Some of my clients ask me to put a giant photo slideshow on the homepage of their websites. Most of the time, I try to talk them out of it. As a rule, I do not recommend it.
The use of oversized images displayed prominently on the homepage, sometimes called “hero images”, is one of the biggest trends in web design in recent years. You see them everywhere.
The attraction of sliders is that you can put all of your important must-see information at the top of the home page in an organized and compact way. Add in fancy transition effects and animation and you have wow-factor that grabs attention. Or not.
Slideshows are not effective
Although large, brilliant photos can have an impact, marketing studies have shown slideshows, in general, have a poor conversion rate – that is, they don’t contribute to sales.
- Visitors ignore these images – a phenomenon called banner or ad blindness – because they think the slides are advertising not relevant to what they want right now, and, studies show, rarely get clicked.
- Slideshows often don’t have a clear call-to-action – or have multiple calls – resulting in visitor doing nothing.
- Many site visitors won’t stick around long enough for slideshow to even play.
- The multiple large images in your slideshow can increase page load time, a lot. Users get frustrated and abandon sites that take too long to load. This is especially true on mobile devices – phones and tablets.
- Hero sliders take up a lot of space – that most valuable space on top half of home page.
- Finally, sliders make it harder for people learn what your site is about.
Instead of a homepage slider, leave it out. Get right to the primary function of your home page, introducing your site’s visitors to you, your company, and all the wonderful ways you can make their life better.
If you like the impact of a large hero image, consider replacing the slideshow with a single image that perfectly represents your brand. With overlay text and a clear call-to-action, site visitors can instantly see your message and take the next step to becoming a customer.