The Homepage Testing Playbook: What To Test First, Second and Third

You know you need to optimize your homepage. Every piece of advice says the same thing: test homepage, measure it and improve. 

But test what? Where do you start? What actually matters?

Most store owners stare at their homepage and feel paralyzed. The design looks fine. The copy feels okay. The products are listed. So what’s the problem?

The problem isn’t that your homepage is bad. It’s that you don’t know for sure if it’s any good.

You could test the header. Or the hero image. Or the product carousel. Or the footer links. Or the trust badges. Or the testimonials. Or the call to action button. 

You could spend the next year running tests and still not know which element actually makes a difference to revenue.

This is the testing paralysis. You want to optimize, but you don’t know where to start.

This playbook cuts through that. It shows you exactly what to test first, second, and third. 

It’s based on data about what actually converts, not opinions about what should convert.

Follow this roadmap and your conversion rate will improve. Your revenue will follow.

The 70/20/10 Rule: Where Conversions Come From

Not all website elements are created equal. Some drive massive conversion increases. Others barely move the needle.

Here’s the breakdown: 

• 70% of conversion improvements come from copy and messaging. (source) 
• 20% come from friction reduction and user experience. 
• 10% come from design and aesthetics.

This isn’t my opinion. This is what the data shows across thousands of A/B tests.​

Why copy? Because copy is the fastest way to signal whether your store is for someone or not. 

A visitor spends 5.25 seconds looking at a page before deciding to stay or leave. In those five seconds, design barely registers. What registers is the headline. The promise. The reason to stay.​

Design matters. But design doesn’t sell. Clarity sells. Benefit sells. Trust sells. And those all come from copy first.

Friction is the second lever. 

Friction is anything that makes it harder to buy. Too many form fields. Forced account creation. Slow page speed. Complicated navigation. Multiple clicks to checkout. 

Every added step costs you conversions.

Design is the third. 

A beautiful site converts better than an ugly site, all else equal. But a clear, benefit-focused ugly site outconverts a beautiful site with vague copy every single time. Beauty is just the polish. Copy is the foundation.

So your testing roadmap should follow this order, copy first, friction second, design third.

Month 1: Headlines Are Your First Test

Start with your homepage headline.

The homepage headline is the first thing a new visitor reads. It has one job, tell them immediately if they’re in the right place. If it fails, they’re gone.

Most homepage headlines are brand-focused, not benefit-focused. 

They say things like “Welcome to Our Store” or “Discover Premium Quality” or “We Make Things Better.” That could be anyone. That could be any store.

The best headlines are specific and clear. They say what you sell and why someone should care. “Shop Modern Couches That Fit Any Budget.” “Lose Weight Without Hunger or Exercise.” “Beautiful Rings Starting at $99.” “Premium Coffee Delivered Fresh to Your Door.”

Many A/B testers reported headline changes improving conversions by around 10–20% in real campaigns, especially when the new headline is more specific and emotionally clear.

For a store with a 2% conversion rate, that’s 2.24% to 2.4%. For a store with 5,000 monthly visitors, that’s 22 additional sales per month. That’s $660 per month at a $30 average order value. That’s $7,920 per year from changing a few words.

Here’s how to test your homepage headline.

Step 1: Set Your Control Headline

Your current homepage headline is your control. This is what you’re testing against.

Step 2: Write a Specific, Benefit-Focused Alternative

Avoid cleverness. Avoid brand-voice. Write a headline that clearly tells someone what they’ll get.

Current: “Discover Premium Quality”

Better: “Shop Handmade Jewelry Under $100”

Current: “Your Destination for Excellence”

Better: “Modern Couches That Fit Small Spaces”

Current: “Transform Your Life”

Better: “Lose 10 Pounds in 12 Weeks Without Counting Calories”

The new headline should make a specific promise in under 10 words.

Step 3: Test It

With Sigmize, you set up an experiment in minutes. Select your homepage. You edit the headline. You route 50% of traffic to the original, 50% to the new version. You press start.

Sigmize tracks which version converts better. More importantly, it tracks which version generates actual revenue, not just engagement metrics. 

You see which headline makes people buy.

Step 4: Run for Two Weeks

Don’t stop after a few days. Don’t make a decision based on early data. Run the test for two full weeks minimum. 

Traffic patterns vary by day and by week. After two weeks, you have statistically reliable data.

Step 5: Implement the Winner

Whichever headline won, make it your new control. If the specific, benefit-focused headline won, congratulations. You just increased conversions by 12% to 20%. 

If the original won, keep it. Either way, you now have proof of what works for your audience and what doesn’t.

Expected result: 2% to 2.4% conversion rate, up from 2%.​

Month 2: CTAs Are Your Second Test

After your headline is optimized, test your call to action button.

Your CTA button is where the action lives. It’s the thing you want visitors to click. 

Most CTAs are weak. They say “Click Here” or “Shop Now” or “Learn More.” They don’t tell you why to click now instead of later. They don’t create urgency or specificity.

Optimized CTAs convert 10% to 21% better than generic ones. Even changing the button color alone adds 21% to 34%.​

There are three CTA variables worth testing, text, color and placement.

CTA Text Testing

Generic CTAs: “Click Here,” “Learn More,” “Shop Now,” “Submit,” “Get Started”

These work. They’re not inspiring, but they work. The question is, can you do better?

Better CTAs are specific and urgent.

Original: “Shop Now”

Better: “Shop Our Sale”

Original: “Learn More”

Better: “Claim Your Free Guide”

Original: “Get Started”

Better: “Get 20% Off Today”

The best CTAs combine specificity with urgency. “Claim Your 50% Off Before Midnight.” “Get Your Free Sample Today.” “Reserve Your Spot Before It’s Gone.”

• Words like “claim,” “reserve,” “get,” and “grab” outperform generic language. 
• Time limits like “today,” “now,” and “before it’s gone” add urgency. 
• Specific benefits like “50% off,” “free guide,” “free sample” make the offer tangible.

When you change just the CTA text from generic to optimized, conversions can improve by 10% to 21%.​

CTA Color Testing

Button color also matters. Different colors have different psychological associations and different visibility against your page background.

A simple button color change can improve conversions by 21% to 34%. That’s before you even change the text.​

The best color depends on your brand and your page design, but the most important principle is contrast. 

Your CTA button should stand out against the background. If your site is mostly blue, a blue button blends in. An orange or green button stands out.

That contrast is what drives clicks.

CTA Placement Testing

Where you place your CTA also matters. 

Some stores put it at the top of the page, visible without scrolling. Others put it mid-page, after benefit copy. Others put it at the bottom, after all the information.

The best placement depends on your product and your audience, but the principle is consistent. Your CTA should appear after you’ve outlined the benefit, not before. 

If someone hasn’t read why they should care, clicking a button means nothing.

For a homepage, the ideal flow is: headline (what you sell), benefits (why someone should care), CTA (how to take the next step).

Your Month 2 Test

Start with CTA text. Test your current CTA button text against a more specific, urgent alternative.

Current: “Shop Now”

Test: “Shop Our Limited Edition Collection”

Run this for two weeks. Measure the conversion impact. If it wins, keep it. Move your current button to a new control.

Expected result: 2.4% to 2.9% conversion rate, up from 2.4%.​

Month 3: Checkout Friction Is Your Third Test

After you’ve optimized your headline and CTA, focus on the checkout process.

Most people abandon before they ever reach checkout. Of those who do reach checkout, 70.19% leave without buying. On mobile, it’s 78.74% to 85.65%.​

Why? Three reasons: unexpected costs, complicated process, and forced account creation.​

Cost Shock

39% to 48% of cart abandonment is because people see shipping, tax, and total costs for the first time at the end of checkout. 

They added $50 in products. They thought it was $50 total. At checkout, it’s $70 with shipping. They leave.​

Solution: show shipping costs upfront. Not hidden. Not estimated. Actual. Let people decide to buy or not based on true total cost, not based on sticker shock at the end.

Forced Account Creation

23% to 24% of people abandon specifically because they’re forced to create an account. They just want to buy something. They don’t want a password. They don’t want to remember login details. They don’t want email marketing.​

The solution? Guest checkout. No account required. No signup. Buy now, account later.

Guest checkout alone can lift conversions by 23%.​

Process Complexity

Single-page checkout converts 21.8% to 37% better than multi-page checkout. Why? Because every page is another place to abandon.​

Page 1: Enter shipping address. Some people leave.

Page 2: Enter billing address. More people leave.

Page 3: Enter payment. Even more people leave.

One page: enter everything. Done. A single form is less intimidating than three forms.

Your Month 3 Test

Test guest checkout vs. required account creation. This is your biggest lever in the checkout phase.

If your current checkout requires an account, test a guest checkout version. Track the conversion rate difference.

Or if you already have a guest checkout, test showing shipping costs upfront vs. at the end. Or test single-page checkout vs. your current multi-page setup.

The test that matters most depends on your specific checkout flow, but all three elements convert better when optimized.

Expected result: 3.2% to 4.8% conversion rate, up from 2.9%.​

Beyond Month 3: The Testing Never Stops

After 90 days of structured testing, your conversion rate could have climbed from 2% to 3.2% to 4.8%, or higher. 

You’ve doubled your revenue per visitor without spending more on traffic.

But the testing doesn’t stop. The stores making 5% to 11% conversion rates keep testing. They’ve tested 50 elements, not 3.​

After checkout friction, focus on trust elements. 

• Test adding testimonials. 
• Test adding guarantees. 
• Test adding security badges. 
• Test removing product images you think are beautiful but visitors find confusing.
• Then test product pages. 
• Test product descriptions vs. benefit-focused product copy. 
• Test price display. Test product images and video.
• Then test your email flow. 
• Test confirmation page messaging. 
• Test abandoned cart emails. 
• Test post-purchase emails.

The principle is always the same: test one element at a time. Measure the conversion impact. Keep what works. Remove what doesn’t. Repeat.

A/B testing companies report that systematic testing increases conversions by 49% on average. Some report even higher. 

The stores that win are the ones that test consistently, not the ones that test once.​

The Tool That Makes Testing Easy

Most store owners know they should test. They know the upside. But they don’t do it. Why? Because existing testing tools are too complicated.

You need a developer to launch tests. You need code knowledge. You need to set up integrations. You need to configure conversion tracking. You need to wait weeks to launch a simple button test.

Or the tool tracks meaningless metrics. It tells you how many clicks happened but not how much revenue was generated. It shows engagement instead of business impact.

Sigmize is different. It’s built specifically for WordPress and WooCommerce stores. It understands your store from day one.

With Sigmize, you don’t need a developer. You launch a test in minutes. You edit a headline directly in your page builder. 

You click start. The tool routes traffic, tracks results, and shows you which version wins.

More importantly, Sigmize connects to your WooCommerce data. 

It tracks actual revenue. It shows which variant made more money. It integrates your business data with your test results, so you’re making decisions based on what matters: revenue, not engagement.

The dashboard is designed for store owners, not data scientists. You log in. You see which variant won. You see how much money the winner made. You implement it. Done.

This is what makes testing actually happen. Not tools that require developers. Not tools that track metrics nobody cares about. 

Tools that are so simple you can launch a test before your coffee gets cold.

Your Testing Journey Starts Today

Your homepage doesn’t need a redesign. It needs a testing roadmap.

Stop guessing about what converts. Start knowing.

Month 1: Test your headline. You could boost conversions by 12% to 20%.

Month 2: Test your CTA button. You could improve conversions by another 10% to 21%.

Month 3: Test your checkout. You could increase conversions by another 15% to 37%.

By the end, your conversion rate climbs from 2% to 3.2% to 4.8%, or higher. Your revenue per visitor doubles without spending more on ads.

Ready to start?

Install Sigmize.

Test your headline. Run it for two weeks. Implement the winner.

Then do it again. And again. And again.

This is how the top 10% of stores get to 11.45% conversion rates. Not with fancy redesigns. Not with expensive consultants. With systematic, data-driven testing.​

Your future revenue is waiting.