A hero shot (or feature image) is a key visual element in marketing and web design. On landing pages, it plays a direct role in capturing attention and directing users toward a specific action. A clear, relevant image immediately communicates the offer’s value and establishes trust. Positioned effectively, the hero shot reinforces the core message, enhances understanding, and increases conversions by creating an emotional link with the viewer, such as showing the product in use or featuring a satisfied customer.
What Is a Hero Shot?
A hero shot is a prominent visual element used in marketing and web design to highlight a product, service, or brand. Typically positioned at the top of a webpage, it’s a large, attention-grabbing image or graphic designed to immediately engage visitors.
The goal is to capture interest and clearly communicate what you’re offering. This could be a photo of your product in use or a visual that conveys the speed, simplicity, or value of your service.
According to Greg Harding, who’s a photographer, a hero shot is “the shot that you keep going back to, and you keep referring your clients to” (G. Harding, Creating a ‘Hero’ Shot).
Take, for instance, the example from the Chanel website. The hero shot is crafted with vibrant colors to immediately draw the eye. Moreover, it offers a glimpse of what Chanel looks like from the user’s perspective, illustrating the joy it brings through their fragrances, their cutting-edge nature and the diversity of their products catering to different needs and preferences.
Remember, people are visual creatures, and a compelling hero shot can be the difference between someone sticking around or bouncing off your page.
How Do You Make a Hero Shot?
To create an effective hero shot, start by identifying your target audience and understanding what appeals to them. Then craft an image that communicates your message clearly and motivates action (such as a purchase, sign-up, download, or click).
Begin with a clear understanding of your audience’s preferences. When you know what draws their attention, you can design an image that encourages them to take the next step.
Your hero image grabs attention—but does it drive action? Try EventTracker for free and learn what makes visitors stay, scroll, and convert.
Next, define the core message or value you want to convey. This could be the main benefit of your offer or what makes your brand unique.
Choose an image that aligns with both your message and your audience. It should be high-quality, relevant, and visually engaging. For products, this might be a detailed photo of the item in use. For services, use imagery that creates an emotional connection with the viewer.
In some cases, images alone aren’t enough. Add concise, compelling text that reinforces your message and supports the visual.
Finally, make sure your hero shot looks great on all devices, from desktops to smartphones. This might involve resizing or adjusting the layout for different screens.
Is a Hero Shot Essential for Landing Pages?
Yes. A hero shot is essential because it grabs attention, shapes the first impression, and builds an emotional connection with the user. These factors increase the likelihood of conversion.
Of course, you can create a landing page without hero image, but that would mean losing some of its potential. It’s like having a house in a stunning location and not bothering with windows. Sure, you can live in it, but why miss out on the awesome view?
Like windows in a house, a hero shot isn’t just a fancy addition; it’s almost required. It grabs attention fast and showcases your main selling point in a snap. This can significantly increase the likelihood of engaging visitors and converting leads into customers. After all, isn’t that what a landing page is all about?
Plus, it helps communicate your message quickly. In today’s fast-paced digital world, you often have just seconds to make an impression. A compelling hero shot can convey the essence of your offering faster than any headline.
You’ve crafted the perfect hero shot. Now see what really works. Use EventTracker to measure how users interact—and optimize every pixel.
Can a Hero Shot Be Animated?
Yes, a hero shot can be animated – and in many cases, it’s highly effective. Animation adds motion and energy to your landing page, helping you tell your story more dynamically than a static image. When used strategically, it can capture attention, highlight key features, and make your offer more memorable.
6 Key Features of a Hero Shot
A strong hero shot combines high-quality imagery, relevance to the target audience, strategic placement, emotional appeal, a clean or purposeful background, and a clear call to action. These elements work together to grab attention, communicate value quickly, and drive users toward conversion. When each component is aligned with your offer and audience, the hero shot becomes a powerful driver of engagement and results.
1. High-Quality Image
Your hero shot is the first thing visitors see, so it needs to be crisp, clear, and polished. Think of it as the cover of your brand’s story – it should spark curiosity and invite people in.
Whether you’re showcasing a product or illustrating a service, image quality directly affects how your brand is perceived. Blurry or low-res visuals signal a lack of professionalism. Use high-definition images to build trust and capture attention instantly.
2. Relevance to Product or Service
Your hero shot should clearly reflect what you offer. If it’s a product, show it front and center – clean, detailed, and in use if possible. If it’s a service, use an image that captures the experience or outcome your audience can expect.
The goal is instant recognition. When someone lands on your page, they should immediately understand what you do. No guesswork – just a visual that says, “This is what we offer, and we do it well.”
3. Emotional Appeal
A great hero shot doesn’t just show what you offer – it shows how it makes people feel. The goal is to connect emotionally, not just visually.
Think about the emotion you want to evoke: excitement, relief, confidence, inspiration. Choose imagery that reflects that feeling and speaks to your audience’s deeper motivations. An emotional connection builds trust and makes your offer more compelling.
4. Prominent Placement
Your hero shot should be one of the first things visitors see. It doesn’t have to be perfectly centered, but it should sit prominently near the top of the page – where it grabs attention right away.
This area is known as “above the fold,” like the top half of a newspaper that draws readers in. Placing your hero shot here sets the tone for the rest of the page and ensures users immediately understand what you offer.
When someone visits your page, their eyes should immediately land on your hero shot, setting the tone for their entire experience on your site.
5. Complementary Background
The background of your hero shot sets the stage, but it shouldn’t steal the spotlight. Its role is to support and highlight your product or service, not compete with it.
A cluttered background can distract from the message, while one that’s too plain might fall flat. Aim for balance. If your product is bold and colorful, a neutral backdrop can help it stand out. If your design is minimalist, a textured or dynamic background can add just the right amount of energy.
The goal is harmony – a visual environment that enhances your hero shot without overpowering it.
6. Clear Call to Action (CTA)
Your hero shot should include a clear, actionable next step. Whether it’s “Buy Now,” “Get Started,” or “Learn More,” the CTA guides visitors toward conversion.
It should stand out without overwhelming the image – visible, but not distracting. Use contrasting colors, concise wording, and strategic placement to make the CTA easy to spot and simple to act on. The goal is clarity: visitors should instantly know what to do next.
From bold headlines to high-impact CTAs, Landingi gives you the tools to build smarter pages—and it’s free to start.
How to Design a High-Impact Hero Shot on a Landing Page?
Designing a hero shot that grabs attention and drives conversions starts with knowing what your audience expects – and delivering it instantly and clearly. With Landingi, you can build and refine powerful hero sections using intuitive tools that require no coding or design skills.
Start by selecting or customizing a template with a strong visual layout. Place your hero image above the fold, and make sure it reinforces the core value of your offer. In Landingi’s editor, you can upload high-resolution images, use background photos, or embed videos to create dynamic visuals.
Use the Image widget to position your hero shot precisely. Pair it with a headline, brief supporting text, and a clear call to action to deliver a focused message. You can easily drag and drop elements into place, then fine-tune spacing and layering to perfect the layout.
To enhance the design, use the Shape widget to create overlays or visual frames. Adjust transparency, borders, shadows, and corners to direct attention without adding clutter. These subtle enhancements help focus the viewer’s eye and make your hero section more visually engaging.
Landingi also lets you A/B test different versions of your hero section – experimenting with image types, CTA placements, and layouts to see what converts best. Every element is fully responsive, and the mobile view in the editor ensures your hero shot looks sharp and loads fast on all devices.
Create landing pages where your message stands out—with clean layouts, bold buttons, and a clear next step.
How Quality Hero Shots Can Improve the Conversion Rate on Landing Pages
A high-quality hero shot can boost conversion rates by guiding user attention, triggering the right emotions, and reinforcing your offer – all within seconds of landing on the page.
When it comes to turning visitors into customers, three elements matter most: the messaging, the visual design, and the technical performance. The hero shot plays a critical role in the first two – how the page looks and how the message is received.
A strong visual immediately enhances the page’s appeal and keeps users engaged. It balances text-heavy content, improves clarity, and makes the overall experience more user-friendly. As a result, users are more likely to stay on the page longer and take the desired action (like buy something or sign up).
Also, when it comes to your messages, the hero shot is super important. It’s like a visual spotlight for your main points. It works together with your words to make what you’re offering clearer and more appealing.
Great copy + powerful visuals = more conversions. Don’t waste your hero shots—build landing pages that actually perform.
VWO proved the importance of quality images in their case study. An owner of the e-commerce store offering artistic images wondered how replacing some paintings on the site with the authors’ real photos of high quality would impact the conversion. VWO tested both solutions. With paintings, the conversion rate was at 8.8%, but it escalated to 17.2% when the paintings were swapped for photos of artists, which is an impressive increase of over 95% (P. Chopra, Do Human Photos Increase Website Conversions?, 2023)! Yeah, imagery matters (often heavily).
What Is the Hero Shot in Marketing?
In marketing, a hero shot is the large, attention-grabbing image or graphic that appears first on a webpage, ad, or brochure. It’s like the cover of a magazine, designed to draw you in instantly.
According to Postali (2021), websites with images see a 47% higher click-through rate than those without. That makes the hero shot more than decoration – it’s a conversion tool.
A strong hero shot communicates something essential about a product, service, or brand at a glance. It’s your visual handshake – the first impression that sets the tone and invites users to engage.
Why Is the Hero Shot Important?
The hero shot is crucial because it’s your first opportunity to make an impression, and that impression can shape how users interact with your site and brand.
In a digital environment where attention spans are short, a compelling hero shot can be the difference between someone staying or leaving. It sets the tone, delivers your message quickly, and builds an emotional connection that encourages visitors to keep exploring.
What Is a Hero Angle?
A hero angle is the camera perspective that highlights the most compelling features of your product or service. It’s about showing your offer in the most flattering and persuasive way possible, whether that’s the key benefit, the problem it solves, or how it improves the user’s life.
Should the Hero Shot Have a Specific Angle?
Yes, the hero shot should have a specific angle in a way it should be effective, which typically means it must be taken from an angle that best showcases the product or service and resonates with your target audience. This could mean a straight-on view, a dynamic side angle, or even an aerial view, depending on what you’re presenting and the story you’re telling.
What Is a Hero Angle in Photography?
In photography, a hero angle is the perspective that presents the subject in its most compelling and attractive form. It combines the right angle, lighting, and composition to highlight key features – be it a product, a person, or a scene.
The goal is to capture the essence of the subject in a way that draws viewers in and creates interest.
What Is a Hero Shot in Food Photography?
In food photography, a hero shot is the standout image that makes the dish look irresistible. It’s carefully styled and expertly lit to highlight textures, colors, and fine details – creating a photo so appealing, you can almost taste it.
The goal is to showcase the food at its absolute best, capturing its freshness, flavor, and visual appeal in a single, mouth-watering shot.
What Is a Hero Portrait?
A hero portrait is a powerful image that highlights a person in a bold and memorable way. It goes beyond a standard headshot by capturing personality, presence, or purpose in a single frame.
Often used in personal branding, professional profiles, or creative projects, hero portraits are designed to make a strong visual statement about who someone is and what they represent.
Create a Strong Hero Shot on a Landing Page
Once you know what a hero shot is and what its key features are, it’s time to incorporate that image into your landing page. Choose a graphic that resonates with your target audience and supports the page’s main message while evoking the desired emotion. Be sure to add a compelling call to action and optimize for different devices.
Having a hero shot design, use Landingi’s landing page builder and implement it with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor. If, on the other hand, you don’t know where to start creating a lead image for a landing page, use one of the more than 400 professional templates – each with a great hero shot – that you can customize at will, adding your images, changing the font and colors. Don’t forget about content and SEO; AI Assistant will assist you in writing them. You can do all this in just a few clicks, and best of all – you can get started for free!
