Landing pages –the website pages where your visitors land after clicking on your link– make or break your business’ success in the digital sphere. They create the first impression of your company, service, or product, and seek to convert visitors into customers.
Landing pages are made out of three key elements: copy, CTA’s (call-to-action), and visuals. And visual (imagery) becomes crucial every time you want an impactful, results-driving landing page.
Here you will learn all the secret tips to pick the most perfect images for sales pages to be as effective as they could be.
Read on!
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Landing Page Visual Strategies: Play with Emotion
The hero image –the first and main visual on a page– has crucial value to make a landing page that is memorable, emotionally relatable, and easily understood.
You can make this image to be product-focused, through custom-shot, product images.
Or, you can tap into your visitors’ emotional state through images. This has the advantage that you can use stock photography to craft a visually impactful sales page in little time and for a much lower cost. The highest-converting images are, usually, emotion-related.
This emotional strategy has two main stems according to your target audience:
- Pain-based – This concept aims at people that are unaware of the problem they have. So your visuals make it clear just how inconveniencing said problem is, to help them see how great it is that you have a solution for it.
- Desire-based – On the opposite, when you are targeting prospects who are aware of their problem and even know of multiple other solutions, what you want is to use images that show them why and how your proposal is the best of them all, and just how happy they’ll be if they choose it.
Secrets for Perfect Landing Page Images
You can have an amazing social media campaign, killer ads, and a cleverly crafted email newsletter, but if your landing page is any less than perfect, it'll all be for nothing.
These are all the pointers to keep in mind when selecting photos to use on your landing page:
High Quality is a Must
You must use professional, high-resolution images with a high pixel count and visible value. This works not only for technical efficiency, but also in the psychological response from visitors, who respond better to a pro-styled site and image.
Be as Authentic as Possible
Today’s visual landscape is now dominated by a raw, natural-like aesthetic that aims at looking spontaneous and relatable. Authentic stock photos are the ones that work perfectly for sales pages.
Use Images of People
Photos that display people –a.k.a. lifestyle images--, even if partially –like a hand or the back of a head– perform better with audiences. But in 2021 what really matters is to use images of “real people” who look like you could pass them by on the street.
Tap on Relatable Emotions
To connect with visitors’ emotions and turn them into action, you need pictures of people displaying said emotions in a believable, relatable way. Satisfaction at how easy it is to use your product struggle with an unresolved problem, etc.
Focus on Diversity and Inclusion
It’s key to be inclusive and choose images of people from multiple ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, body shapes, and ages. Society today is very diversity-embracing.
Never Lose Brand Focus
All your visual content has to be consistent with your brand, landing page images aren’t the exception. Make sure the style, composition, and color match your brand strategy.
Prioritize Visual Cohesion
Visual storytelling is a powerful resource for user engagement, and you can benefit from keeping a cohesive narrative on your landing pages, social media, etc.
No-No’s in Sales Page Pictures
Let’s briefly talk about the common mistakes you need to avoid when choosing photos for landing pages:
- Low-quality – A low-res image, or one that looks too cheap, will be an instant turn-off for visitors
- Stocky – Dated, overly-produced images are the way to lose visitors in seconds
- Generic – Never use images that have no relation to your goal and message
- Noisy – Avoid images with a busy composition, they are too distracting instead of enticing
- Non-branded – Pictures that don’t really vibe with your brand are a bad idea
Hidden Color & Composition Tricks for Landing Page Images
We talked about style and models. But did you know you can make your landing pages more effective by using color and composition wisely?
- Psychology of color – Different tones communicate different things. Color is a great way to touch the viewer’s sensible fibers, catch their attention, and trigger action. For example, blue tones are the most popular amongst brands because it projects reliability and stability; however, lively colors like red, yellow, and orange are more energy-driving and great to impulse actions, such as clicking on a button or subscribing to a service. Learn it all in our guide to the best color combinations for marketing (including landing pages)!
It’s true. There are some very simple visual cues to increase the conversion rate of your landing pages, and they are:
- Contrast – Choosing complementary hues with high contrast is a very easy way to ensure elements pop up and are seen.
- Make CTA the star – Make sure your image is great, but an emotional background/visual support for your copy and, most of all, your CTA. Remember, you want visitors to click on the button, not just be wowed by beautiful photography.
- Integrate image & CTA with directional cues – You can creatively direct the viewer’s eye by choosing an image where the subject’s gaze, hand, or body is directed to where your CTA or relevant copy lays. This way, your landing page elements are effectively merged to produce the desired result.
- Work with your whitespace – Use the empty space in images cleverly. Make sure your CTA and other important bits of the page are not clashing with the photography composition, and you can even use whitespace to your advantage, by choosing photos where the visual elements are purposely leaving a “frame” for your copy to shine.
Best Stock Photo Agencies for Landing Page Images
Find millions of high-res, royalty-free and modern images, at any of the below-listed sites.
Note: We do not recommend free image sites for this purpose, as free photo licenses aren’t as safe for commercial use.
Photocase – Quirky Images
Photocase is based in Berlin, and its library is full of vibrant, modern, and out-of-the-ordinary images.
Stockphotos.com – Budget Images
Stockphotos.com has millions of high-resolution photos at very low and flexible pricing to fit all kinds of budgets.
Stockphotos.com's Club Easy: 200 images for $99!
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Shutterstock – Commercial-ready Images
Shutterstock is the go-to site for stock photos with a strong commercial value. They have over 280 million of them! Plus this little perk: their library includes great landing page templates that simplify your design process!
iStock – Exclusive Images
iStock excels with a library divided into budget-friendly images, and exclusive, high-value photos that can make a real difference in your design.
Adobe Stock – Trendy Images
Adobe Stock is fully integrated into Creative Cloud and has millions of very trendy, in-the-now photos. Every Photoshop lover’s dream!
Top Landing Pages with Stock Images
As you can see, it’s a lot easier than you think to build perfect landing pages for your site using stock photos, and they can be as effective as the ones with custom-shot, product images as heroes.
By downloading high-quality images from any of the recommended agencies, and with a little help from our secret tips, you’ll have everything you need to come up with compelling, beautiful, and high-converting landing pages!
Header image: Copyright by nektarstock/Photocase.com, all rights reserved
