Designing an effective website involves balancing web design trends with effective company branding choices. From the colour scheme to the typography, the imagery to the navigation bar, your website needs to not only be on trend, or preferably ahead of the curve, but it also needs to make a statement about your company identity. But knowing which design trends to follow, and which to avoid can be a real challenge. Especially if these trends keep reappearing. Splash pages are one such trend, and they tend to be a marmite issue. You either love them, or you hate them. But could it be a good fit for your website?Well, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester, we are Manchester’s leading web design professionals. From Wigan to Southport, we work with companies across Manchester and the surrounding region to deliver high quality web design solutions that really get results. As a result, we have produced this guide to the advantages and disadvantages of splash pages.
What is a splash page?
So, first of all, what is a splash page? Well, a splash page is kind of a pop-up that introduces users to your website. It might use the exact same design features as your main website, or it might be designed slightly differently. But you can use video, imagery and text to draw users into your website. This web design option can bring positive and negative effects. And it’s important to weigh up the pro’s and cons before you make a decision. So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of splash pages?
Advantages of splash pages
- Grab attention- splash pages do grab the attention of your users, even if it’s just to click though to your website. But because of this devoted attention, the splash page can be a great way to get across a specific message, before users enter your website. This could be used to promote your brands purpose or story, or to build trust wit the consumer, and this can really drive sales and sign ups.
- Showcase- a splash page can be a great option to show off your latest products or projects, and really showcase what you can do.
Disadvantages of splash pages
- Slows the user down- ultimately a splash page is showing your users something they didn’t necessarily choose to see. And this slows them down from achieving their purpose on your website. This can actually increase the website bounce rate, and reduce the performance of your website. In fact, studies have shown that 1/4 of users will just leave your website, as soon as they encounter a splash page.
- Lose interest- showing your users what you think will interest them doesn’t mean it will. So you might simply find that by the time they click through to your website, they have already slightly lost interest in your products or services, and your website will have to work even harder to persuade them to care again.
Using splash pages
Splash pages can be effective when used in the right way. This includes:
- splash pages with a purpose or aim that is clear and well thought out
- splash pages that are only shown to the user once, not every time they visit your website
- splash pages that use your company branding to prevent user confusion
- splash pages that can be immediately closed
For more information or advice about professional web design solutions for your company, get in touch with the experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester.