What is a Splash Page?

What are Splash Pages?

A splash page is a page that precedes the main pages on your website. The purpose of a splash page varies: You can promote a new offer, show a disclaimer, or require visitors to verify information, depending on the industry or niche your business operates in.

Unlike a squeeze page or a landing page, splash pages don’t necessarily ask visitors to enter their name or email address. The basic purpose of a splash page is to inform visitors of something, such as a new company update, or to confirm their geographical region to personalize their experience, like the Casa page does.

A typical splash page’s primary purpose is to enhance the user experience with timely, relevant information. Depending on your brand, this might look like:

• Confirming a visitor’s age (common with alcohol brands)
• Offering a limited-time discount
• Asking for a visitor’s language or country
• Promoting a seasonal campaign or product launch

The page contains minimal copy, a background image, and most importantly a link that takes the visitor to the main website. It can be a welcome screen to the main website or a teaser that gets visitors excited for the content they’re about to view.

For example, all alcoholic brand websites include an “age disclaimer” splash page, which serves as a warning to the visitor. Although Federal law does not require these splash pages, the Federal Trade Commission says brands selling alcohol should self-regulate and use age verification technologies.

These are special types of splash pages because they are industry-specific, do not have an exit link, and force the visitor to verify their age before granting access to the main website.

Tito’s splash page confirms the visitor’s age before they can click through to the website.

The difference between splash pages and landing pages (with examples)

A landing page is a standalone page that is created to fulfill a single conversion goal. This goal can vary from collecting webinar registrants to securing ebook downloads.

A splash page, on the other hand, is not a standalone page—it’s more of a large window hosted on the main website page. The goal of the splash page is to provide valuable information to the visitor.

For example, the Dollar Shave Club splash page asks visitors to fill out a quick quiz to personalize products for them:

Your splash page could feature a giveaway that will excite your visitors. This will heighten your credibility even before they officially enter your website, making them more likely to buy whatever product or service you are offering.

The Protein Works splash page is a great example of how to use the page to announce a discount.

There are also splash pages that ask visitors to identify which language or version of the website they want to see.

The difference between Splash Pages and Homepages

A splash page can be connected to your homepage, any content or product page, or your blog. It is a “welcome screen” and the first page visitors see before the website.

The homepage, content page, or blog page (and respective splash pages) share the same root URL—however, there are some subtle differences between the main website pages and a splash page.

As an example, let’s look at Zara.com and identify the differences between the homepage and splash page.

This is Zara’s splash page:

The splash page has:

• A background image that’s relevant to the website
• A single message (the choice of the country for which you want to view products)
• A CTA button that takes you to the website

This is what Zara’s homepage looks like:

The homepage has:

• Multiple images that showcase multiple products
• Navigation links taking you to other pages within the website for various types of products, sales, a shopping cart, etc
• A search bar that allows you to find the products you’re looking for

How do I create a Splash Page?

When creating a splash page, you can:

1. Have your internal web designer and development team create one for each of your relevant pages—if you have these resources
2. Hire a third-party designer and developer to create a splash page template, and then host the page on your website
3. Use Instapage to design your splash page quickly

How to use Instapage to create your splash pages

Creating a splash page doesn’t have to involve designers or developers. With Instapage, you can build and launch your pages quickly using tools designed for speed and conversion.

• Easily design custom splash pages without writing code
• Start with pre-built templates tailored for promos, disclaimers, or welcome screens
• Test different versions of your splash page to see what gets more engagement
• Ensure your splash page looks great on every device
• Track performance with built-in insights or connect to Google Analytics

Whether you need an age gate, regional selector, or pre-launch teaser, Instapage helps you create splash pages that look great and convert better. Get started with a 14-day trial to see how Instapage can help increase your campaign performance.