The homepage should guide visitors to the right branch.
The homepage is a guiding station, not a poster crammed with everything.
The homepage does one thing right: it answers three immediate questions (who is this, what do they do, where do I go next) and then directs visitors to the branch that suits them. If you try to finalize everything right on the homepage, the result is nothing stands out, and visitors don’t know where to go next. Think of the homepage as a crossroads, not a storage room.
- businesses with multiple customer groups or service lines need early segmentation
- most customers come to do one thing, requiring a prominent main action
- Customer decisions that need consideration, not finalized immediately on the homepage.
- stuffing all messages equally, nothing stands out
- viewing the homepage as the place to finalize everything instead of directing to the correct branch
The homepage is the most viewed page, but it is also the page that often misinterprets its mission. Many businesses try to make it a decision-making hub, a place to present all services, and a spot for all calls to action at once. As a result, nothing stands out, and visitors enter without knowing where to go next. Sinh Vũ views the homepage differently: it is a guiding station within a larger flow, not the final destination.
The homepage only needs to answer three questions.
When a person first visits the homepage, their brain immediately asks three questions in order: who is this, what do they do for me, and where should I go next? If the homepage cannot answer these three questions within the first few seconds, the customer will exit or get lost right from the first screen.
Answering these three questions doesn't require many words. Brand name, a clear positioning statement, and a guiding point sufficient to keep customers engaged and inform them of the next steps. The rest is for deeper pages.
The routing role is the main task.
According to Nielsen Norman Group, the homepage is the most important routing page on a website. Navigation must be easily accessible and intuitive so that visitors immediately understand what is available and where. This means the homepage is not the endpoint of the journey, but rather the place that opens the right branches for the right people.
A business with a primary customer group: Prioritize a prominent action through visual hierarchy (size, color, position), with secondary actions being smaller or leading deeper into the page. The homepage should be concise, with each section's role clearly defined.
A business with multiple different customer groups: Early segmentation by allowing customers to choose who they are, for example, "What are you looking for?" then guide each group into the appropriate branch. Avoid cramming content for all groups onto the same screen.
Visual hierarchy does heavy lifting
Not everything on the homepage is equally important, but many websites present them as if they are equally significant: the same font size, the same button color, the same area. When everything is emphasized, nothing is emphasized.
Visual hierarchy is the use of size, position, color, and space to draw the customer's eye to the most important places first. Sinh Vũ applies this principle to both layout and content order: what needs to be seen first is placed above and larger, while what is secondary is placed below or smaller.
The homepage should provide visitors with a clear starting point by assigning visual prominence to key tasks. Use hierarchy and weight to draw attention to priorities.
Nielsen Norman Group, Homepage Design: 5 Fundamental Principles
Common errors when designing a homepage
- Stuffing every service, every message, every call-to-action with equal importance, making nothing stand out.
- Not immediately answering who the business is and what it does, forcing customers to deduce from images and titles.
- Viewing the homepage as the decision-making point rather than a place to guide customers to the right branch.
- Navigation that is hard to see or too complex makes it unclear for customers where to go after the first screen.
- Continuously update the homepage according to news or promotions without retaining a fixed routing layer, causing new clients to always feel lost.
Sinh Vũ's viewpoint
When Sinh Vũ designs a homepage for a business, the first question is not "What do you want it to look like" but rather "Where will customers enter from and where do they need to go next?" The homepage is built from the content strategy and the customer decision flow, not from the company's service list.
A homepage that effectively serves as a routing tool often looks simpler than you think. Simplicity does not come from a lack of content, but from everything having a clear place and customers not needing to struggle to understand.
Decision checklist
Topic: Where should the homepage lead customers? Sinh Vũ guide, sinhvu.com
Select each item you find appropriate, then print or save as PDF to take with you.
If you have marked most of the signs above, this is the time to discuss in more detail. Sinh Vũ can help you review and propose a direction.
References
Nielsen Norman Group, Homepage Design: 5 Fundamental Principles; Nielsen Norman Group, Top 10 Guidelines for Homepage Usability; practical experience from Sinh Vũ.
Frequently asked questions
Does the homepage need to have multiple call-to-action (CTA) buttons to increase conversions?
No. Multiple CTAs (calls to action) at the same level will cancel each other out because nothing stands out. The principle is to choose one primary action to highlight through visual hierarchy, with secondary actions being smaller or leading to deeper pages. If your business has different customer groups, segment early by asking customers who they are, rather than cramming everyone into one button.
If a business offers many services, should the homepage display them all?
You shouldn't present every detail. The homepage only needs to provide enough information for customers to understand what the business does and guide them to the corresponding service page for deeper reading. The more content at the same level on the homepage, the harder it is for customers to know where to focus first. Let the service page do its job.