The Customer Experience Experts
Who has the best Hero image?
Who has the best Hero image?
Learn from leaders in the travel industry
on what creates a winning hero image.
One of the most crucial elements for a customer in determining how easy a site is to use, as well as increasing likelihood to return and purchase, is a site’s homepage and most notably, its hero image. A good hero image entices users to further explore the site and leaves an impression that will draw users to return in the future. In particular, the leaders in the travel industry demonstrate the value of a strong, high quality hero image.
Background
eVOC Insights conducts syndicated research, evaluating 10 different industry websites, to ascertain the leaders in brand affinity, user experience, and future call-to-action. For travel, eVOC Insights recruited 1000 respondents per industry to evaluate one of 10 sites in the lodging and cruise industries. Both providers (Celebrity, Carnival, Hilton, Holland America, Hyatt, Marriott, Norwegian, Princess, Sheraton, & Royal Caribbean) and online travel agencies (Booking.com, CruisesOnly, Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbitz, Priceline, & Travelocity) were included. In order to meet these objectives, each site is evaluated through a series questions regarding current brand affinity, ease of use, and likelihood to return after site experience.
Visual appeal of the homepage is key in enticing users to further explore the site and to return to the site in the future. Customers are often driven away by a site that is cluttered and interrupted by pop-ups. Strong hero images leave a lasting impression on users. Lodging customers respond positively to images of palms trees, swimming pools, and travel destinations, while cruise customers respond best to tropical locations and images of cruise ships.
Benefits
-
Evaluate each site according to brand affinity, user experience, and future intent
-
Benchmark each site’s performance in relation the other sites surveyed
-
Identify leaders in the travel industry
-
Determine best practices for homepage design and hero images
Solution
Specifically, to assess homepage appeal, respondents were asked the following questions:
- How helpful is the site’s home page for understanding what you are able to do on the site and what the site has to offer?
- How appealing is the [BRAND] site’s home page?
- Based on the home page you just viewed, how interested are you in exploring other parts of the site?
- Please rate your satisfaction with the “look and feel” of the [BRAND] site.
Respondents were also asked to rank the appeal of various aspects of the homepage, including photos/images, layout, colors used, etc.
Key Findings: Cruise — Wins & Losses
Royal Caribbean’s site is very appealing, with attractive images and clear headers for customers to easily find information. Having an image of the cruise ship, as part of the main hero, is particularly enticing. Royal Caribbean’s home page also has clear links to current promotions and a prominent Quick Search window. In contrast, while Celebrity includes attractive images on their home page, they do not feature a cruise ship. Additionally, distracting popups and unfamiliar terminology deter potential customers.
ROYAL CARIBBEAN
MOST APPEALING HOME PAGE
“The ocean background is soothing and appealing. It is not too busy and is easy to pick out pieces of information.”
Source: http://www.royalcaribbean.com
December, 2014
CELEBRITY
LEAST APPEALING HOME PAGE
“Right off the bat, there’s a booking section which covers up most of the picture, then a few seconds later, there’s a pop up to sign up for specials. That’s not only annoying, but very intrusive.”
Source: http://www.celebritycruises.com
December, 2014
Key Findings: Hyatt — Updated Imagery
Hyatt’s old site included an image of man at a piano, which was not very appealing to users—Hyatt came in 9th place for home page appeal in Wave 1. By Wave 2, Hyatt had redesigned its home page and included an appealing image of a swimming pool in the tropics and included promotional offers with the scrolling images, subsequently boosting its ranking to 3rd place.
OLD SITE
“It looked depressing with the guy and the piano.”
“Homepage is very professional and upscale looking, but I can’t really relate to it.”
Source: http://www.hyatt.com
August, 2014
NEW SITE
“Nice pictures, good-looking site, clear and it is easy to find what you are looking for on this site”
Source: http://www.hyatt.com
January, 2015
Insights
Key qualities of a strong hero image and homepage include:
- Large, high quality image(s) related to the site content (e.g., photo of cruise ship, destination, happy customers) is shown
- If several relevant images are depicted, horizontal scroll is included
- Images compliment the site colors
- Offers and promotions are clearly listed above the fold
- Promotions compliment site design, include imagery, and provide clear offers / savings
- Clear calls-to-action for key content areas
- Simplistic overall design, with a focus on imagery and minimal text
- Primary navigation bar is organized into 5-7 categories
Best in Class
Winning home pages include attractive images and clear headers for customers to easily find pertinent information. Having an image that is relevant to the content, as well as fun and captivating (e.g. cruise ship, topical destination) as part of the main hero, is particularly enticing. The best home pages also have clear links to current promotions and a prominent Quick Search.
