Now, I have to agree with Todd Zeigler over at The Bivings Group – normally I hate splash pages, especially as a user. But as Todd said, they seem to be extremely useful for collecting information (usually emails). It seems that sometimes you have to be a bit obnoxious for people to actually give you their information.
However, I want to insist that splash pages need to be used for one purpose – and one purpose only – collecting information from site visitors – getting them to sign up for your service, newsletter, whatever. They should NOT be used for a pretty flash movie or some other annoyance that serves no real purpose other than to annoy everyone. I don’t care if you spent a lot of money on that supposedly cool introduction. If you’re not using it for a real purpose, don’t do it. If you’re going to annoy your visitors, at least do it for an actual purpose – collecting information for a specific reason.
I also have to agree with Todd regarding the implementation of a splash page:
If you are going to deploy a splash page, please, please, please set it up so that a user only sees the page periodically. We usually set it up so that users who do not sign up see the page every two weeks or so. Also, make sure to set it up so that if users have already signed up for your email list they never see the splash page again. These steps will minimize the disruption to users who visit your site frequently.
(photo by sergio tudela)
Technorati tags: splash page, usability, design, business, marketing strategy, marketing
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