Experts discovered that about 75 percent of consumers ‘judge a book by its cover’ when it comes to web design. In fact, this three-quarters of the population wouldn’t return to a site that they feel is unappealing.
This statistic alone emphasizes the importance of making a good impression with your website, but how do you go about this? Is a landing page your one and only shot to close a sale or does a splash page really make a ‘splash’?
If you’ve been doing circles around this marketing and design debate, you’re in luck. Follow along as we tackle the landing page vs splash page debate to uncover which solution is right for your business and how to use them to help you grow.
What Is a Landing Page?
A landing page is the most common page to develop when working with advertising and promotions. This is because social media and search engine ads almost always lead consumers to a specially designed, high-converting landing page.
This page usually contains a special offer or sales-driven copy designed to inspire action.
Much like your other sales copy, a landing page includes a clear call-to-action that usually includes capturing details for lead generation. The most successful landing pages are relevant to the ad they are linked from and contain some kind of incentive for consumers to take the next step in your sales funnel.
Why Is It Important?
We live in a world where instant gratification has taken away our desire to find things for ourselves. With this in mind, you want to make it as easy and effortless as possible for your consumers to sign up for your offer or purchase a product.
By using a landing page instead of your homepage for advertisements and promotions, you are providing the absolute shortest path from inquiry to sale for your user. This shortened journey can go a long way when it comes to high conversion.
Beyond this, a landing page blocks out all the information that users don’t need to know that may distract them from their original path. By filtering out these distractions you’re actually building a level of trust and authority with the user for future interactions.
What Is a Splash Page?
A splash page is also commonly thought of as an ‘intro’ page.
This is the page that pops up on your screen while you’re visiting a website. However, unlike pop-ups, a splash page doesn’t wait for your customers to lose interest before making its debut.
Your splash page is a great place to feature promotions, make exclusive offers, or even display your latest and greatest work. You’ll find eCommerce stores use this feature frequently to promote new lines and give visitors a tempting view of a hot new product.
Why Is It Valuable?
Not every lead will land on your site through ads. In fact, if you’re doing a good job of your search engine marketing, quite a few of these visitors could be finding you organically on search engines.
A splash page gives you the chance to hit each and every visitor to ensure no one misses out on your best content. By optimizing your splash page design, you could turn customers that are ‘just looking’ into loyal clients who can’t get enough of your unique offerings.
The Differences Between a Landing Page vs Splash Page
While landing pages and splash pages have a lot in common, there are a few very distinct differences that could make or break your success with either technique.
Here’s what you need to know about each:
Length
A landing page can be anywhere from 100 words to 5000. Each niche and business will find a different strategy that works well to ensure a high converting landing page. However, there is no hard and fast rule about the length you choose.
A splash page on the other hand must be short and concise. You’ll have a very limited amount of space and time to make an impact and you’ll need to design your page in a way that makes the most of this.
While a landing page has ample opportunity to elaborate and entertain, your splash page should be fully readable in a matter of seconds.
Features/Content
Again, with landing pages, you’ve got a lot of freedom when it comes to what to feature. If you’re promoting a program, you may take the opportunity to include reviews, product information, or even a video clip to keep your visitors engaged.
A splash page can feature video or photo content but must do so in a compelling and almost ‘flashy’ way.
Choose images that really capture attention and invest enough time and energy into your copy to make it irresistible!
Purpose
When users click on a link and wind up on your landing page, they are already interested in the offer or product you are featuring. This makes your job much easier. The purpose of the landing page is then to capture their details or get them to take you up on your offer.
When users see your splash page, they may or may not already be interested in your brand or products. This means the purpose of the page is to impress and capture them.
While this can be a bit more of a challenge, the reward is well worth the effort.
How to Choose Between a Splash Page vs Landing Page
Now that you know what each of these pages are and how they differ, you may be wondering, “How do I choose the right page for my business?’ The answer to this question is quite simple. You don’t have to choose.
Because both pages offer distinct advantages in different marketing situations, your best approach is to adopt both a great landing page and splash page design for your website. This will ensure you capture both traffic streams and are always ready to impress.
Building Your Splash and Landing Pages
From capturing more leads to starting off on the right foot with your audience, we’re confident you’ll love the results you see with both your splash and landing pages. With perks like higher conversion and increased interest, there’s no reason to delay designing your pages for success.
Ready to build but not sure where to start when it comes to your landing page vs splash page? Get in touch with us today to discover how we can take your impressionable pages from drab to fab and help you build a business and website you’re proud to promote!
