What if I told you that your conversion rate problem is not your offer, not your traffic, but your fonts?
You can fix a lot of “poor engagement” just by controlling where the eye lands first, second, and third. That is what typography hierarchy does. It guides attention. And attention is what turns visits into revenue.
Here is the short version: pick one job for each text style on the page, set a clear size scale, lock in spacing, and then use typography as a visual funnel that moves the user from curiosity to click. If users do not know where to look, they do not know what to do. If they do not know what to do, they do not buy, sign up, or book a call. Typography hierarchy is how you fix that without touching your copy or redesigning your whole product.
Why Typography Hierarchy Makes You Money
Most SaaS sites do the same thing: big hero headline, random subheading, a button, then a wall of text. No clear structure. Every section fights for attention. The user skims, feels vague confusion, then leaves.
You do not have a content problem. You have a priority problem.
Typography hierarchy is your visual ranking of what matters most on a page and in what order the user should consume it.
Think of every page like a scripted sales call:
– First line: hook.
– Second line: context.
– Third: proof or clarity.
– Fourth: action.
On the screen, those lines map to sizes, weights, and spacing. You are not “styling text.” You are writing a script for the human eye.
Here is the mental shift:
You do not pick font sizes. You design reading paths.
That shift changes how you work with devs, designers, and writers. Instead of random font tweaks, you define a system. That system then repeats across your site or product, which makes everything feel clean and trustworthy.
And trust is a conversion asset.
The 5 Visual Jobs Your Typography Must Cover
If you give every piece of text a different style, the page becomes noise.
You only need a small set of roles, each with its own visual treatment:
- Primary attention (what the user must see first)
- Secondary context (what explains or supports the primary message)
- Section guidance (what helps users jump to what they care about)
- Body reading (what users can comfortably read at length)
- Micro-signals (labels, captions, helper text)
Map each of these to one or two typography styles and then stop. If you have “H1, H2, H3, H4, Subtitle, Lead, Body, Small, Extra-small, Caption, Footnote” all active on a single page, you confuse the hierarchy.
Every extra style is a new accent in the conversation. Too many accents and the user stops listening.
1. Primary Attention: The Hero and Key Callouts
Primary attention is your loudest voice. Use it where a quick decision matters most:
– Hero headline on your landing page
– Big section hook in a long-form sales page
– Key pricing callout
– The core promise inside an onboarding flow
The job of this style is simple: stop scrolling.
So give it:
– Largest size on the page
– Strongest weight (but not always bold; sometimes black text on a soft colored background with medium weight wins)
– Clear separation from what follows (space above and below)
You want the user to glance and think: “This is what this screen is about.”
Do not use your primary style everywhere. If everything is loud, nothing is loud.
2. Secondary Context: The Support Line That Sells
The second level answers: “What does that mean for me?” It is the line under your hero, the sentence under a feature title, the short explainer near a form.
Typical mistakes:
– Making this text too small, so it feels like legal copy
– Making it the same size as body text, so it blends in
– Making it as loud as the main headline, so it competes
You want the user to read it after the main hook, not before and not instead. So it should be:
– Smaller than the main headline
– Larger or more prominent than body text
– Closer to the primary text than to anything else
That last part is where spacing does the work. If the subheading is visually “attached” to the headline, the eye automatically groups them.
3. Section Guidance: H2s and H3s That Act Like Navigation
On long pages, users do not read. They hunt. They scan for bits that match their intent: pricing, features, social proof, integration, security.
Your H2 and H3 hierarchy is the hunting map.
If your headings all look the same weight and size, the user cannot see groups and sub-groups. That feels like walking in a store with no aisle signs.
So treat H2s and H3s like mini-billboards:
– H2: marks a new chunk of the story
– H3: refines that chunk into smaller points
Make H2s clearly larger or stronger than H3s. Make H3s clearly stronger than body text. And keep their styles consistent from top to bottom.
If your headings were the only text on the page, a new visitor should still understand the main story.
That is a good test for hierarchy: strip out body copy and see if the headings alone tell a clear, persuasive narrative.
4. Body Text: The Workhorse That Nobody Should Notice
Body text does most of the talking but should almost never stand out.
You want:
– Comfortable size on both desktop and mobile
– Line height that breathes
– Line length that does not tire the eyes
If users feel even mild strain, they stop reading long explanations, case studies, and onboarding help. Which hurts feature adoption and SEO.
Here is a simple body copy baseline you can translate into your own design tokens:
| Context | Font size | Line height | Line length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop body | 16-18px | 1.5-1.7 | 55-75 characters per line |
| Mobile body | 15-16px | 1.5-1.7 | Screen width, with padding |
Do not go lower than 14px for body on mobile unless you are forced to by legacy constraints, and if so, increase the line height.
5. Micro-Signals: Labels, Captions, and Helper Text
These elements shape behavior more than most teams realise:
– Field labels and placeholders
– Error messages
– Helper text under inputs
– Chart labels
– Tooltips
If error text and helper text share the same visual treatment, users miss warnings. If labels and values look the same, data feels messy.
Design a small set of micro-styles:
– Label style (often uppercase, small size, higher letter spacing)
– Helper style (light weight, slightly smaller than body)
– Error style (same size as helper, different color and maybe weight)
Micro-typography is where most UX friction hides. Clean it up and your product feels smarter, without adding a single feature.
Building a Type Scale That Guides the Eye Automatically
Now that you know the jobs, you need a scale: a predictable set of sizes that step up or down in a logical way.
Random sizes lead to random attention. A scale gives you consistency, which trains the user’s eye.
You do not need advanced theory. You need a clear ladder.
Pick a Simple Ratio and Stick to It
One easy way to build hierarchy is to start with body text and move up using a ratio.
For example, say your body text on desktop is 16px. You can use a 1.25 ratio like this:
| Role | Token | Size (px) |
|---|---|---|
| Micro / caption | text-xs | 13 |
| Body | text-base | 16 |
| Strong body / lead | text-lg | 20 |
| H3 | text-xl | 25 |
| H2 | text-2xl | 31 |
| H1 | text-3xl | 39 |
The exact numbers matter less than the consistent steps. Users start to feel a pattern: bigger size = higher priority.
On mobile, you can compress the top of the scale:
– Keep body about the same
– Reduce H1/H2 sizes slightly
– Preserve the order, not the exact values
Weight, Case, and Color as Secondary Levers
Size is the primary driver of hierarchy. Weight, case, and color are secondary. Use them to refine the hierarchy instead of replacing it.
– Weight: use bold sparingly for headlines, key phrases, and important metrics. If everything is bold, nothing is read first.
– Case: title case or sentence case both work; consistency is what builds trust. Reserve ALL CAPS for small elements like labels.
– Color: one accent color for links and primary actions, one or two neutrals for body and secondary text.
If you need color alone to communicate hierarchy, your size and spacing decisions are not doing their job.
Spacing: The Hidden Half of Typography Hierarchy
Spacing is what tells the eye which elements belong together.
You need two kinds of spacing:
– Within a group (headline + subheading + button)
– Between groups (one section vs the next)
Here is a simple rule you can hand to your devs:
– Vertical space between elements in the same group: 0.5x to 1x the body font size
– Vertical space between blocks/sections: 2x to 3x the body font size
This alone creates visible clusters that guide the eye down the page.
Remember: if the gap above a heading equals the gap below it, the user cannot tell whether it belongs to the content above or below. That small confusion adds up.
Using Hierarchy to Drive Conversion on SaaS Pages
Let us connect this to money.
Typography hierarchy does not just “look nicer.” It shapes conversion behavior on key templates:
– Home / landing pages
– Pricing pages
– Feature pages
– Blog posts and SEO content
– In-app onboarding and empty states
If you treat each of these as a script for the eye, your metrics change without any fancy growth hacks.
Home and Landing Pages: Hook, Clarify, Prove, Direct
Your hero area carries most of the weight. The sequence should be obvious at a glance:
1. Hero headline (primary attention)
2. Subheadline (secondary context)
3. Primary call to action
4. Fast proof nearby (logos, testimonial, short benefit)
Typography builds that sequence. A simple approach:
– H1: largest, strongest, shortest. One promise, not a paragraph.
– Subheading: 60 to 70 percent of H1 size, normal weight, 1-2 lines.
– CTA: button that contrasts by color, but sits close to the subheading.
– Proof: small, lighter text or logos. You want users to notice it after the CTA, not before.
Think of the hero as a single sentence broken into typographic parts: “We do X for Y so you can get Z. Start now.”
Lower on the page, your headings should form a narrative:
– H2: Address key questions (“How it works”, “Who it is for”, “What you get”)
– H3: Break down each point without overpowering H2s
– Body: Short paragraphs, often one idea each
If your scroll-depth report shows many users leaving around the fold, your headings probably do not promise enough value to keep reading.
Pricing Pages: Clarify Choices, Not Add Confusion
Most pricing pages confuse users because all numbers, labels, and features look the same.
Your hierarchy goals:
– Make the plan names and short descriptions stand out
– Make the monthly price incredibly obvious
– De-emphasise secondary details until users show interest
A simple structure:
– Plan name: clear H3 or H4 style
– Plan tagline: smaller, lighter text just under the plan name
– Price: larger than plan name, strong weight, clear currency and unit
– Feature list: body size or slightly smaller, with consistent bullets
– “Most popular” badge: small caps or label style, not a giant sticker
You want the user to be able to answer three questions in two seconds:
– How many plans are there?
– Which one is probably for me?
– How much will that cost me?
Typography hierarchy either helps or blocks those answers.
Feature Pages: Sell With Scannable Structure
Feature pages can turn into walls of jargon. Good hierarchy solves that:
– Big benefit-focused H2 at the top of each section, not feature names
– Short intros, then smaller H3s for specific features
– Microcopy near UI images to explain what is happening in the screenshot
Assign a clear job:
– H2: big “why this matters” benefit
– H3: “how this part works” explanation
– Body: short, customer language, not internal jargon
If you read your H2s and H3s in isolation and they sound like internal feature names, rewrite them until they sound like outcomes.
Blog and SEO Content: From Skim to Depth
On content pages, hierarchy affects two direct outcomes:
– Dwell time and scroll depth
– How often users find the parts that match their intent
For SEO pieces, assume 80 percent of readers skim first. So structure your hierarchy like this:
– Title (page H1): clear promise aligned with search intent
– Intro: short, maybe 3 to 5 sentences, with one clear TL;DR line
– H2s: cover major sections that answer the query
– H3s: break down steps or subtopics
Make H2s visually stronger than H3s. Make H3s clearly stronger than body text but not as strong as H2s.
Then, use consistent patterns:
– All H2s in the same style and tone
– All H3s in the same style and tone
– Lists and tables to segment dense information
If your H2s read like a direct answer to the main query, users and search engines both understand your content faster.
In-App UX: Onboarding, Settings, and Dashboards
In your product, typography hierarchy affects:
– Onboarding completion
– Feature discovery
– Error recovery
– How “hard” your product feels
Dashboards are a common failure point. Everything is 14px and medium weight. Numbers, labels, headings, and helper text all blend together.
Fix it by defining:
– Page title: strongest size on that screen
– Section title: one step down
– Metric value: large, bold, clear
– Metric label: small, light, often uppercased
– Helper or explanatory text: smaller, lighter, more space above
In forms and settings:
– Field label: consistent size and case
– Required indicator: small, clear, but not louder than the label
– Helper text: smaller and lighter, directly under the field
– Error text: same size as helper, but with a distinct color and maybe heavier weight
Do not let devs “just pick whatever” for these. Give them a type system that already encodes these choices.
How To Design a Typographic System for Your SaaS
Now, let us turn this into a step-by-step path you can follow without a full-time designer.
Step 1: Audit One Key Page
Start with your highest-value page: main landing page, top onboarding screen, or pricing page.
Print it out or screenshot it and then:
– Cover all colors; look at it grayscale
– Squint so you only see blocks of text, not words
Ask:
– What is the very first element my eye goes to?
– What is second?
– Is that the story I want to tell?
If the first thing you see is a navigation item, a random badge, or a secondary tagline, your hierarchy is off.
Next, count how many font sizes, weights, and colors you use for text. If you are above 6 to 8 combinations on one simple screen, you probably need to simplify.
Step 2: Define Your Core Tokens
Create a small set of type tokens that your team will use.
You might have something like:
| Token | Role | Desktop | Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heading-XL | Hero / page titles | 36-44px, bold | 28-32px, bold |
| Heading-L | Section titles (H2) | 28-32px, semi-bold | 22-26px, semi-bold |
| Heading-M | Sub-section titles (H3) | 20-24px, semi-bold | 18-20px, semi-bold |
| Body | Main paragraphs | 16-18px, regular | 15-16px, regular |
| Body-Small | Notes, helper text | 13-14px, regular | 13-14px, regular |
| Label | UI labels, tags | 11-12px, medium, all caps | 11-12px, medium, all caps |
The numbers are less important than the relationships. Heading-XL should always be visually stronger than Heading-L, and so on.
Step 3: Map Tokens to Semantics
Developers often treat headings just as bigger text. Search engines and assistive tech treat them as structure.
Align your visual tokens to semantic HTML:
– H1: only once per page, mapped to Heading-XL
– H2: main sections, mapped to Heading-L
– H3: subsections, mapped to Heading-M
– P: Body
– Small, span with a class: Body-Small, Label
If your semantic structure and your visual structure tell the same story, both humans and machines understand your site better.
Step 4: Set Rules for Each Template
Do not just set tokens and hope for the best. Define rules:
– On landing pages: H1 used once, H2 for sections, H3 for subpoints, no H4 unless there is a strong need.
– On blog posts: H1 for title, H2 for main sections, H3 for minor headings, do not skip levels.
– In-app: Page title always Heading-L or XL, section titles Heading-M, never use Heading-XL inside modals.
Write these rules down in your design system or internal docs where everyone can see them.
Step 5: Test Typographic Variants for Conversion
Typography tweaks can be A/B tested. And they should be.
Here are elements worth testing:
– Hero headline size and weight
– Subheadline length and size
– Button label size and weight
– Pricing amount size vs plan name size
– Testimonial text size vs author name size
When you run tests, change as little as possible at once. For example, increase hero headline size by 20 percent on variant B while keeping copy the same. Watch impact on click-through and scroll depth.
You might find that reducing hero headline size slightly and making the CTA more prominent lifts clicks because the button gets more visual weight.
Common Typography Hierarchy Mistakes That Kill Clarity
You might already be making some of these.
Everything Looks Like an H2
A frequent pattern is to set all headings to the same size because it feels “cohesive.” The result is the opposite: no clear hierarchy.
Fix: Make H2s, H3s, and body clearly distinct. At a glance, you should see at most 3 to 4 text scales on a simple page.
Over-styled Text Blocks
Color, underline, italics, bold, uppercase, and background highlights all in one paragraph. This looks busy and slows reading.
Fix: Pick one primary emphasis per block. If you need more, your copy may be trying to do too many things at once.
Body Text Too Small or Too Wide
When devs squeeze body text to fit more content without scrolling, readability drops and users stop engaging.
Fix:
– Raise font size to a comfortable level
– Restrict line length using max-width on content containers
– Increase line height for dense sections
Ignoring Mobile Hierarchy
Sometimes the desktop version looks clear, but on mobile everything collapses into a same-size scroll.
Fix:
– Keep heading relationships intact on mobile
– Avoid shrinking all headings to almost-body size
– Add extra spacing between sections on small screens
A good quick test: look at your page on a phone from arm’s length. Can you still see a clear rhythm of large, medium, and small text?
How Typography Hierarchy Supports SEO and Accessibility
This is not just about design taste. Search performance and accessibility both depend on clear hierarchy.
SEO: Structure That Matches Intent
Search engines read your headings and body to infer structure and topic depth.
Good hierarchy helps because:
– H1 states the main topic in user language
– H2s reflect subtopics that mirror real queries
– H3s add depth without cluttering the top level
When your visual hierarchy and semantic structure match the questions users ask, your content feels more relevant and is easier to crawl.
Accessibility: Clear Paths for All Users
Users with screen readers, low vision, or cognitive load issues rely on hierarchy even more.
Helpful practices:
– Do not skip heading levels (no jumping from H1 to H4)
– Make sure color contrast between text and background is strong enough
– Do not rely on color alone to indicate importance; support it with size and weight
– Keep line height and spacing consistent across similar elements
If you fix hierarchy with accessibility in mind, you often fix it for everyone.
How To Roll Out Better Typography Across Your Product
You do not need a big redesign to benefit from typography hierarchy. You can treat it like a series of controlled upgrades.
Phase 1: Decide the System
– Pick your scale (body size, heading steps, micro sizes)
– Define tokens and map them to HTML elements
– Document rules per template type
Do this once with input from design, dev, and content.
Phase 2: Pilot on One High-Impact Surface
Choose one of:
– Main landing page
– Pricing page
– Signup or onboarding flow
– Top blog post
Apply the new system there first. Measure:
– Bounce rate
– Scroll depth
– Button clicks
– Form completion
Do not run 10 changes at once. Make typography hierarchy the main variable where you can.
Phase 3: Standardise Across Templates
Roll the system into your component library:
– Headings components (H1, H2, H3)
– Text components (Body, Small, Label)
– Status text (Success, Error, Info)
Train the team to stop adding “one-off” text styles in CSS. Every new exception dilutes the clarity you gained.
Phase 4: Keep a Short “No” List
Guardrails matter. Create a small list of rules like:
– No new font sizes outside the defined scale
– No more than two fonts across marketing and product
– No all-caps body text
– No center-aligned long paragraphs
– No full-justified body copy
Clarity is not only what you add. It is what you refuse to allow.
Turning Typography Hierarchy Into a Growth Habit
Typography hierarchy is not a one-time task. It is a lever you can adjust as you learn more about how your users behave.
You can:
– Rebalance which elements get the most visual weight when you change your core offer
– Test different headline and subheadline contrasts for key campaigns
– Adjust in-app text hierarchy when you introduce new features or change onboarding flow
The pattern stays the same:
1. Decide what you want users to see first.
2. Give that element clear visual priority.
3. Support it with the right second and third steps.
4. Remove distractions that compete at the same level.
If you train your eye to see pages as sequences of attention instead of piles of text, typography stops being a design detail and starts being a growth tool.
