Crime #013
Using clichéd stock images that make your business look generic and unconvincing.
The explanation
A millennial man celebrates on a mountaintop. Cheerful professionals point at a laptop. A woman laughs while eating a bowl of salad.
These images are supposed to communicate success, collaboration and health. Instead, they rely on familiar visual shortcuts that tell the visitor very little.
Just because you provide health coaching for women does not mean your website needs a photograph of a woman laughing at her lunch. It identifies a broad category without showing that you understand the people you help.
Your customers might be struggling to establish routines around shift work, make sense of conflicting advice or find time to prepare meals. A perfectly styled model enjoying lettuce says nothing about those circumstances.
For service businesses, this matters because understanding the customer is part of what you sell. When the imagery reduces their experience to a stereotype, it can make your approach feel superficial.
The issue is not that every photograph must be original. A carefully chosen stock image can establish a relevant setting or illustrate a situation. The problem is choosing an obvious cliché simply because it loosely matches your industry.
Generic imagery can make distinctive expertise look like another interchangeable service. It occupies space without explaining your work, demonstrating your understanding or giving someone a reason to trust you.
Your images should make the service tangible, help someone recognise their circumstances or explain a process. If there is no useful image to show, use typography, colour or illustration to give the page visual interest.
Matching the customer’s gender and putting a relevant object in their hand is not enough.
How to fix it
Review each image and ask: What does this help a potential customer understand?
If the answer is “We work with women” or “This is about health”, consider whether the picture adds anything the heading has not already explained.
Choose imagery around the specific situation you address. For health coaching, that might mean showing a practical planning exercise or an example of how you help clients build manageable routines.
Avoid replacing a cheerful stereotype with a miserable one. You do not need a man looking distressed beside a bathroom scale to communicate that you understand his difficulties.
Look for ways to show the service itself: a sample resource, an annotated worksheet, a workshop setup or a simple diagram explaining the process. Use fictional or anonymised examples where appropriate and label them clearly.
You do not need to appear in photographs yourself. Thoughtful typography, illustrations and examples of your work can give the page character without a personal portrait.
When stock photography serves a purpose, choose believable situations. Check whether the setting, expression and activity reflect the circumstances you are discussing, rather than an advertising fantasy.
Do not present models as your clients or team. Avoid placing stock portraits beside testimonials in a way that implies they show the person quoted.
Finally, compare the page with and without each image. Does it explain more, feel more credible or demonstrate understanding?
If removing the picture loses nothing useful, you may not need it. Give that space to something that helps the visitor assess your service.
Are you guilty of Crime #013?
Book a free 30 minute call with a senior Buyable conversion expert. We will talk through your website, your goals and where you are losing potential customers.