This is a warning some people may think the following as sexist, but really its all about marketing. I know a lot of people as they are selling online will use images of attractive females to hopefully entice a response and get a sell, but does this really work? The reason I ask is because there was just a story on Fox and Friends about a study done in Australia about this very subject.

According to the study women between the ages of 18 and 35 where less likely to purchase from a female salesperson who may have been considered more attractive than them. They even asked a profiler on the show about this and she agreed. As a marketer my ears immediately perked up when I heard this as it goes against what most people will tell you about images of people.

Well asking my wife who is a little out of the studied demographic about how she would feel. She said that in some instances this may not be true. She said if she was purchasing a beauty product then its likely she would purchase form an attractive person, but at the same time if the female started flirting and perhaps her husband( me) was present then she would probably change her mind.

So what is the point? As marketers we need to understand our audience. If you understand your audience then you are much more likely to create sales copy that speaks to that person. If you speak to the person and connect with them then you are much more likely to convert. After all conversions are what we are all after, correct? It does not matter how much traffic you drive to any offer, if its not converting then you may as well not have the traffic at all.

So test your market, understand who is visiting your website and your conversions will have to increase. This is just common sense, but many marketers miss this point. They write copy like they would like to read it, but that does not always work. Understand your target demographic and you will make more money. If that female picture needs to be something else, then understand that and change it. Don’t just follow the current trend. Break out on your own and as Seth Godin says, be a purple cow.