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Free checklist
The 4-Point Hero Diagnostic
Score your homepage hero in 5 minutes. Find the highest-impact fix without burning a month on A/B testing.
Built for the 55% of SMB founders whose sites get under 500 visits a month. A/B testing needs ~25,000 visits per variant. This checklist needs a kitchen timer. Walk the same 4 dimensions we score on every paid Activation Audit, mark each one yes / partial / no, get a fix-this-first prioritization at the bottom.
What’s inside
- The 4-point rubric: audience match, single offer, 5-second clarity, page speed.
- The audience-exclusion test (the one question that fixes vague heroes).
- The 5-second test protocol, free, runnable with 5 friends on a Saturday morning.
- The page-speed gut check: the only Lighthouse number that actually moves conversion.
- A score-to-action chart so you know whether to tweak, rewrite, or call us.
Frequently asked
Why a checklist instead of just running an A/B test?
Because the math does not work at SMB traffic levels. A credible hero A/B test needs roughly 25,000 visits per variant. 55% of SMB sites get under 500 visits a month. This checklist gets you to the same answer in 5 minutes that A/B testing would take 60 months to deliver.
How long does the diagnostic take?
5 to 10 minutes once you have your homepage open in another tab. Three of the four dimensions are self-scoreable. The 5-second clarity one needs five friends or family for about 10 minutes total.
What if I score under 6 out of 12?
Rewrite the hero rather than tweaking it. Below 6, the problem is structural (wrong audience, wrong offer, wrong message) and word-level edits will not move the result. The PDF includes a 3-line rewrite framework on the last page.
Does this replace the Activation Audit?
No. This covers the hero layer only. The Activation Audit walks all four Activation Stack layers (site, marketing, lead gen, loyalty) and gives you a prioritized fix list across the whole stack in 72 hours. If the hero diagnostic flags multiple dimensions as broken, the Audit is the next step.
Can I use the same scoring on other pages?
Yes. The 4-point rubric works on any conversion-critical page: pricing, contact, landing pages. The only dimension that shifts is single offer; pricing pages routinely have 3 to 5 CTAs by design, and that is fine there. Hero is where one-offer discipline is non-negotiable.
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Stop reading. Ship something.
The Audit beats the checklist.
This template covers the hero layer. The Activation Audit walks all four Activation Stack layers and lands a prioritized fix list in your inbox within 72 hours.
