Stock photos are generic, bought, and seen on a thousand other sites. Real photos are yours alone, and people can feel the difference in about a second.
In plain English
A stock photo is a costume anyone can rent. A real photo is proof you actually showed up to work today.
Three things to know
Stock is polished but generic
It looks professional, but it looks like everyone else's professional.
Real builds trust because it is you
Your actual space, your actual work, your actual team.
People scroll right past the fake stuff
Practiced eyes recognize a stock smile before they read a word near it.
Worth remembering
Nielsen Norman Group eyetracking found people ignore stock photos of generic people, and in one test, swapping stock for a real photo lifted sign-ups 35%.
The eyes move right past a face that looks like a catalog model. Replace it with a real one and the same spot on the page starts pulling its weight.
What to do about it
If your homepage is leaning on stock imagery, that is a quiet trust leak worth fixing. Get a free website audit and I will show you exactly where to swap it out.
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