Last Updated: May 27, 2024 by Editorial Team | Reviewed by: James Dyson
When it comes to your website, making a strong first impression is key, especially with so much competition online.
That's where splash pages come in. Think of them as the friendly hello at the door of your website. They set the mood, introduce your brand, and get visitors excited for what's next.
Splash pages are all about capturing attention with great visuals, a clear message, and a nudge towards taking action.
In this guide, we're going to explore why splash pages are a big deal, share some tips on making them work for you, and give you 8 splash page examples to inspire your own.
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A splash page is a page that visitors encounter before seeing the main content of a website.
Splash pages are super versatile. They can:
Introduce your brand or a fresh new look.
Shine a spotlight on special events, products, or services.
Check if visitors are old enough for your content or let them pick their language or region.
Highlight awesome deals or promos.
From a design perspective, splash pages are often visually compelling, making use of striking imagery, animations, or brief videos.
One of the key features of splash pages is navigation. They almost always offer visitors the option to bypass or "skip" them to head straight to the main content or homepage.
The essential elements of a splash page are designed to capture attention, convey a message quickly, and guide users to the next step.
Here are the key components of a splash page:
A splash page needs to be simple in layout and not too overwhelming.
The goal of any splash page is to be simple, and direct and offer a clear message to the visitor, which is essential when it comes to getting them to take the desired action.
The visual component is perhaps the most critical element of a splash page. Whether it's a high-quality image, a video, or dynamic graphics, it should be eye-catching and resonate with the overall message or brand.
A distinct and compelling CTA is crucial. This could be a button prompting users to "Learn More," "Shop Now," "Sign Up," or any other relevant action you want visitors to take.
With a significant portion of web traffic coming from mobile devices, splash pages need to be optimized for different screen sizes to ensure a consistent user experience.
This is particularly important if the goal is to capture the attention of new visitors for the first time and needs to be clear and easily viewed.
To help put you on the right track, we’ve broken down 8 professional splash page examples in the industry to help give you an idea of how these essential elements are applied effectively.
Asana Rebel uses specific background images to guide visitors to the gender-specific sections of their website. Each is separated in it’s own column that contains a CTA (Call to action) button.
If you have a brand or a business that targets multiple demographics, using a splash page to target them is a powerful way to capture their attention and engage them with call-to-actions.
We recommend testing different image layouts and images when targeting multiple groups to help you identify combinations that are the highest converting.
Backlinko splash page is a simple and conventional page that includes the key elements of what makes a splash page effective.
They use a powerful headline to sell his newsletter along with an opt-in box to collect email addresses and an image of Brian himself to establish trust and credibility.
The layout is easy to navigate and makes signing up straightforward for visitors who would like to subscribe and learn more about his business.
Headway introduces users to a quiz as the initial gateway to their website.
This is a great way to survey and segment new visitors and your visitor's demographics so you can better serve them with relevant information and offers.
We recommend keeping your quizzes as simple as possible to prevent visitors from losing focus and leaving your quiz entirely.
Make your questions simple to answer and multiple-choice to limit visitors from typing.
Juul’s splash page is a basic design that offers 2 calls-to-action. If your website is age-sensitive, using a splash page as a way to guard your actual website from younger visitors is an effective way to achieve this without relying on complex systems or code.
The design uses a simple black and white colour combination to fit the brand’s design and again, uses a simple layout that is organised and easy on the eye.
When designing your splash page using OptimizeBuilder, we recommend using only a few columns and rows in order to keep the organisation simple and effective.
Poolsuite’s splash page stands out by using a design that looks like a vintage Windows desktop screen.
The brand uses a similar theme and sticks to the design in order to not confuse visitors.
The clever and unique design certainly helps to capture the attention and interest of visitors and could be effective in growing engagement with the company’s offers.
We recommend using tried and tested designs to save you from having to recreate the wheel. Using OptimizePress’s preset designs is the perfect way to help you get started and is all included as part of the software suite.
Similar to Poolsuite’s design, Smooth Hound South uses a Typewriter font to give its design a vintage feel that most visitors will be familiar with.
The page contains a few links that promote the company’s other content platforms. This a nice way to point new visitors to the most important parts of your website and is proven to increase conversions.
Again, the design uses just 2 columns and includes large text to make reading accessible to visitors with different eye strengths.
We recommend using big and bold fonts for the purpose of allowing all of your visitors and customers to clearly read what your website is offering.
The Ankler uses a similar theme to Apple’s brand in that it uses a plain white background and an orange colour to highlight key elements and CTAs.
The design simply includes a short headline, an opt-in box and a few testimonials to help build trust with new visitors who land on the page for the first time.
At OptimizePress, we suggest not overthinking when it comes to design and have found keeping things simple always results in better engagement and conversions.
What we liked about Tito’s splash page is how direct and simple it is. It has just one headline that asks a question to new visitors with 2 buttons whether it’s a yes or a no.
Clicking yes will take visitors to the main website and will redirect them to a different page if they click no.
A nice and simple way to pre-qualify your visitors so you only attract customers who fit your demographic.
The design uses a simple short-width column and a background image to fit the mood and style of the brand.
We recommend testing different background images in your own designs as it has proven to increase engagement and conversion rates.
Tom Ford’s splash page is a simple opt-in box that pops up when a visitor first enters the website.
It contains a simple headline and an opt-in field for new visitors to put in their email address to get more information about the brand’s latest offers.
We included this example due to its simple setup and can easily replicate this inside OptimizeBuilder.
Using the Pop Overlay feature and our range of preset sections, you will be able to quickly add a popup overlay to your landing page and begin engaging more of your visitors.
The key theme with Trends is community and emphasises this on its splash page with a background image of all of its existing community members.
The main content area includes a transparent background to help display more of the background image. It also contains a main headline that highlights the number of founders who are using their platform to establish credibility.
This encourages visitors to opt-in and join the community.
Lastly, it includes a small widget below the opt-in form that includes thumbnail images of existing members. This is a nice way to remove any last-minute doubts about opting in and will help improve email opt-in rates.
Veueve Clicquot follows the same theme as the examples we covered earlier by including a relevant background image that fits with the brand’s business.
Again, it sticks to a simple design by including brief text and a dropdown asking visitors to select the region they’re from and their date of birth.
This serves to help identify whether a visitor is within the age limit to enter and browse the website and is again, a nice way to pre-qualify visitors to help you identify your target demographic.
Wisely’s splash page has opted for a quiz to help identify and learn more about their visitors.
Unlike an earlier example, the quiz design focuses on clever imagery that helps maintain visitor engagement.
The clickable buttons to take visitors through the quiz also use bright and bold colours to help them identify where to click in order to continue with the quiz.
We suggest using CTA buttons that use bold colours in order to make them stand out from the rest of your page. This will help you improve engagement which will result in a higher conversion rate.
Here at OptimizePress, we’ve made building a splash page both simple and straightforward.
Using the built-in pop overlay feature inside the OptimizeBuilder, you will be able to quickly add the elements you need along with how you would like it to display on your page.
Clicking on the ‘Create Blank Overlay’ will launch a new overlay window, allowing you to begin adding elements to it.
Here’s an example overlay that was created inside OptimizeBuilder:
Changing the background overlay colour to white allows you to turn your overlay into a splash page that you can then set a delay animation, to reveal on page load or when a visitor clicks on a link.
As you’ve seen from the examples we listed, the splash page is a very easy and effective page that can serve many purposes.
It will allow you to direct visitors to key areas of your page, identify your perfect demographic as well as increase the number of subscribers opting into your email list, which is an important part of converting your visitors into customers and making a healthy profit.
Here are our key takeaways:
Using just a few key elements and keeping your splash page simple will ensure you will always have a page that will engage more visitors and further improve conversions on your website.
With our OptimizePress Template library, you will be able to choose from a large selection of professional and high-converting landing pages so you can get up and running quickly.
Learn What's Working Now from 120+ Top Landing Pages in our FREE Guide
Get Access to 120+ Landing Page Swipes from Creators, Digital Marketers and Experts + insights and steps to boost your landing page conversions.