Stock photos or real photos: what images do for trust

Visitors look closely at images that tell them something, and skip images that only decorate. A generic stock photo of smiling people around a laptop tells a visitor nothing about your business. A photo of your actual team, shop or product does. On the first screen, where every pixel counts, that difference shapes whether people trust you.

What the research says

In eyetracking studies, Nielsen Norman Group found that users pay close attention to photos with real information, like product photos and pictures of the actual people behind a company, and ignore images that are there to look nice. On one site, visitors spent more time looking at real staff portraits than reading the biographies next to them, while generic stock photos of people were largely ignored (Nielsen, 2010).

The lesson isn't that stock photos are forbidden. It's that an image earns attention only when it is relevant to what the visitor wants to know.

Why stock photos cost trust

• They're recognisable. Popular stock photos appear on thousands of websites. A visitor who has seen the same handshake elsewhere starts wondering what else on your site isn't real.
• They say nothing. A photo that could be on any website doesn't help a visitor understand what you do. In the hero section, that's a wasted opportunity.
• They hide who you are. For a small business, freelancer or coach, the people are the product. A stranger's face where yours should be makes it harder to connect.

When stock photos are fine

• Backgrounds and textures that don't pretend to be your business
• Illustrating a topic, such as a blog article about travel
• Objects or places that look the same everywhere, as long as they're not presented as yours

The test is simple: would a visitor feel misled if they found out it wasn't your photo? If yes, don't use it.

Better options without a photographer

• Your product in use. A screenshot of your software doing something useful, or your product in a customer's hands, says more than any model.
• Your own phone. Modern phones take good photos in daylight. A real photo of your shop, workshop or team, taken by a window, beats a polished stock image.
• Real customers. With permission, a photo of a customer with your product doubles as social proof.
• No photo at all. A clear headline on a clean background is better than an image that distracts. See writing a homepage headline.

Check how your images come across

You are used to your own images, so you can't judge whether they feel real. On StayOrBounce, strangers rate your first screen on Do I trust it? and Does it look professional?. Swap the image, run another round and compare the scores.