Why your landing page isn't converting
You have traffic. People land, scroll a little, and leave. The product is good — so why isn't the page working? In almost every case it's not one big flaw. It's eight small ones. Here are the eight things a website roast checks for, with the failure pattern and the fix for each.
01Your hero is about you, not the visitor
The pattern · "We help companies grow." "The future of work, reimagined." These describe you and say nothing to the person reading.
The fix · Rewrite the hero as the outcome the visitor gets. "Get your first 100 paying customers in 90 days" beats "innovative solutions for modern teams" every time. Specific beats vague, always.
02Your CTA names the action, not the result
The pattern · "Get started." "Learn more." "Submit." A button that names a mechanic gives me a door with no idea what's behind it.
The fix · Give people a movie, not a door. "Start your free trial", "Book a 20-min call", "Get my free audit." Say what happens next.
03Your social proof has no specifics
The pattern · "Loved by thousands." "Trusted by teams everywhere." Logos with no context. Testimonials with no name, no face, no number.
The fix · One specific, named result outperforms 500 grey logos. "Reduced churn 34% in 60 days — Carla M., VP Product." Stakes and specifics build trust; adjectives don't.
04The page serves three audiences at once
The pattern · Trying to speak to founders, enterprises and freelancers on the same fold. Everyone gets a diluted message; nobody feels it's for them.
The fix · Pick one primary audience for the hero. The others will self-select down the page. Clarity for one beats blur for all.
05Mobile was an afterthought
The pattern · Over 60% of traffic is mobile, but the page was designed on a 27-inch monitor. Tap targets too small, hero text cut off, CTA below three scrolls.
The fix · Design the mobile fold first. If the value proposition and one CTA aren't clear on a phone in the first screen, the desktop version doesn't matter.
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Roast my landing page06There's no visual hierarchy
The pattern · Everything is the same size, weight and colour. Six competing CTAs. When everything shouts, nothing is heard and the eye gives up.
The fix · Establish one clear path: one dominant headline, one primary CTA, secondary actions visibly quieter. Hierarchy is you deciding where the eye goes so the visitor doesn't have to.
07Your copy is polite instead of direct
The pattern · The "About" section reads like a memoir. The benefits are hedged. Nobody landed on your site to learn your origin story — they came to solve a problem.
The fix · Cut the throat-clearing. Lead with the problem you solve and the result you deliver. Polite copy is the most common conversion killer — and the easiest to fix.
08It's slow
The pattern · A 3-second load on mobile isn't a metaphor for lost money — it's literal, measurable lost money. Unoptimized images and render-blocking scripts quietly bleed conversions.
The fix · Compress and lazy-load images, defer non-critical scripts, and measure the real mobile LCP. Speed is the one fix that helps every other criterion at once.
The pattern behind all eight
Most landing pages aren't broken. They're polite — built to impress their creators instead of convert their visitors. The fix is rarely a redesign. It's eight specific edits, prioritized by which section is leaking the most. Start with your lowest-scoring one. One strong change beats six weak ones.