Designing an effective “coming soon” page for pre-launch marketing

A “coming soon” page can be an effective option for reaching more people, and generating more interest in your products or services, before you even open. But creating a page that has the right effect, or that your potential customers will remember, can be more difficult than you might think. And you will need to clearly define your goal, before you begin designing the page. Here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester, we are Manchester’s leading web design professionals. We work with a variety of companies across Manchester, and the North West, including  those in Blackburn and Chorley, to provide high quality web design solutions. And this is our guide to everything you should know about placeholder pages, and pre-launch marketing.

What is a “coming soon” page?

A “coming soon” page is there to give your website, and your brand, a brief online presence, in preparation for your actual launch. This is also known as a placeholder page, and can be used to:

  • Secure your website page in the search engine results- search terms for your company name, or similar phrases, may link your “coming soon” page, attracting organic traffic to your website, and generating interest before you officially open.
  • Begin collecting emails for email marketing- interested website users can enter their details for early information, and offers and promotions. This allows you to increase your email marketing list, pre-launch.
  • Link to social media profiles or other online presence- this can help users find out more information about your company, and help build consumer trust

What are the important considerations for designing an effective “coming soon” page for pre-launch marketing?

There are several things you should consider when designing a placeholder page. These include:

  • The page colour scheme- if your company or brand already has a logo, or company branding, you should consider using company colours for the placeholder page. This will help attach the page/website to your existing brand identity, so that your existing customers know where to return to.
  • The imagery- a “coming soon” page will often use stunning visual imagery of products or services, or other industry relevant imagery, to attract and secure attention of website users. This can also help generate interest and excitement, before your company launches.
  • Call to Action- a “coming soon” page needs a CTA, as your interested customers dont have any other information to look at, so may simply bounce almost immediately. Instead, you should draw them in with a CTA, collecting their email address for future offers, or directing them to your social media sites instead. This can help keep your company memorable and relevant to the potential customer.
  • Set expectations- the coming soon page needs to set user expectations in two different ways. Firstly, your users need to know what this placeholder page is for. Are you launching a new website, or redesigning your existing one? Make this clear with a short sentence. And secondly, you need to set expectations with design and imagery. A well designed “coming soon” page will show users that your company is professional and trustworthy. While a simple or poorly designed page will give a negative impression completely.

For more information or advice, or for high quality, professional web design solutions, get in touch with the experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester.