Sales & Conversion
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
Last year, I took on a Shopify website revamp for a client drowning in their own success. With over 1000 products in their catalog, their conversion rate was bleeding—not because the products were bad, but because finding the right one felt like searching for a needle in a digital haystack.
The data told a brutal story: visitors were using the homepage as nothing more than a doorway. They'd land, immediately click to "All Products," then get lost in an endless scroll. The homepage had become irrelevant.
While every "best practices" guide preached about hero banners, featured collections, and carefully curated product sections, I went rogue. Here's what I actually did—and why it doubled their conversion rate.
Here's what you'll learn from this experiment:
Why following industry standards kept us stuck in mediocrity
The unconventional homepage strategy that my client almost rejected
How turning the homepage into a catalog broke every rule but doubled conversions
When breaking "best practices" becomes your biggest competitive advantage
A framework for testing radical design changes without destroying your business
Industry Reality
The conversion optimization advice everyone follows
Walk into any conversion optimization discussion and you'll hear the same mantras repeated like gospel. The industry has created a playbook that everyone follows blindly:
The Standard Homepage Formula:
Hero section with compelling headline and single CTA
"Featured Products" or "Bestsellers" section
Social proof and testimonials
"Our Collections" with carefully curated categories
About us section to build trust
This approach exists because it works—for some businesses. It's safe, tested, and follows decades of retail psychology. The problem? When everyone follows the same playbook, that playbook becomes noise.
Most conversion experts will tell you to optimize your hero section, test button colors, or improve your value proposition. They'll recommend A/B testing your headlines or adjusting your social proof placement. All valid advice that produces incremental improvements.
But here's what they miss: sometimes the biggest conversion wins come from completely abandoning the rulebook. When your core user behavior doesn't match the assumptions behind "best practices," following those practices becomes your biggest limitation.
The conversion optimization industry has created a world where every ecommerce site looks identical. Scroll through any collection of "high-converting" homepage examples and you'll see the same structure repeated endlessly. This isn't optimization—it's optimization theater.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The challenge started when I opened the analytics for this 1000+ product Shopify store. The numbers were brutal but telling:
Homepage bounce rate: 73%. Average session duration: 1.2 minutes. Conversion rate: 0.8%.
But the most revealing metric was the user flow data. Over 80% of homepage visitors immediately clicked "All Products" or used the search function. They weren't engaging with our carefully crafted hero section, featured products, or collection highlights. The homepage had become nothing more than a navigation hub.
The Traditional Approach That Failed
My first instinct was to follow the conversion optimization playbook. I optimized the hero section, tested different featured product layouts, improved the value proposition copy. We saw marginal improvements—maybe a 5% bump here and there.
But the core behavior remained unchanged. Users still treated the homepage like a doorway rather than a destination. The client was frustrated. "Why are people not engaging with our homepage?" they asked. "We're following all the best practices."
That's when I realized we were optimizing for the wrong behavior. Instead of trying to force users to engage with a traditional homepage layout, what if we designed around their actual behavior?
The Data That Changed Everything
I dug deeper into the user journey data. The successful purchases followed a clear pattern: Homepage → All Products → Product Page → Purchase. The unsuccessful journeys got lost in the "All Products" endless scroll.
The insight hit me: users weren't looking for curation—they were looking for discovery. With over 1000 products, they needed browsing efficiency, not marketing messaging. Our beautiful homepage was actually creating friction in their natural shopping behavior.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of fighting user behavior, I decided to embrace it. If users were going to treat the homepage like a product catalog anyway, why not make it the best catalog possible?
The Radical Homepage Redesign
I stripped away everything that conversion experts consider "essential":
Removed the hero banner entirely
Deleted "Featured Products" sections
Scrapped "Our Collections" blocks
Eliminated the about us content
Instead, I created something that would horrify most conversion experts: I turned the homepage into a product gallery.
The new homepage displayed 48 products directly on the homepage in a clean grid layout. No hero section, no marketing copy—just products with clear images, prices, and quick add-to-cart functionality.
The Navigation Revolution
To handle the 1000+ product catalog, I built an AI-powered mega-menu system that automatically categorized products across 50+ categories. Users could now discover products without leaving the navigation—eliminating the need for that "All Products" crutch.
The Only Addition: Social Proof
The only non-product element I kept was a testimonials section below the product grid. This provided the trust signals that drive conversions without interrupting the browsing flow.
Mobile-First Optimization
On mobile, the 48-product grid adapted to a 2-column layout with infinite scroll. Loading times remained under 2 seconds thanks to lazy loading and optimized images. The mobile experience became even more compelling than desktop.
This wasn't just about layout—it was about fundamentally changing what a homepage could be. Instead of a marketing page that led to products, we created a direct product discovery experience.
Behavioral Data
Users bypassed marketing sections 80% of the time, heading straight to product discovery
AI Categorization
Automated product sorting across 50+ categories eliminated manual organization overhead
Mobile Revolution
2-column infinite scroll on mobile created a native app-like browsing experience
Trust Integration
Strategic testimonial placement provided social proof without disrupting product focus
The results challenged everything I thought I knew about homepage optimization:
Conversion Rate: 0.8% → 1.6% (100% increase)
Homepage Engagement: +340% (time on page increased from 1.2 to 4.1 minutes)
Products Viewed Per Session: +180% (from 2.3 to 6.4 products)
Add to Cart Rate: +85% (homepage became the top conversion source)
But the most significant change wasn't in the numbers—it was in user behavior. The homepage transformed from a bounce-heavy navigation page into the most engaged page on the site. Users were finally shopping the way they wanted to shop.
Timeline to Results
Week 1: Initial resistance from the client ("This doesn't look like a homepage")
Week 2: Early positive signals in engagement metrics
Week 4: Conversion rate improvements became undeniable
Month 2: Homepage became the primary revenue driver
The client went from questioning the approach to asking why every ecommerce site doesn't work this way.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
1. Industry Standards Are Starting Points, Not Finish Lines
"Best practices" exist because they work in average situations. But when you have a unique challenge—like a massive product catalog—you need unique solutions.
2. Optimize for Actual Behavior, Not Desired Behavior
Instead of trying to change how users behave, design around how they actually behave. The data always tells the truth.
3. Sometimes the Best Feature is Removing Features
Every element on your homepage competes for attention. When you're selling discovery, marketing messaging becomes noise.
4. Mobile Changes Everything
The infinite scroll product grid worked even better on mobile than desktop. Mobile users are conditioned for scrolling—lean into it.
5. Radical Changes Require Stakeholder Management
Prepare clients for unconventional approaches. Show them the user behavior data that justifies breaking conventions.
6. Test, But Don't Let Testing Paralyze Bold Moves
Some changes are too radical for traditional A/B testing. Sometimes you need to commit to a complete reimagining.
7. AI Can Solve Human Organization Problems
Automated categorization eliminated the manual overhead of managing 1000+ products across 50+ categories.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups:
Replace feature lists with interactive product demos on your homepage
Show multiple use cases immediately instead of hiding them behind navigation
Let users explore your product's capabilities through direct interaction
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores:
Test product-first homepages if you have 100+ SKUs
Implement smart categorization to handle large catalogs
Optimize for browsing behavior over marketing messaging