OpenTube

How faces on websites DESTROY conversion

Malewicz

20,472 views

Browse 4500+ websites at https://pageformance.com
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Does a face still make sense for a hero section of a website?
I analyzed over 4500 websites around conversion and ... it depends. But there are some things you can do right and MANY things you can do wrong.

When done wrong, a face will distract and take attention away from the core message. So how do we do faces on website hero sections to maximize conversion? Let's explore!

In this video:
00:00 Faces on websites improve conversion?
00:25 Key visuals hurt conversion?
01:01 Stock vs real photos?
01:19 What happens when a face is in the hero?
01:47 Questions our brain asks
02:05 Illustrations of people?
03:28 Gaze principle
04:46 Example analysis
10:09 The thing everyone does wrong
12:12 Using AI the right way?

#webdevelopment #webdesign #uxdesign

20 Comments

@MalewiczHype Creator 1 day ago Pinned

Next to case studies from NN group and others, lots of these were tested with internal case studies right on Pageformance itself. This is what we do, we analyze lots of websites for patterns.

@stinkleaf 4 days ago (edited)

I've been struggling with this in the age of outrage addiction. You present some useful insights on addressing the issue of humans not able to represent everyone.

@bart2019 12 hours ago

I'm not a designer, just a technical person, but I find what you show in this video, in particular the attention to tiny details, fascinating. Subscribed.

@mioszkawaler8261 3 days ago

Very nice! And bad AI version of your portrait is so cool XD!

@JoãoAquino-k3p 3 days ago

Great content! Could you point me to any studies or data that support it? I’d like to dive deeper into this subject.

@jarad4621 2 days ago

Brilliant

@JayantBB78 2 days ago

Wow, Subscribed with 🔔.

@FlameAzalea486 2 days ago

These are great points and reminders. I agree when there's too many elements, it's distracting to the eye. I'm curious if there's any data to back up the claim about the AI images turning people off? I'm sensing that a descentization is happening. Average people are getting used to it and are not able to tell the difference or care too much about it. I had a client show me a website she loved and when I asked her whether she minded all the very obvious AI photos and she had no clue. So I guess it would depend on the sensitivity of the audience for how much it matters.

@stephenpearce3880 12 hours ago (edited)

Great content..thanks..very helpful...you have a new YT Sub.
You only showed Desktop! Yet the majority of people browse mobile.
Please expand your content onto Mobile Pages

@filip-chrapek 2 days ago

Thanks for the video, I'd love to read more about it – any chance you could add links to the case study/sources?

@afti03 2 days ago

Hello sir, i fully agree with your philosophy and would like to ask you:
What picture should i put on my own landing page for graphic design video creation? Would my face looking at the title work? I would prefer showing my own face to add trust and credibility to the page.

@spim223 1 day ago

Thanks for all this insight! Do you have any a/b test results that would support these? In few scenarios I got a feeling that for nondesigners it wouldn't be an issue. I remember I felt into this trap several times when some client showed me a nice looking design that used elements I've seen many times used in different stock templates, but general user does not know about that. They don't have feeds full of design inspiration on their socials, they do not know as much as us what's being overused and what's not.

@deividaskaciusis1339 4 days ago (edited)

Thank you for a CRO video!
I have a question, what do you think about using a photo of a person in a hero section in cases like a website for a coach/consultant/lawyer/finance advisor etc?
In this case, the person in the image is the owner of the business, not something the user has to see themselves in.

@identiteremarquable5269 22 hours ago

These were great insights. However, to which degree can we assume those principles actually work on people? I mean, in all honesty, many of the examples you showed to highlight bad design would have worked for me just fine, unless my brain is not yet educated 😅.

@notarchway 3 days ago

can you suggest some good website examples?

@biqnoob712 3 days ago

so you're saving we need the artists we fired after all? lol

@stephenpearce3880 12 hours ago

Whilst i agree with your thesis, but do you have any a/b testing data to support it?

@dominik.szewior 2 days ago

Ok, but then you open the same page on mobile, hero goes into one column mode and what about the gaze then?

@randradefonseca 2 days ago

Why isn't there a transcript?

@Kamil_Mark 4 days ago

Great video! I've got an edge case: personal branding / portfolio sites. Can those have a front-facing photo of the person? They're not trying to portray "the customer", but the expert. Eye contact creates a connection, so showing the expert looking "straight at you" might be a better option than having them look sideways at the headline. That works too, but maybe a front-facing shot is valid here? The user can focus on the headline next, connecting it with the expert they've just seen. WDYT?