How to Select Hero Images that Boost Conversions and Move Audiences

You only have 50 milliseconds to make a first impression. Make it count with a powerful hero image. From Kissmetrics blog:

“In fact, in one study, 94% of the reasons cited by participants for mistrusting a website were design-related. This calls for a complete rethinking of the way we use hero images. Instead of choosing images that add visual flair to a page, choose images that engage, persuade and move users.”

Level Insight:

• The efficiency of every aspect of design is crucial to Level’s landing page and web site philosophy. Every aspect of the design must reinforce the objective of the page. What is the greatest differentiator of your product or service? Is it the design or the product itself? The emotional benefit that it provides? A problem it solves that can be clearly illustrated? Or it is a known and trusted company representative whose endorsement is enough to pique buyer interest? The hero image must illustrate the value proposition. An efficient and effective hero image is essential to comply with the oft-repeated storytelling maxim to show rather than tell. With waning human tolerance for the written word on the web, utilizing expressive, powerful imagery to show product benefits is mandatory for capturing audience interest. And, yes, you can generate audience intrigue with well-selected static images that do not disrupt or slow the user experience.
• The hero image is one of the most frequent A/B tests that we run in our landing pages. Continuous testing enables us to optimize the user’s experience on the page, starting with a visit time of more than 50 milliseconds.

How audience profiling, based on real-time online customer interactions, reveals the faces in the crowd

As it turns out, your audience is composed of beautiful and unique snowflakes. From Marketing Land:

“By combining a variety of data streams, in-depth audience profiling can provide a far greater level of insight than demographics alone. After all, just because two people share the same age category, gender and ZIP code, it doesn’t necessarily mean they share the same views and tastes.”

Level Insight:

• With so many measurable data sources available, utilizing all the information available to form profile of an individual is essential. A target audience is more complex than census data and outdated assumptions about the needs and motivations of a certain demographic. Utilizing first- and third-party data, marketers can sift through relevant information to gain an informed understanding, not myopic conjecture, of that person’s behavior as it pertains to your products and services.
• The place of the individual in the marketing funnel should be taken into account in messaging and targeting tactics. Audience members may share every measurable trait, yet if they are in different stages of the funnel, they may respond to wholly different messages.
• Making assumptions based on incomplete, decontextualized information can lead to errant targeting, which wastes money and risks cultivating an unfavorable brand impression. Interests only tell part of the story and are themselves based on assumptions of social networks like Facebook that admittedly does not have 100% accuracy. Utilizing only purchase data often overlooks the context (e.g., whether the purchase was for the purchaser or was a gift). And demographic data is far too broad to enable any true understanding. However, combining all the sources and creating a context from disparate data enables marketers to make informed messaging and targeting decisions that take into account every snowflake in the audience.