Nobody obsesses over photography and calls to action like the print ad world. For big brands, ad creative and media placements can ring in the hundreds of millions — and without direct digital analytics, ad leaders for decades have relied on focus groups, rich psychology research and even eye tracking studies to safeguard their investments.

But on the Web, most marketers forget that tried-and-true ad research still applies to banners, pop-ups, email and even video thumbnails. When you consider how consumer behavior and psychology impact photography, you’ll start with the best creative requirements and waste less time testing the wrong stuff.

Heat maps and the photo subject’s “gaze”

One of the classic pass-downs from the ad industry is that headlines and calls to action get more attraction when the model/subject is looking directly at it.

You can see from even vintage print ads this principle in action:

“Look at the CTA” examples from the wild

It’s clear that some Web marketers are in the know, and have applied it to their pop-up modals:

Mr. Beast puts a twist on the tactic, using his finger to point to the CTA.

Mr. Beast is so influential as a personality, his dead-on gaze may do 1 of 2 things to his fans:

1) Put them in a para-social relationship induced trance that they can’t break out of (hence, they ignore all other elements of the page 2) Instill so much trust and goodwill that, in the para-social relationship induced trance, they unconsciously perform whatever action is suggested

For serious though, wouldn’t we all love to see the results of an A/B test with this against him looking a the CTA?

Similarly, the “point” may be anything that points to the CTA has this subconsious affect on our own eye gaze. I’m so curious if Vessi and Steve Madden’s “knee shots” have the same impact:

Near misses

While supermodel Emily Ratajkowski’s eyes are looking the right direction — her gaze is aligned more with the Close button 😬

Guess’ model is looking the right way, but there’s something in the way…

BOKA’s layout could be improved with one very simple tweak!

Missed opportunities

Of course, any image with models looking “off the page” should be avoided. Go ahead and test them if you like, but don’t be afraid to ditch photos all together and keep the focus on your offer. Photography may be distracting, off-putting or just simply superfluous clutter.

You already know why these images may be poor choices:

If you use images in your modal, absolutely test it against a version with no image:

🧪 For more ideas on email pop-up testing, check out my sample testing playbook and the Email pop-up database

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