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Start with the home page

I started with the home page, which serves as the entry point for the user. If you nail this experience, you can expect users to stay and explore the website further. Working in the hospitality industry has taught me that customer experience begins long before they interact with your product or service.

Your experience with a restaurant begins with the reservation process. Imagine if you can't find their contact number on Google or Zomato, or if you connect with the hostess and she is rude. You start thinking, "They don’t seem approachable. If this is my experience on the phone, how will it be in person?"
 

So, I reviewed my entry point with one question in mind: "Does this enable the user to stay on this page for 3 seconds or more?" Given our short attention spans, even 3 seconds is a long shot.
 

My old homepage had a tagline and post scrolling down, an introduction would appear. I don’t have screenshots of the old website, but I recreated this to help you visualize:

Tagline

My tagline was: Unleash the power of PnLs

PnL – that word made me cringe! Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for PnLs. But I made the assumption that people knew what this abbreviation means. I realized that this is jargon for most users. I think this tagline alone could cause users to check out mentally.


My tenure at Hunger Inc. taught me two key lessons:

  • Always assume people don't know your technical terms

  • Also assume they won't ask what those terms mean
     

I realized the tagline must be:

  • Simple: The simpler it is, the more people you reach

  • Short: Shorter phrases cater to shorter attention spans and create a cleaner look
     

A good tagline briefly conveys the brand’s message, allowing users to quickly determine if it matches their interests. Think of it as your value proposition.

About me

Let's dissect it line by line.

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Line 1: Another abbreviation, great! I also assumed people knew these two companies since I was employed there.

Line 2: It talks about my technical skill set—Excel and Power BI. And believe me, there was no plan to write about these two softwares.

Line 3: More jargon—financial modelling, bottom line. As if 2 wasn’t enough, I felt the need to validate my technical skills with a Microsoft certificate.

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My introduction at its core was this: I am adept at two Microsoft software. And it was centrally aligned for aesthetic purposes. Forget about the content; I wasn’t even concerned about the user's difficulty in reading this. I was screaming:

Key Learnings

  1. Home Page is the entry point for the user. It is the make or break stage.
     

  2. Having a good tagline is crucial for retaining users on your website. Don’t expect them to scroll to understand what you offer. Assume that your user is like a 5th grader—unable to grasp complex terms, unwilling to read long phrases, and easily distracted by videos or colorful background images.

    Tagline should be upfront and easy to read and understand.
     

  3. Tagline should be accompanied with a brief description of who you are, what you do and how you can help the user. Do not make it about yourself.

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The next post will cover additional topics I learned before starting work on redesigning my homepage.

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