Growth & Strategy
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
Last year, while working with a Shopify client, I had a moment that changed how I think about website design forever. They came to me frustrated - their beautifully designed homepage looked amazing but wasn't converting visitors into customers.
The conventional wisdom says you need feature grids, hero banners, testimonial sections, and carefully curated product showcases. Every design agency preaches the same gospel: more sections, more polish, more "professional" layouts.
But here's what I discovered after breaking every single design rule: sometimes the best feature page structure is the one that removes features entirely.
In this playbook, you'll learn exactly how I:
Transformed a traditional e-commerce homepage into a minimal product gallery that doubled conversions
Used AI automation to manage 1000+ products without overwhelming visitors
Proved that minimal design can actually boost search rankings through improved user experience signals
Built a systematic approach that works for both SaaS and e-commerce sites
Created a testing framework that helps you know when to simplify vs. when to add complexity
This isn't about making things look pretty - it's about making them perform. Let me show you how breaking design conventions became my most profitable strategy.
Industry Reality
What every designer has already heard
Walk into any design agency and you'll hear the same mantra: "Best practices exist for a reason." The web design industry has crystallized around a set of supposedly proven patterns that every "professional" website should follow.
The Standard E-commerce Homepage Formula:
Hero banner with compelling headline and CTA
Featured products or collections section
Social proof and testimonials
Trust badges and guarantees
Newsletter signup and footer links
The SaaS Landing Page Playbook:
Problem/solution positioning in the hero
Feature grid explaining capabilities
Customer testimonials and logos
Pricing tiers and comparison tables
FAQ section addressing objections
These patterns exist because they've worked historically. There's comfort in following templates that other successful companies use. Design teams love them because they provide clear structure and stakeholders approve them because they look "professional."
But here's where conventional wisdom falls apart: when everyone follows the same playbook, that playbook becomes noise. In a world where every SaaS landing page looks identical and every e-commerce site follows the same formula, being different isn't just creative - it's strategic.
The real problem with "best practices" is that they optimize for industry standards rather than your specific audience's behavior. They're starting points that have somehow become finish lines.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The client came to me with a massive challenge: over 1000 products in their Shopify catalog and a conversion rate that was bleeding customers faster than they could acquire them. The data told a brutal story - visitors were using the homepage as nothing more than a doorway, immediately clicking to "All Products" and getting lost in an endless scroll.
Their existing homepage followed every e-commerce "best practice" perfectly. Beautiful hero section, carefully curated "Featured Products," an "Our Collections" showcase, social proof scattered throughout. It looked professional, polished, and completely ineffective.
After analyzing their traffic flow, I discovered the homepage had become irrelevant. Users would land, scan for half a second, then click through to browse products directly. The homepage was just expensive real estate that nobody actually used.
My first instinct was to follow the conventional approach - optimize the existing sections, A/B test different headlines, rearrange the featured products. But after implementing several "proven" improvements with minimal impact, I realized we were treating symptoms instead of the disease.
The breakthrough came when I started thinking about user behavior rather than design conventions. Why were people immediately leaving the homepage? Because they came to browse products, not read about the brand story. The beautiful marketing copy and carefully crafted sections were actually friction between the user and their goal.
That's when I proposed something that made my client uncomfortable: What if we treated the homepage like a product catalog instead of a marketing brochure?
The idea went against everything I'd been taught about website architecture, but the user data was clear - people wanted to see products, not marketing messages.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's exactly what I did to transform their homepage from a traditional marketing page into a high-converting product showcase:
Step 1: Eliminated Traditional Homepage Elements
I removed everything that stood between visitors and products:
Deleted the hero banner entirely
Removed "Featured Products" sections
Scrapped "Our Collections" blocks
Eliminated brand story copy
Step 2: Built an AI-Powered Mega-Menu System
With over 1000 products, navigation was critical. I implemented:
An AI workflow that automatically categorized new products across 50+ categories
Dynamic menu structure that updated based on inventory
Product discovery possible without leaving the navigation
Step 3: Homepage as Product Gallery
The radical move: I turned the homepage into the catalog itself:
Displayed 48 products directly on the homepage grid
Added only one additional element: a testimonials section for social proof
Made the homepage the primary product discovery experience
Step 4: Optimized for Search Performance
Minimal design actually improved our SEO through:
Faster page load speeds (eliminated heavy graphics and complex layouts)
Better Core Web Vitals scores
Improved user engagement signals (longer time on page, more pages per session)
Mobile-first performance optimization
The key insight was treating the homepage like an e-commerce landing page rather than a corporate brochure. Every element had to justify its existence by either helping users find products or convincing them to buy.
This approach aligned perfectly with how search engines evaluate user experience - they reward sites where visitors find what they're looking for quickly and engage deeply with the content.
Speed Boost
Minimal design eliminated render-blocking elements and improved Core Web Vitals by 40%
User Signals
Search engines rewarded improved engagement metrics with better rankings
Mobile Performance
Simplified layouts performed significantly better on mobile devices
Navigation Logic
AI-powered categorization made 1000+ products discoverable without overwhelming users
The results challenged everything I thought I knew about homepage design:
Conversion Performance:
Homepage conversion rate doubled from previous benchmark
Time to purchase decreased significantly
Homepage became the most viewed AND most used page again
SEO Improvements:
Page load speed improved by 40% after removing complex layout elements
Mobile usability scores increased dramatically
User engagement signals improved (longer sessions, more page views)
Search rankings improved for product-related keywords
The most surprising outcome was how search engines responded to the improved user experience. Google's algorithm clearly favored the site's improved engagement metrics, leading to better organic visibility for the entire catalog.
What started as a conversion optimization experiment became an SEO success story - proving that minimal design can actually boost search performance when it aligns with user intent.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
1. User Behavior Trumps Design Theory
The most beautiful homepage is worthless if it doesn't match how people actually want to use your site. Always start with user data, not design conventions.
2. Friction Kills Conversions
Every extra click, every additional page, every moment of confusion costs you customers. Sometimes the best feature is the one you remove entirely.
3. Search Engines Reward User Experience
Google's algorithm increasingly favors sites where visitors find what they're looking for quickly. Minimal design that improves usability directly impacts search rankings.
4. AI Enables Complexity Behind Simplicity
The minimal frontend was powered by sophisticated AI categorization. You can hide complexity from users while maintaining rich functionality.
5. Industry Standards Are Starting Points, Not Finish Lines
When everyone follows the same playbook, differentiation becomes your competitive advantage. Question every "best practice."
6. Mobile-First Design Philosophy
Minimal design naturally performs better on mobile devices, which increasingly drives both conversions and search rankings.
7. Test Radical Changes, Not Just Tweaks
A/B testing button colors won't transform your business. Sometimes you need to completely reimagine the user experience.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS applications, focus on reducing cognitive load:
Replace feature grids with single, clear value propositions
Use progressive disclosure to reveal complexity gradually
Optimize for trial signup speed over information density
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores, prioritize product discovery:
Transform homepages into browseable product galleries
Invest in intelligent navigation over marketing copy
Focus on conversion-critical elements only