Redesigned Find a Community page with photo: +3.92% searches
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsA redesigned Find a Community page with a photo of a resident raised community searches by 3.92% over Brookdale Senior Living's bare original, beating a version with a testimonial video, which managed 0.85%.
The agency Fathom ran the test for Brookdale, published as a VWO case study.
The redesign changed many elements at once, so the lift can't be credited to the photo alone.
- Find a Community searches: +3.92% for the photo version over the original, at 99.99% confidence.
- The video version rose only 0.85% over the original. That is the one fair comparison of photo vs video, since everything else was the same.
- Fathom estimated the photo version's lift at about $106,000 in extra monthly revenue. That is a projection, not measured revenue.
The change
Bare search page vs redesign with photo, copy, USPs, testimonials and logos
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
A bare-bones Find a Community search page, with no imagery, testimonials or selling points.
Variant
A redesigned page with explanatory copy, testimonials, credibility logos and bullet points on what sets Brookdale apart. One version used a photo of a resident; the other swapped the photo for a 2-minute video of residents sharing their experiences.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Brookdale was already a well-known brand. Many visitors arrived ready to search, and a video may have slowed them down.
- The video raised specific topics like food and staff, which may have sent some visitors off to compare competitors.
- A 2-minute video is heavy on slower home connections, which the source suggests many of this audience had.
- The redesign itself, with testimonials, logos and clearer copy, probably drove much of the lift over the bare original.
Caveats: This was a bundled redesign plus a photo-vs-video split, so the 3.92% lift reflects many changes together. It ran for 2 months on over 30,000 visitors; the revenue figure is an estimate.
Who ran it
Fathom 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 Fathom →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we use a static photo instead of a testimonial video on our search or lead page, then more visitors will start a search, because the page loads faster and keeps attention on the form.
- Primary metric
- Searches or form starts from the page
- Guardrails
- Leads submitted
- Page load time
- Video plays (if kept)
- Who should test it
- Lead-gen sites for known brands where visitors arrive with clear intent, such as senior living or local services. A video may do better if your brand is unknown and visitors need convincing.
Questions
Is video better than a photo on a landing page?
Not always. In this test the photo version beat an otherwise identical video version, 3.92% vs 0.85% more searches over the original.
Do testimonials and trust logos help lead-gen pages?
They were part of the winning redesign here.
Because they shipped together with other changes, this test can't show how much each one added.
Why might a testimonial video hurt conversions?
It can distract visitors who are ready to act, raise new questions, or load slowly on weaker connections.
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