Via NYT: Study Shows People Ignore Generic Photos Online!
Jakob Nielsen, a Web site consultant and author of a number of books about design and user interface reveals in his latest eye-tracking survey that “big feel-good images that are purely decorative” are mostly ignored online, while stock photos or generic people are also intentionally disregarded. In contrast, when users know that a picture of a person is real they will engage with the image for extended periods of time.
The study becomes extremely interesting when its findings are applied to products sold online.
On the Amazon Web site, people mostly ignored generic pictures of televisions because they didn’t offer real information.
On the Pottery Barn Web site, people engaged with the product photos for extended periods of time.
Jakob Nielsen’s blog: http://www.useit.com