Real student photo instead of stock image: +161% form completions
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsReplacing a stock photo of a man driving a truck with a photo of a real student standing in front of an academy truck lifted contact form completions by 161%.
Spectrum Inc ran this A/B test for 160 Driving Academy, a truck-driving school, and it was published as a VWO case study.
Visits to the registration page also rose 38.4%.
- Contact form completions (thank-you page visits): +161%, at 98% confidence. This was the primary goal.
- Registration page visits: +38.4%, also at 98% confidence.
- Sample size and test duration were not shared.
The change
The stock photo is swapped for a real student in front of an academy truck.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The class page showed a generic, tightly cropped stock photo of a man at the wheel of a truck. The same image appeared on many other websites.
Variant
The same page showed a photo of an actual academy student standing in front of a truck with the school's name and yellow branding on it. Everything else stayed the same.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- A real student and a real truck show prospects what they will actually get, which builds trust faster than a generic image.
- Stock photos that appear on many sites can look like ads, and visitors tend to tune them out.
- The branded truck put the school's name and colour in the image, near the contact form, so the brand was seen more often.
- for a local training business, proof that the school is real and established likely matters more than a polished image.
Caveats: Sample size and test duration were not shared. The team had first held the photo back because the student wore a sweatshirt from an out-of-state university, and that print was later edited out.
Who ran it
Spectrum Inc ran this test and published the results (VWO case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Spectrum Inc →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we replace our stock hero image with a real photo of a customer or our own equipment, then more visitors will submit the contact form because the page will look more credible and specific.
- Primary metric
- Contact form submissions (thank-you page visits)
- Guardrails
- Lead quality or show-up rate
- Registration page visits
- Bounce rate on the page
- Who should test it
- Local service and training businesses that sell trust, such as schools, clinics and trades, and that can get good real photos. It is less likely to matter if your page has no image above the fold or your real photos are poor quality.
Questions
Do real photos convert better than stock photos?
Often, but not always. In this test a real student photo more than doubled form completions, likely because it looked specific and trustworthy.
Test it on your own page before assuming it will work.
What makes a good real photo for a lead-gen page?
It should show your actual customers, staff or equipment, look clear and well lit, and avoid details that confuse your audience, like unrelated logos or locations.
Is it a problem if my stock photo is used on other websites?
It can be. Visitors who have seen the same image elsewhere may see your business as generic.
A unique photo also helps your page stand out from competitors.