low-pressure.
- Offer a guided product tour or an interactive sandbox version right on your homepage.
- Focus on showing core features that demonstrate value.
- Don’t overwhelm visitors with your entire toolkit.
- Use clear labels, short prompts, and tooltips to help people navigate and understand what they’re seeing.
A great example of this is Demio, a webinar platform built specifically for marketing teams. Instead of writing paragraphs about how intuitive their software is, Demio lets visitors test-drive the experience directly on their homepage.
The interactive demo walks users through the dashboard, features, and setup flow. It’s fast, visual, and immediately shows what makes the platform different. For marketers comparing webinar tools, this hands-on demo builds trust faster than any static landing page could. And because users experience the product themselves, leads tend to be better qualified and more likely to convert.
This is a simple, effective way to move someone from interest to desire.
Desire Stage
The desire stage is where interest turns into intent. Visitors are leaning in. They’re comparing, evaluating, and looking for reasons to say yes.
This is your chance to build confidence and eliminate doubt. With smart UX/UI, you can highlight strengths, remove friction, and give people the reassurance they need to take the next step.
Connect Your Products to Your Audience’s Goals
By the time someone reaches the desire stage, they’re not only looking at what you sell but also thinking about how it fits into what they want to achieve.
Most product filtering systems sort by features, categories, or technical specs. But if you want to increase motivation, structure your interface around outcomes instead.
When you organise your product offer around user goals, you create a more personal, relevant experience. People don’t always know exactly what to search for, but they do know what they’re trying to accomplish. Connecting your products directly to those goals sparks emotional investment and reduces decision fatigue.
Here’s how to implement goal-based product organisation on your homepage:
- Discover the top outcomes your audience cares about.
- Map those goals to specific products or categories.
- Build a homepage section or filter tool that makes this connection clear.
- Use plain language that reflects the way your users talk about their needs.
- Keep the navigation intuitive and make sure each goal-based path leads to high-relevance content or product options.
Associate Your Brand with Industry Leaders
At the desire stage, people want confidence that choosing your product is the right move. One of the strongest ways to build that confidence is by showing them who else trusts you.
Products backed by expert endorsements can see up to 20% higher sales than those without. This kind of social proof signals reliability and quality – two things buyers need before committing.
Here’s how to implement this positioning during this stage:
- Highlight real endorsements from respected voices in your industry.
- Use quotes that speak to specific benefits or results.
- Avoid vague praise like “great product” and focus on what the endorsement means for your audience.
- Pair those with logos of well-known clients to reinforce trust instantly.
- Keep these elements visible but balanced. Don’t let them overwhelm the page, but don’t hide them either.
Figma nails this approach. As a collaborative design platform for teams, their homepage features quotes from top designers who rely on the tool daily. These endorsements explain why the product stands out. Alongside these, Figma displays logos from big-name clients like Microsoft, Asana, Zoom, and Slack.
This combination of expert praise and recognisable brands creates powerful social proof. Visitors instantly understand that Figma is trusted by industry leaders. That reassurance makes it easier for prospects to picture themselves using the platform and taking it seriously.
Leveraging expert endorsements and client logos is a clear way to build desire and move people closer to making a decision.
Action Stage
The action stage is where visitors decide to take the next step, whether that’s signing up, requesting a demo, or contacting sales. Clear, user-friendly UX/UI here removes obstacles and makes that step simple and obvious.
Focusing on this stage ensures you don’t lose momentum just as people are ready to convert.
Ensure Signup CTAs Lower the Stakes and Perceived Risks
At the action stage, people are close to converting, but hesitation still lurks. They want to try your product without feeling locked in or exposed to risk. That’s why your call-to-action (CTA) needs to lower the perceived stakes.
Research shows that using specific CTAs can increase conversion rates by up to 161%. Clear, reassuring language removes barriers and encourages people to take the next step.
Here’s how to craft CTAs that minimise perceived risk:
- Focus on wording that feels low-commitment.
- Avoid terms like “Buy Now” or “Subscribe” if they imply high risk.
- Instead, use phrases like “Try for Free,” “Get Started,” or “See It in Action.”
- Be specific about what happens next. Vague CTAs create uncertainty that kills conversions.
- Pair your CTA with microcopy that addresses common objections: no credit card required, cancel anytime, or free trial details.
- This microcopy builds trust and eases uncertainty without cluttering the design.
Rosie, an AI answering service, nails this on their homepage. Their main CTA says, “Get Started for Free.” It’s simple, inviting, and low-pressure. Right below it, the microcopy adds, “First 25 minutes completely free. No credit card required to start.”
This combination reassures visitors that they can explore the service risk-free and without upfront payment. The result is a clear, frictionless path to conversion. That way, visitors feel comfortable clicking the button because they know they’re not committing to a hard sale.
This approach turns hesitation into action and moves more prospects smoothly through the sales funnel.
Use Targeted Incentives to Push Prospects Over the Line
During the action stage, prospects have decided they want your solution but might still delay pulling the trigger. Even interested buyers can procrastinate when there’s no compelling reason to act immediately.
Strategic incentives create urgency and tip the scales from “I’ll think about it” to “I better get this now.”
This approach works because it addresses the psychological tendency to postpone decisions, especially financial ones. When prospects see they can save money or get extra value by acting today, the fear of missing out overrides their natural inclination to delay. Incentives also make the purchase feel like a smart business decision rather than an expense.
Here’s how to use incentives directly on your homepage:
- Make the savings substantial enough to matter. Small discounts often get ignored, while meaningful reductions grab attention and motivate action.
- Create genuine urgency with time limits or quantity restrictions. Open-ended offers don’t drive immediate action.
- Show the value calculation clearly. Help prospects understand exactly what they’re gaining by acting now versus waiting.
- Align incentives with your typical sales cycle. If prospects usually take weeks to decide, shorter urgency windows won’t feel credible.
- Target the right audience segment. New customers might respond to different incentives than returning prospects.
Mailchimp executes this strategy well with their email marketing and automation platform. Their homepage features a prominent section offering their standard plan at 50% off, creating immediate financial motivation.
They’ve also included an interactive element that lets prospects select their monthly emailing volume and see personalised pricing for the discounted plan.
This combination shows both the savings opportunity and helps prospects visualise the exact value they’ll receive, making the decision to convert much easier.’
Final Thoughts
Most businesses spend thousands on ads to drive traffic to their homepage, then lose 90% of those visitors within seconds. They’re essentially paying for people to reject them.
Your homepage decides whether prospects become customers or competitors’ customers. There’s no neutral outcome. Every visitor either moves closer to buying from you or gets pushed toward someone else who understands the assignment better.
The tactics we’ve covered are what separates companies that grow from those that wonder why their marketing isn’t working. Your competitors are already implementing some of these changes. The only question left is whether you’ll beat them to the rest.
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