I have read one interesting article recently. The authors investigated the difference in the reactions of customers when there was used generic stock photo on the homepage and a photo of a real person. First they selected the photo of a young sympathetic smiling woman with headphones who was ready to help their client immediately. Later they exchanged this photo by the photo of a man from the company, the founder of the company itself. And what was the result? When the photo of founder of the company was used, the number of visitors who applied for a free consultation increased by 34.7%.
I estimate that at least 90% of all pictures on the corporate websites are just the stock photos.
Do you use, as most of the other companies do, only the stock photos on your website? If you will send me your contact and website link through the contact form, I will be glad to look at your website and provide you with free phone consultation what kind of photos might improve its design.
If you are interested in the details of the above mention experiment, you can find them at Martketing Experiments Blog.
So the conclusion is – people prefer to buy from people they know and trust even though he/she does not look like a perfect model from the magazine.
