# Removing the photo and signature from a lead page: +15.3% sign-ups

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Lead form (Lead-gen)
- Elements: Personalization, Copy, Images
- Date shared: 2005-08
- Test run by: [MarketingExperiments](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/marketingexperiments/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://marketingexperiments.com/a-b-testing/ab-split-testing
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/mec-personal-vs-institutional-lead-page/

Taking the writer's photo, personal greeting and signature off a lead page raised form conversion from 34.6% to 39.9%, a 15.3% lift. MarketingExperiments (MECLABS) ran this A/B test on its own site, which offered a free informational product. The team expected the personal version to win, and it did not.

## Result

**+15.3% sign-ups**

- Form conversion rose from 34.6% on the personal version to 39.9% on the institutional version, a 15.3% relative lift.
- The result went against the team's expectation, and common advice at the time, that a personal touch would convert better.

## Control

A page about two screens long, written as a personal sales letter with a photo of the writer, a personal introduction and a signature. Visitors filled in a short form to get a free informational product.

## Variant

Largely the same sales copy, but without the photo, greeting or signature, giving the page a more institutional tone.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- The photo, greeting and signature added length and distraction between the visitor and the form.
- A personal sales-letter style can feel like a pitch, while a plainer page may read as more credible for an informational offer.
- Visitors wanting a free resource may care more about what they get than about who wrote the page.

## Caveats

Sample size and duration were not shared, and MECLABS called it a single test that needs follow-up. The data is from 2005.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we remove personal sales-letter elements (author photo, greeting, signature) from our lead page, then more visitors will complete the form because the page is shorter and feels less like a pitch.
- Primary metric: Form conversion rate
- Guardrail: Lead quality or downstream sales
- Guardrail: Time on page
- Who should test it: Lead-gen and B2B marketers offering free guides, reports or tools. If your brand is built around a known founder or expert, the personal elements may be the reason people trust you, so test carefully.

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Credit: MarketingExperiments ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/mec-personal-vs-institutional-lead-page/).
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.