In brief
Four options for the guest Wi-Fi post-login screen: survey, announcement, menu, redirect address. When each works, and why a "follow us to continue" lock does harm.
The guest entered the code, was verified, and the internet opened. What appears next? Many venues either leave this moment blank or fill it with advertising. Both are a loss. The post-login screen is the two seconds in which the guest looks at you most attentively; used well, it does a small job and disappears; used badly, the guest ends up hating your network. This post covers the four options that work, the rule for each, and why the "follow us to continue" lock is a bad idea.
The principle first: fast and optional
Two rules above everything else:
- Fast. The screen should load in a second and close with one tap. The guest came to connect to the internet, not to read your page.
- Optional. Survey, follow, sign-up: none of them should be a condition of internet access. Verification is already done; everything after it is the guest's favour to you.
Any content that keeps these two rules works; none that breaks them does.
Four options
Hotspot-Box offers survey, announcement and redirect address tools for the post-login moment; a menu is served through the redirect address.
1. Announcement
The plainest option and the right one for most venues. A single message: "The kitchen is open until 23:00 today", "Live music Friday evening", "Your daily quota is 1 GB". Short text, clear date, an "OK" button.
Rules: one message, a one-line heading, at most two sentences. If the announcement is stale, remove it; the notice for an event two weeks ago says your network is unmaintained.
2. Survey
A well-designed survey collects valuable feedback; a badly designed one drives guests away. The difference is one question. "Rate your experience today" with five stars; an optional comment box; a "Skip" button always visible.
Rules: one or two questions at most; do not ask for name, phone or e-mail (verification is already done, and there is no reason to collect data a second time); do not try to join survey answers to the guest record. Use the survey in periods rather than permanently, so the response rate does not collapse.
3. Menu
The option that earns the most thanks in cafés and restaurants. The post-login screen goes straight to your menu page; the guest does not hunt for a QR code on the table. The method is simple: put your menu's link in the redirect address.
Rules: the menu page must be light; a 20 MB PDF exhausts the guest's 10 Mbps plan and their patience. Prices must be current; a menu with old prices is the short road to a complaint. The menu page itself should not ask for a "follow" or an "install our app".
4. Redirect address
The box sends the guest to an address you choose after sign-in. The menu is one example; others: an event programme, the hotel's services page, a promotion page, a dormitory notice board, a hospital wayfinding map. If you do not want to show anything, leave the redirect empty; the guest goes to whatever page they wanted to open.
Rules: the address should be HTTPS and must not need the walled garden (this is after sign-in, everything is open anyway); the page must be mobile-friendly; a single "Close" tap must always work.
| Option | When | The biggest mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Announcement | Daily information, quota reminder | Stale text |
| Survey | Periodic feedback | Long form, asking for personal data |
| Menu | Café, restaurant, hotel | Heavy PDF, old prices |
| Redirect | Events, accommodation, promotions | Slow or non-mobile page |
The "follow us to continue" lock
Some portals make internet access conditional on a social media follow, a like or an app install. This has four problems:
- It is not verification. A social media account does not count as identity verification; the verification the record needs was already done with the SMS code or coupon. That is also why Hotspot-Box does not offer social media sign-in: it does not count as identification and it brings a load of profile data.
- A forced follow is worthless. The guest follows, connects, and unfollows an hour later. The count goes up, engagement goes down.
- It creates a consent problem. Approval made a condition of the service may not count as freely given. If you want marketing permission, do it with a separate box, unchecked by default and not tied to sign-in.
- The guest resents it. The memory of "they forced me to follow them for Wi-Fi" outlasts the taste of the coffee.
The same applies to "install our app first", "leave your e-mail first" and "watch thirty seconds of ads first". If you want followers, put a single optional button on the post-login screen: "Follow us". Those who want to will tap.
Technical notes for speed
- Keep the post-login screen local to the portal; a chain of scripts and fonts loaded from outside sites slows the opening.
- Images small and compressed; one logo is enough.
- The page that opens in the device's captive portal window is a restricted browser; complex interfaces and autoplaying video break there.
- The close button 44 pixels and within thumb reach.
- If the redirect address fails to open, the guest still has internet; even a screen error must not affect the connection.
Example scenario
A hotel put two things on its post-login screen: a one-line announcement ("Breakfast 07:00-10:30, restaurant on level -1") and a button to its "Our services" page. No survey, no follow. Most guests read the announcement and closed it; some went to the services page. The "where is breakfast" question at reception became rarer. That was the post-login screen's job: answer a small question and step aside.
See Box + Software for portal branding, survey and announcement tools, and the Industries page for examples by sector. If you would like to design your post-login screen together, write to us.