How to review a homepage before your client sees it
To review a homepage, work through four things in order: the headline (can a stranger name the offer in five seconds?), the visual hierarchy above the fold (does it lead the eye to one clear action?), the mobile render at 390px (the client will check on their phone), and the trust elements. Do your own pass first. Then share an annotated link so the client can pin notes to the exact element they mean — not 'the bit near the top.'
Headline: can a stranger name the offer in five seconds?
Open the staging URL in Incognito and set a timer. Before it runs, you should be able to say who the page is for and what they get. If you can't, send the URL to someone who hasn't seen the project and ask them cold. This is the step most designers skip — after two weeks on the page, you read the headline with full context that a visitor doesn't have. On homepages specifically, the temptation is to lead with a brand sentiment ('Where great ideas live') instead of an offer ('Client contracts, signed faster'). If the headline could belong to any business in the category, rewrite it before the client's first look. Clients almost always flag an unclear headline, but rarely frame it that way — they say 'it doesn't feel right' and you spend a call guessing what they meant.
Visual hierarchy: one eye path, one primary action
Squint at the page until it blurs. Whatever you still see — headline size, button contrast, hero image weight — is what a visitor's eye hits first. The page should pull attention in one direction: headline → supporting line → CTA. Common breakdown: three equally-weighted CTAs in the hero (Book a call / Download the guide / Join our newsletter), none of which reads as primary. Or a full-bleed hero image that's visually heavier than the headline over it, so the eye goes to the photo and hunts for the text. Check CTA contrast explicitly — homepage buttons fail accessibility contrast ratios more often than any other element, and a low-contrast button loses clicks before you even measure copy. One primary action above the fold. Secondary options can exist; they just can't compete visually.
Mobile render at 390px before anyone else sees it
Open DevTools, set the viewport to 390px (iPhone 16 width), and scroll the whole page. Three specific failure modes account for most mobile homepage problems: hero text that wraps to five or six lines so the mobile visitor sees only paragraphs before the CTA, buttons narrower than 44px tap target, and a row of trust logos that overflows the viewport horizontally and clips. All three are invisible in a desktop preview. For Webflow and Framer builds, also trigger any scroll animations and confirm they don't freeze the page on iOS Safari — trigger-based animations sometimes lock the scroll position on that browser and the client will catch it immediately on their iPhone. The mobile check is four minutes. It catches things your client will notice before they tell you the design is approved.
Share an annotated link before the call — not the raw staging URL
Once you've done the self-review, don't send the client the staging URL with 'Let me know what you think!' Send a link they can annotate directly: they click the hero headline, the nav, the CTA button, the testimonial section — and pin a note to exactly that spot. You see each note in a thread anchored to the element they meant. This changes the client call entirely. Instead of 'the thing near the top felt off', you're resolving 'hero headline comment #3: too long on mobile'. Send the link with two specific prompts alongside it: 'Does the headline make the offer clear?' and 'Does anything feel missing from the nav?' Specific questions get specific answers. One round of element-pinned feedback typically replaces two rounds of email. The client checks on their phone too — so use a review tool that works on mobile without an extension, because clients always open the link on their phone before they open it on a laptop.
Finished your self-review? Drop the staging URL or live homepage into Drafty and share the link with your client. They click the element they mean — hero headline, CTA, nav item — and pin a note right to it. No account, no install on their end. Notes land in a thread you reply to and resolve. When you push a revised version, the same link shows the update — you don't send a new URL. Works on desktop and iPhone without an extension.
Open a live demoQuestions
- What should I check when reviewing a homepage?
- Work through four areas: the headline (does a cold stranger know the offer in five seconds?), visual hierarchy above the fold (one clear primary action), mobile render at 390px (hero text wrapping, button tap targets, logo overflow), and trust elements (social proof, client logos, or credentials). These four catch most of what clients flag and most of what affects first impressions.
- How do I know if my homepage headline is clear enough?
- Send the staging URL to someone who hasn't seen the project and ask them: 'Who is this for and what do they get?' If their answer takes more than one sentence, or if they hesitate, the headline is doing too much. After weeks of building, designers read their own headline with the full context in mind — the five-second test from a cold reader is the only reliable check.
- How do I get useful feedback from a client on a homepage?
- Share an annotated review link instead of the raw staging URL, and include two specific questions: 'Does the headline make the offer clear?' and 'Would you click this CTA?' Vague prompts get vague answers ('looks great!' or 'can we make it pop?'). A link the client can annotate directly — clicking the element they mean and pinning a note — gets you feedback you can act on.
- How do I review a homepage on mobile?
- Open DevTools in Chrome and set the viewport to 390px (iPhone 16 width). Check that the hero text doesn't wrap to more than three lines before the CTA appears, that buttons are at least 44px tall, and that any logo row fits inside the viewport without clipping. For iOS Safari specifically, trigger scroll animations and confirm they don't freeze the page. Do this before the client sees the design.
- How many rounds of client feedback should a homepage take?
- One to two rounds is typical when the client can annotate directly on the page — because pinned feedback removes the back-and-forth needed to locate what they meant. Email-based feedback typically runs to three or four rounds: each vague note ('the top section feels off') requires at least one clarifying reply before you know what to fix. Doing a self-review pass before the client sees the page also shortens the total rounds.
- Do I review a homepage differently than a landing page?
- Yes. A homepage covers nav, hero, multiple sections, and footer — clients have more surface area to have opinions on, and mobile matters more because clients treat their homepage as their business card and already know what it looks like on their phone. A landing page is focused on one CTA and one conversion goal. Homepage reviews almost always need an explicit mobile check before client sign-off; landing page reviews need a tighter focus on above-the-fold CTA clarity.
Keep exploring
Stop emailing files back and forth.
Share one link. They comment on the exact spot — no account, always the current version.