Funnel & CRO
Grade whether your hero explains what you do in three seconds.
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- Claude, via MCP
How do you check if a homepage hero is clear?
Score five checks: a stranger understands what you do in five seconds (30 points), the headline states an outcome (20), there is one obvious main button (20), no jargon (15) and the subheading adds to the headline rather than repeating it (15). Yes scores full points, somewhat half. 80+ is clear, 55 to 79 getting there, under 55 confusing.
Close, but the weak points cost you attention in the first seconds. Sharpen the headline to a plain outcome and cut any jargon before optimising anything below the fold.
The fold has one job: confirm the promise that earned the click and tell people what to do next. Clever rarely beats clear here.
About this calculator
Visitors decide whether to keep reading within a few seconds of landing, almost entirely based on what they see without scrolling. This grader scores your hero section against five clarity signals, whether a stranger instantly knows what you do, whether the headline states an outcome, and whether there's one obvious next step, so you can fix bounce at its most common source before touching anything further down the page.
How to use it
- Answer each of the five checks (Yes / Somewhat / No) as a fresh visitor would experience your hero, not as you intend it to read.
- The clarity score weights each check, the "what you do in 5 seconds" and CTA checks carry the most weight since they drive bounce the hardest.
- Read the overall grade and verdict, then rewrite whichever check scored lowest before iterating on anything below the fold.
Methodology
Each of the five checks is answered Yes (full weight), Somewhat (half weight), or No (zero), then multiplied by that check's weight: 30 for instant comprehension, 20 each for stated outcome and single CTA, 15 each for jargon-free copy and a supporting (not repeating) subhead. The weighted points sum to a 0-100 clarity score.
Scores of 80+ are graded "Clear," 55-79 "Getting there," and below 55 "Confusing, high bounce risk," reflecting how much of the checklist a typical hero needs to pass before it stops losing visitors on arrival.
This is a self-assessment grader, it scores your honest answers to structural questions, not an automated read of your actual copy or a measured bounce rate.
Above-the-fold clarity score
Score = 30 × Understood in 5 seconds + 20 × Outcome headline + 20 × One main CTA + 15 × No jargon + 15 × Supporting subhead (each: Yes = 1, Somewhat = 0.5, No = 0) Band: 80+ clear, 55 to 79 getting there, under 55 confusing
- Understood in 5 seconds
- Someone who has never heard of you can say what you do after a five-second look.
- Outcome headline
- The headline says what the customer gets, not just what the product is.
- One main CTA
- One primary button stands out; secondary links are visibly secondary.
- No jargon
- No vague claims such as "next-generation platform" or "end-to-end solutions".
- Supporting subhead
- The line under the headline adds who it is for or how it works.
This is a self-assessment. The most useful way to answer the first check honestly is a quick test with people outside the company: show the screen for five seconds, hide it and ask what the company does. The weights and bands are the tool's.
Worked example: the default answers
A B2B software homepage has a headline about outcomes and one clear button, but visitors are only somewhat sure what the product does, the subheading partly repeats the headline and the copy uses phrases such as "AI-powered revenue intelligence".
- Understood in 5 seconds, somewhat = 30 × 0.5 = 15.
- Outcome headline, yes = 20.
- One main CTA, yes = 20.
- No jargon, no = 0.
- Supporting subhead, somewhat = 15 × 0.5 = 7.5.
- Score = 15 + 20 + 20 + 0 + 7.5 = 62.5, "getting there".
- Replacing the jargon with plain words and making the subhead say who it is for adds 22.5 points, reaching 85.
Plain words usually fix two checks at once, because jargon is often what stops visitors understanding the product. Test the rewrite on real visitors, then check the value proposition itself with the value prop strength grader and the button with the CTA visual hierarchy tester.
What does a clear hero section look like?
A clear hero answers three questions without scrolling: what is this, who is it for, and what should I do next.
- Headline: the outcome in the customer's words.
- Subhead: who it is for and how it works, in one sentence.
- One main button: with a specific label such as "Get a pricing estimate", not "Learn more".
- A supporting visual: the product or the result, not a stock image.
Check it on a phone as well as a laptop; the mobile first screen is much smaller.
Hero messaging in India vs the US
Indian B2B visitors often want to know quickly whether you serve Indian businesses: rupee pricing, GST invoicing, local support or Indian client names in the first screen can do that. Plain English matters for audiences reading in a second language. Offering WhatsApp as a contact option near the main button is common and expected.
US B2B visitors usually compare several vendors quickly, so a specific, differentiated outcome matters more than a broad category claim. Proof near the top, such as customer logos, helps. The social proof strength auditor checks whether that proof does real work.
Common hero section mistakes
- A clever headline that does not say what the company does.
- Several buttons of equal weight competing for attention.
- Category jargon that every competitor also uses.
- A subhead that repeats the headline in different words.
- Judging clarity yourself instead of testing with strangers.
FAQ
That gap is exactly what the tool is built to catch. Founders and marketers who know the product well fill in the blanks a first-time visitor can't, so an honest score usually requires asking someone unfamiliar with the product to read the hero cold and answer the checks for you.
The "what you do in 5 seconds" check carries the most weight (30 points) because comprehension gates everything else, a visitor who doesn't understand your category or offer won't stick around long enough for a strong CTA to matter.
No. It measures whether your hero clears the structural bar that correlates with lower bounce, headline clarity, one CTA, no jargon, but actual bounce also depends on traffic quality, page speed, and whether the offer matches what drove the click in the first place.
A quick test where someone sees a page for five seconds, then answers questions such as what the company does. It shows whether the first screen communicates without effort.
Lead with the outcome and make the product clear in the subhead. If space allows only one, choose the one visitors understand faster.
Numbers looking off?
If the model says one thing and the pipeline says another, that gap is usually where the revenue is. A 30-minute call finds it.
It starts with a 30-minute call. Pick a time below.