Celebrity spokesperson added to an inquiry form: +20% conversions
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsHomEquity Bank added its celebrity spokesperson, Olympic skater Kurt Browning, to the design of its inquiry form and saw a 20% lift in conversions.
The bank's digital team ran the test in 2016, and it was published as a MarketingSherpa case study.
HomEquity Bank sells the CHIP reverse mortgage to Canadian homeowners aged 55 and older.
- Conversions: +20% compared with the form without the spokesperson.
- The team took this as a sign that trust drives its older audience, and went on to test other trust signals.
- No sample size, duration or confidence level was shared.
The change
The form design adds the bank's celebrity spokesperson beside the questions.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The inquiry form with no spokesperson.
Variant
The inquiry form built around the bank's spokesperson, Kurt Browning, a four-time Olympic skater and world champion.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- The bank's research found Kurt Browning was well liked and trusted by Canadians, and that trust carried over to the form.
- A reverse mortgage is a big, unfamiliar decision, so a known face makes the brand feel safer.
- A friendly photo near the form makes the page feel less like a bank application.
Caveats: The source does not describe the test setup, sample size or duration. The result depends on a spokesperson the audience already knew and trusted.
Who ran it
HomEquity Bank ran this test and published the results (MarketingSherpa case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on HomEquity Bank →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we feature a trusted spokesperson next to our inquiry form, then more visitors will submit because a familiar face lowers their worry about the company.
- Primary metric
- Form conversion rate
- Guardrails
- Lead quality
- Page load time
- Mobile form visibility
- Who should test it
- Lead-gen businesses in high-trust categories, such as finance, insurance or health, that already pay a known spokesperson. A face the audience does not recognize is unlikely to have the same effect.
Questions
Do celebrity endorsements increase lead form conversions?
They can when the audience knows and trusts the person.
HomEquity Bank saw a 20% lift with Kurt Browning on its form.
What if I don't have a celebrity spokesperson?
Test other trust signals, such as a well-known partner, a real advisor's photo or customer reviews.
HomEquity Bank also saw a lift from featuring a partner's CEO.