# Stock photos of people on a subscription ZIP page lost to the control

- Outcome: Lost
- Page type: Signup page (SaaS)
- Elements: Hero image
- Date shared: 2014-08
- Test run by: [MarketingExperiments](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/marketingexperiments/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://marketingexperiments.com/a-b-testing/stock-images-ethnicity-purchases
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/newspaper-home-delivery-zip-page-people-images/

Swapping a simple newspaper image for stock photos of people reading lowered subscriptions on a home delivery sign-up page; both people-photo versions lost to the control. MarketingExperiments (MECLABS) ran the test for a newspaper selling home delivery subscriptions. The two treatments, showing people of different ethnicities, performed the same as each other.

## Result

**Control beat both people-image treatments**

- Subscription rate: the control beat both people-photo treatments. Exact figures were only shown in an image and are not shared here.
- Treatment vs treatment: no difference between the two photos, where the ethnicity of the people was the only variable.
- Negative result: adding people to the image did not help this sign-up step.

## Control

The ZIP code entry page, the first step of home delivery sign-up, showed a simple image of a newspaper on a welcome mat.

## Variant

Two treatments used stock photos of people reading the paper: one showed an African American man, the other an older Caucasian couple. The headline and call-to-action layout also changed.

## Why it likely lost (our reading)

- The newspaper on a doormat shows the product and the promise, delivery to your door, in one picture.
- Stock photos of people may feel generic and pull attention away from the ZIP code field.
- The headline and call-to-action layout also changed, so some of the loss may come from those edits.

## Caveats

The image was not the only change; the headline and call-to-action layout also differed, so the loss can't be pinned on the photo alone. Numbers were shown only in an image, and sample size was not shared.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we replace our product-focused image on the first sign-up step with photos of people using the product, then sign-ups will change because the image affects how clearly visitors see the offer.
- Primary metric: Completed subscriptions from visitors who reach the first step
- Guardrail: ZIP code (first step) completion rate
- Guardrail: Time to complete the step
- Who should test it: Subscription and delivery businesses with a short, multi-step sign-up. Keep everything but the image the same so you can tell what caused the change. If your current image doesn't show the product or the service, the result may differ.

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Credit: MarketingExperiments ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/newspaper-home-delivery-zip-page-people-images/).
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.