# Live crowd photo instead of laptop on event page: +40.18% clicks

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Landing page (SaaS)
- Elements: Hero image
- Date shared: 2013
- Test run by: [ExactTarget](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/exacttarget/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://wingify.com/success-stories/exacttarget/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/exacttarget-event-page-conference-image/

Replacing a laptop-screen hero image with a photo of a live conference crowd lifted click-through to the registration page by 40.18%. ExactTarget ran this test in 2013 on the landing page for its Connections conference, and it was published as a VWO case study. The test measured clicks, not finished registrations.

## Result

**+40.18% clicks**

- Click-through to the registration page: +40.18%.
- More than 11,000 visitors saw each version.
- Completed registrations were not reported, so the effect on sign-ups is unknown.

## Control

The event landing page showed a laptop screen in the hero image. It made the conference look like a virtual event, though it was held in person.

## Variant

The same page with the laptop image replaced by a photo of a live conference audience.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- The new image matched the offer. Visitors could see at a glance that this was an in-person event.
- A crowd suggests a popular event worth attending, which can nudge people to look at registration.
- The laptop image may have set the wrong expectation and made some visitors lose interest.

## Caveats

The metric was clicks to the registration page, not completed registrations. The data is from 2013 and was published by the testing vendor.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we use a hero image that shows what attendees will actually experience, then more visitors will click through to register, because the image confirms what the event is.
- Primary metric: Completed event registrations
- Guardrail: Click-through to the registration page
- Guardrail: Registration form drop-off
- Guardrail: Page load time
- Who should test it: SaaS companies and B2B marketers promoting conferences, webinars or other events. If your hero image already shows the real experience, expect a smaller effect.

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Credit: ExactTarget ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/exacttarget-event-page-conference-image/).
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.