# Real student photo instead of stock image: +161% form completions

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Homepage (Lead-gen)
- Elements: Hero image
- Test run by: [Spectrum Inc](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/spectrum-inc/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://wingify.com/success-stories/160-driving-academy/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/160-driving-academy-real-student-photo/

Replacing 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%.

## Result

**+161% form completions**

- 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.

## 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)

- 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.

## How to run this test

- 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)
- Guardrail: Lead quality or show-up rate
- Guardrail: Registration page visits
- Guardrail: 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.

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Credit: Spectrum Inc ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/160-driving-academy-real-student-photo/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.