What counts as a hero section
This collection covers homepage hero banners, the above-the-fold area of product pages, advertorial and landing page heroes, and the top of collection pages.
Many results are full redesigns of that area, so the single change behind the lift is often unknown.
The win/loss record
37 measured results, all positive, no recorded losses.
Practitioners tend to share wins, and 20 of the 37 come from Dave Diederen and Oliver Kenyon redesigns, so this is not proof that any hero change helps.
Where hero sections were tested
- Product page: 16 tests
- Homepage: 15 tests
- Landing page: 2 tests
- Collection page: 1 test
- Other or unspecified: 3 tests
Biggest wins and their numbers
Show products sooner
- Dave Diederen, best-sellers row under the homepage hero: +30.88% CVR, +29.72% RPV
- Dave Diederen, best sellers above the fold, reviews pushed below: +21.75% CVR, +39.03% RPV
- Oliver Kenyon, shrank the collection page header so products show: +$45K/month
- Oliver Kenyon, social proof and Add to Cart in the first mobile view: +$47,927/month
Simpler heroes
Dave Diederen replaced a hero video with a static image and benefit callout: +24.81% CVR, +52.67% RPV, +22.32% AOV.
Dave also hid the USP bar under an advertorial hero (+10.89% CVR) and hid the USP badge bar on a product page (+5.65% CVR, +A$59,000/month).
Outcome and benefit copy
Kasper Dolk's benefits-first hero moved conversion from 1.38% to 1.58% (+14.41%) and RPV from €1.20 to €1.47 (+23.05%).
Kasper's outcome headline reported +$823,115.54 a year, and Oliver Kenyon's offer-focused headline moved conversion from 0.9% to 3.6%.
Full redesigns
Dave Diederen's homepage hero redesign gained +39.85% CVR and +72.15% RPV.
Its copy-only variant gained +3.99% CVR and +8.43% RPV, so most of that lift came from design, not words.
@DaveDiederen@DaveDiederen@DaveDiederen@DaveDiederen@DaveDiederen
@kasper_dolkTests that lost, were mixed or conflict
None were recorded as lost, but three results deserve care:
- Dave Diederen's hid written reviews above the fold (+13.36% CVR, +23.05% RPV) won in 8 of 10 tests, so it did not win in 2.
- That conflicts with Dave's one written review added above the fold, which gained +6.40% CVR. How many reviews and how much space likely matter more than reviews yes or no.
- Dave's Trustpilot section above the fold was the smallest win: +1.06% CVR, +2.29% RPV.
Design patterns that won
- Put a product row or Add to Cart in the first screen.
- Prefer a static image with a benefit callout to a hero video.
- Cut generic USP bars; keep USPs that match what buyers engage with.
- Lead with the outcome the customer wants, not the brand name.
- Match the hero image to buyer intent.
How to add or change a hero section on Shopify
Hero banners and product rows are theme sections you can add or reorder in the theme editor.
Product page above-the-fold changes usually need edits to the product template or a page builder.
Check mobile first, since several wins were mobile first-view changes.
How to test it on your store
Hypothesis: adding a best-sellers row directly under the homepage hero will raise conversion rate.
Use RPV as the main metric, since several hero wins also moved AOV.
The untested ideas suggest next steps: test hero copy angles one at a time, and test offer vs offer plus trust vs offer plus trust plus guarantee. Size it with the sample size calculator.