Sales & Conversion
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
Last year, I watched a client spend two weeks obsessing over whether every heading on their homepage should start with a verb. Two weeks. While competitors were launching new features and capturing market share, this team was stuck in grammatical paralysis.
This wasn't an isolated incident. Throughout my freelance career building landing pages for ecommerce businesses, I've seen this pattern repeatedly: teams focusing on the wrong priorities while their conversion rates stagnate.
When I took on a Shopify website revamp for a client drowning in their own success - over 1000 products with bleeding conversion rates - I discovered something that challenged everything I'd been taught about homepage design. The data told a brutal story: visitors were using the homepage as nothing more than a doorway, immediately clicking to "All Products," then getting lost in an endless scroll.
Here's what you'll learn from this experience:
Why following "best practices" can be your biggest limitation
The unconventional homepage structure that doubled my client's conversion rate
How to turn your homepage into a product catalog without losing brand appeal
When to break industry conventions and when to follow them
A step-by-step wireframe process based on user behavior, not theories
Most businesses treat their website like a digital brochure when it should be treated as a marketing laboratory. Let me show you how we transformed a failing homepage into a revenue machine.
Real Experience
What I learned from 1000+ products
Here's what every ecommerce "expert" will tell you about homepage design:
Hero Banner First: Start with a compelling hero section that communicates your brand value proposition
Featured Products: Showcase your best-selling or newest products in curated sections
Social Proof: Add testimonials and trust badges to build credibility
Brand Story: Include an "About Us" or "Our Collections" section to connect emotionally
Newsletter Signup: Capture emails with a compelling lead magnet
This conventional wisdom exists because it works for brands with small, curated catalogs. Think about luxury fashion brands or artisanal goods - they need to tell a story, build desire, and guide customers through a journey.
The problem? This approach completely breaks down when you have a massive product catalog.
When customers face choice overload, they don't want brand storytelling - they want efficient product discovery. They're not browsing for inspiration; they're hunting for solutions. Every additional click between them and the products they need is friction that kills conversions.
The industry's obsession with "best practices" creates a one-size-fits-all mentality that ignores the fundamental differences between catalog-heavy stores and boutique brands. Most ecommerce advice comes from agencies working with high-end, low-SKU clients, not businesses drowning in inventory complexity.
Here's where the conventional wisdom fails: it optimizes for the wrong metric. Instead of optimizing for "engagement" or "time on site," massive catalogs need to optimize for "time to product discovery" and "path efficiency."
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
When this project landed on my desk, the brief seemed straightforward: "Fix our conversion rate." The client had built a solid ecommerce business with over 1000 products, but something was broken in their user journey.
Their existing homepage followed every textbook recommendation: beautiful hero banner, featured collections, brand story, testimonials. It looked professional, on-brand, and would probably win design awards. But the analytics told a different story.
After analyzing their traffic flow, a brutal pattern emerged: most users were treating the homepage like a doorway, not a destination. They'd land, immediately click "All Products," then get overwhelmed by the endless scroll. The homepage had become irrelevant - a beautiful obstacle between customers and products.
This was a catalog discovery problem, not a branding problem. The client's strength was their variety - they had products for every specific need. But their homepage was designed like a boutique, not a catalog.
I proposed something that made my client uncomfortable: "What if we treated your homepage like Amazon treats theirs?" Instead of hiding products behind collection pages and category navigation, what if we made the homepage itself the catalog?
The client's initial reaction: "This goes against everything we know about ecommerce design." They were right - and that was exactly the point. When everyone in your industry follows the same playbook, that playbook becomes noise. Sometimes the most effective strategy comes from looking outside your industry entirely.
We were about to test whether breaking every "best practice" could actually create a better practice.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's exactly how we restructured the homepage to prioritize product discovery over brand storytelling:
Step 1: Eliminated Traditional Sections
We removed everything that stood between visitors and products:
Hero banner with generic value proposition
"Featured Products" sections
"Our Collections" blocks
Brand story content
Step 2: Built an AI-Powered Mega-Menu System
Instead of simple category dropdowns, we created a comprehensive navigation system:
50+ automatically updated categories using AI workflows
Product discovery possible without leaving the navigation
Smart categorization that adapted as new products were added
Step 3: Transformed Homepage into Product Gallery
The radical change: we displayed 48 products directly on the homepage in a clean grid layout. No hiding behind collection pages, no "curated selections" - just immediate access to inventory.
Step 4: Strategic Social Proof Placement
We didn't eliminate social proof entirely - we placed a single testimonials section after the product grid. This provided credibility without interfering with product discovery.
Step 5: Mobile-First Product Browsing
Since most traffic was mobile, we optimized the product grid for thumb navigation:
Large, tappable product cards
Quick view functionality
Infinite scroll with smart loading
The key insight: we stopped designing for what we thought customers should want and started designing for what they actually did. The data showed they wanted immediate product access, so we gave them exactly that.
This wasn't about choosing ugly over beautiful - it was about choosing functional over conventional. The result was a homepage that looked different from every competitor, which became our biggest advantage.
Product Priority
Displayed 48 products directly on homepage instead of hiding behind collection pages
AI Navigation
Built smart mega-menu with 50+ auto-updating categories for seamless browsing
Mobile Optimization
Designed thumb-friendly product grid with quick view and infinite scroll
Strategic Simplicity
Removed hero banners and featured sections that created friction in product discovery
The results challenged everything I'd been taught about homepage design:
Conversion Rate Impact: The homepage conversion rate doubled within the first month. More importantly, this wasn't just a temporary boost - the improvement sustained over time.
User Behavior Shift: The homepage reclaimed its position as the most viewed AND most used page on the site. Instead of immediately bouncing to category pages, users were engaging with products directly.
Time to Purchase: The path from homepage to checkout decreased significantly. Customers were finding relevant products faster and moving through the funnel more efficiently.
Mobile Performance: Mobile conversion rates saw the biggest improvement, validating our thumb-friendly design decisions.
The unexpected outcome: customer satisfaction actually improved despite removing traditional "brand experience" elements. When customers can find what they need quickly, they're happier - even if the journey feels less "designed."
This project taught me that in ecommerce, friction kills conversions more than lack of brand storytelling does. Sometimes the best user experience is the most invisible one.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the key lessons from breaking conventional homepage design:
Data Trumps Opinions: User behavior analytics reveal more than design theories. If customers are bypassing your carefully crafted sections, listen to what they're telling you.
Context Determines Strategy: Best practices for 20-product boutiques don't apply to 1000-product catalogs. Match your design strategy to your business model.
Friction Is the Enemy: Every click between customers and products is a conversion killer. Optimize for path efficiency, not visual appeal.
Mobile Behavior Rules: Most customers shop on mobile. Design for thumbs first, desktop second.
Different Beats Better: In a crowded market, being different is more valuable than being "correct." When everyone follows the same playbook, contrarian approaches can create competitive advantages.
Test Everything: Never assume your homepage is working just because it looks professional. Test conversion paths regularly.
AI Enables Scale: Smart categorization and navigation systems can handle massive catalogs without human maintenance.
What I'd do differently: I'd implement this approach earlier in the relationship. Too often, we optimize the wrong things because we're afraid to challenge established norms.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS with large feature sets:
Display core features directly on homepage instead of hiding behind "Learn More" buttons
Create smart navigation that adapts to user role (admin, user, etc.)
Prioritize product discovery over brand storytelling
For your Ecommerce store
For stores with 100+ products:
Transform homepage into browsable product catalog with 30-50 visible products
Implement AI-powered smart navigation with auto-updating categories
Optimize for mobile-first product discovery and quick purchasing paths