Wow, some great information here - we were considering / researching these live actors / models and interested to try them ourselves but after reading this it has changed our mind a lot - I think instead we will try and go down the infomercial / promotional video which is optional to play rather than forced / automatic
As stated before, the answer as always "maybe" and "yes - if you do it right". As a veteran of many online marketing campaigns, I've found that when live presenters work, they REALLY work and can seriously boost conversions, signups, and lead-gens. Any eye-catching model and a well written, focused script are fundamentals of advertising that win out time and again. One issue beyond question, however, is that a starting price in the $300 range is simply too much for most people. Especially if they're going to smash your customers with their logo... FULL DISCLOSURE: I started a company to create website spokesmodels, and we're going to first make it available exclusively to e-marketing professionals like Digital Point members. We just created this DP account, so I can't link yet, but it's TheHypeIsRight + .com/promo. The promo price is just $39 for 50 words and there's NO logo to get in the way of your message.