Crew photo instead of stock image: +45.45% quote requests
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsReplacing a generic stock photo with a branded photo of the moving crew lifted conversions by 45.45% on Harrington Movers' interstate moving pages.
Spectrum Inc ran the A/B test for the New Jersey moving company, published as a VWO case study.
A second variant with the company truck did almost as well, at +45.05%.
- Crew image: +45.45% conversions on 'Request a Quote' versus the stock photo.
- Truck image: +45.05%, nearly the same lift.
- Both variants beat control at 98% statistical confidence.
- The client estimated about $10,000 a month in added interstate moves, assuming a constant value per lead.
The change
Stock photo of a couple replaced with a branded photo of the moving crew
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The interstate moving service page used a generic stock photo of a smiling couple. The main call to action was 'Request a Quote'.
Variant
Two variants replaced the stock photo. One showed Harrington Movers' own crew, the other showed the company's moving truck, and both included the company logo.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- A real crew or truck shows the actual service, while a happy couple says little about moving.
- Branded photos with a logo look like a real local company, which can build trust before someone hands over contact details.
- Both variants won by the same amount, which suggests dropping the generic stock image mattered more than which branded photo replaced it.
Caveats: Visitor and conversion counts were not shared. The test had been running about three months when the case study was written, and the revenue figure is the client's own estimate.
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 a generic stock photo with a photo of our own team or equipment, then more visitors will request a quote because the image shows the real service and looks more trustworthy.
- Primary metric
- Quote request submissions per visitor
- Guardrails
- Quote-to-booking rate
- Page load time
- Bounce rate
- Who should test it
- Local service businesses (movers, trades, cleaners) that still use stock photos in the hero. It matters less if your hero already shows your own people or work.
Questions
Do stock photos hurt conversion rates?
They can when they don't relate to the service.
Here, swapping a generic couple for the company's own crew or truck lifted quote requests by about 45%.
Should I show my team or my equipment in the hero?
In this test both did almost equally well.
Test the option that best shows what customers actually get.
Does adding a logo to images help?
Both winning images included the logo, so its separate effect wasn't measured.
It likely helps make the photo look clearly yours.
KlientBoost