Color Psychology to Increase Website Conversions

Color Psychology

Color Psychology is the science of how colors affect human behavior.

It is a branch of the broader field of behavioral psychology and in practice, it is the science of how colors can affect human behaviors and responses.

Moreover, the psychology of colors can help influence how your customers responded to your marketing messages depending on the color of your copy, call-to-actions, and links.

It is all part of understanding the mindset of your customers.

However, not every person responds to color in the same way.

This means that there are guarantees for its effect on concerns and branding but it does not mean that you should dismiss color psychology entirely and its impact.

On the contrary, there are crucial facts that are indisputable.

For instance, studies show that consumers take just a milliseconds to form their view on the visual appeal of your website.

In addition to this, color is powerful enough to elevate and evoke moods.

It does not matter what niche you are in, whether it is selling clothes, digital cameras, or tech services, it is important to make sure the colors work perfectly with every element in your marketing plan.

Unfortunately, it is not always straightforward as choosing colors is an ‘imperfect art’.

Misconceptions about Color Psychology

Though there is little in the way of scientific evidence, there is a lot of customer research available on color psychology.

For instance, one study shows that color influences the buying decision of people.

However, it is important to understand that this concept is not applicable to everyone.

The impression that color can vary depending on the purpose of the advertising and the age groups of consumers.

Moreover, the impact can vary due to a number of other factors like:

• the industry you are selling in
• the culture you are selling to and the personal beliefs of the people
• difference genders and their individual preferences

Furthermore, you can also see some articles online that insist that the same color will work well for every type of campaign.

However, that is not just true.

You will need to test a mix of color choices before deciding what will work best for each specific campaign or site.

Learn more about Color Theory: Understanding Color Wheels and Color Schemes here.

Where can you Use Color Psychology?

Colors can affect consumers throughout the marketing and sales cycle.

Whether you are developing software, designing a book, developing a web design over, or branding your business, colors can help you to define mood and influence responses.

You can focus on website color schemes and specific areas of website elements like hero graphics, headline type, borders, backgrounds, buttons, and pop-ups.

However, you can also apply them across a wide range of areas like logos, branding, and landing pages.

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Importance of Color Psychology

One of the important things is to understand that you can use color psychology to communicate value, as well as sell a product.

For instance, Coca-Cola company marked 125 years of offering exceptional services and used its classic bold red to brand the campaign.

The brand personality is of utmost importance and the core benefits of careful color selection in branding will include:

Clarity of Purpose You can strengthen your web design or brand voice with the help of the right color scheme.

Unless you know and speak the language your prospects speak, your product may get lost in a sea of competition, no matter how valuable or effective it may be.

First Impressions The careful use of color to create an initial impression can help captivate first-time visitors to your site while nurturing loyal customers as well.

Customer Relation and new Leads With the smart use of color, you can boost email sign-up rates, inspire repeat customers, and give them a reason to share your brand with friends and family.

However, it is important to remember that color psychology is closely tied to memories and experiences.

For instance, if some had an enjoyable experience while wearing a yellow shirt, eating at a fast-food restaurant with yellow arches, or living in a home with yellow walls, they may associate the color yellow with joy by memory association.

Using Color Psychology to Drive Conversions

CRO is an integral part of building a successful website, and the goal is to get the best ROI possible.

Moreover, your aim will be to thrive, no matter how strong your competition might be.

As colors are one of the most important things humans relate to, color psychology is an option you can explore and test to give your marketing n additional edge.

Colors different Genders Prefer Color preferences are not always easy to establish.

You will get a lot of studies online and many of them do not agree with one another.

However, women and men seem to have some obvious preferences.

According to a study, women prefer subtle tones of purple, green, red, and blue.

In comparison, men also like these colors, but prefer them in brighter tones.

A case study shows much of this is true, at least for women with blues, greens, and lavender colors remaining popular.

For colors that can help improve conversions regardless of sex, then red, greens, blues, purple, black, and orange seem standard.

Moreover, keep in mind that experts do not consider gender as binary as it once was.

So relying on a color that appeals to men vs. women might not be effective as you think.

Specific colors can also suggest specific qualities, Let’s take a look at them in the section below.

Color Psychology Best Practices

Updating the colors does not mean starting from scratch. You may not be in a position to rewrite the style guide and pick the website color palette or font colors, however, you still have some options.

The following are ways you can use color psychology in your marketing strategy and increase conversions:

If Colors don’t work, suggest Changes If you are working with designers or decision-makers, make sure to speak up if you feel the overall design scheme will not work.

For instance,e if you are selling a high-class designer product, you may want to pair a sophisticated color with an amature-logo.

This explains why some color combinations will not work and how the right mix can positively influence conversions.

Use psychologically-appropriate colors to Complement the Existing Color Scheme You can adapt to the color scheme already available.

Just make sure to use colors that blend well with the current choices, the brand, and the feelings you are trying to evoke.

For example, you can use blue, and combine it will a sunny yellow for a pop-up for a positive feel.

Test Several Colors To improve conversion, you can try using different colors until you find the one that works for your website.

For instance, HubSpot found that red outperforms green CTA buttons, however, that does not mean it will be the same for you.

Whatever color you want to go with, just make sure that the color ‘pops’ for greater visibility and higher conversions.

Don’t Forget; Color is a Conversion Issue You may want input from a designer, but do not let them dictate your website.

You are not just looking for something that looks good, but you want a color scheme that converts.

Therefore, be heavily involved in the color selection of your landing pages to improve your conversions.

Avoid Color Overload Too many colors can create a sense of confusion so make sure to avoid going overboard.

Reign in your color scheme with whites.

Let’s take a look at some color basics:

The Psychology of Red

The Color red can increase the heart rate and cause them to breathe faster.

Moreover, red is associated with lust, excitement, love, energy, and movements.

It also has some negative associations like war, violence, fire, anger, and danger.

Where can you use Red? You can use red as an accent color to draw attention to something or to create excitement.

Red can be good for food, fashion, entertainment, sports, marketing, advertising, emergency services, and health care.

When to Avoid Red? Do not OVERUSE it!

Too much excitement can be a bad thing.

Furthermore, red is not generally suitable for luxury goods, nature-related content, and professional websites/services.

The Psychology of Yellow

Yellow is the brightest color and is associated with competence, happiness, cheer, optimism, and youth.

However, yellow has some negative associations like cowardice, deceit, and cheapness.

When to Use Yellow You can use yellow/sparingly to energize people to create a sense of happiness.

Moreover, make sure to use soft, light, yellows for a calmer happy feeling.

While yellow can also be great for drawing attention to call-to-action text and buttons.

When to Avoid Yellow? It is important to note that yellow can quickly become overpowering.

Furthermore, it can strain the eyes, so make sure to use it sparingly.

Too much yellow or the wrong hue can feel cheap or spammy.

The Psychology of Orange

Orange is an energetic and vibrant color that experts associate with fun, happiness, energy, warmth, ambition, excitement, and enthusiasm.

Moreover, it can also be used to communicate caution.

When to Use Orange? You can use orange color to draw attention to calls to action like subscribe, buy, and sign up ads.

Also, you can use it for clearance, sales, and other content you want people to notice.

Furthermore, it is good for e-commerce, automotive, technology, entertainment, food, and childcare.

When to Avoid Orange? Though orange is a bit less intense than red, it can still become overpowering quickly.

So make sure to avoid OVERDOING it!

The Psychology of Green

Green has to harmonizing and balancing effect.

Experts associate green with growth, health, nature, wealth, money, calmness, masculinity, generosity, fertility, envy, good luck, peace, harmony, support, and energy.

When to Use Green? It is important to note that green is the easiest color for the eye to process.

You can use it to create a relaxing, calming effect or to represent a new beginning, nature, or wealth.

Moreover, it is great for science, tourism, medicine, human resources, the environment, and sustainability.

When to Avoid Green? It is less appropriate for luxury goods, tech, or content geared toward adolescent girls.

The Psychology of Blue

Blue is associated with masculinity, competence, quality, calmness, dependability, steadfastness, wisdom, loyalty, strength, productivity, trust, and security.

Moreover, bright blues are also refreshing and energizing.

When to Use Blue You can see the use of blue color by large corporations and banks as it is non-invasive and associated with dependability.

It is also good for health care, dental, high-tech, medical, science, government, legal, and utilities.

When to Avoid Blue? Using certain shades of blue like on the darker end of the spectrum or using too much blue can make your website feel uncaring and cold.

Furthermore, blue can also curb appetite, so make sure to be careful when using it with food-related content.

The Psychology of Purple

Purple is associated with royalty and you can use it to communicate creativity, imagination, authority, sophistication, power, wealth, prosperity, mystery, wisdom, and respect.

When to Use Purple You can use purple to create a sense of luxury and wealth.

Moreover, you can use light purples for spring and romance.

Purple can also be great for beauty products, specifically for anti-aging, astrology, massage, yoga, healing, spirituality, content related to adolescent girls, and feminine brands.

When to Avoid Purple? Purple can be soothing and calming which makes it a poor choice for grabbing the attention of people.

Furthermore, the use of darker, deeper purple can make your site look aloof or distant.

The Psychology of Brown

Brown is a warm color associated with earth, ruggedness, reliability, stability, friendship, and nature.

When to Use Brown? You can use brown to stimulate appetite, making it suitable for food-related content.

Moreover, this color is a good fit for real estate, animals, veterinary, and finance.

Brown, however, is the typically better color choice for backgrounds.

When to Avoid Brown? It is important to note that brown can be a bit boring or overly sensitive.

Also, is often not suitable for grabbing the attention of the people and you should not use it for call-to-action items.

The Psychology of Black

Black is a strong color, experts often associated with sophistication, elegance, authority, power, sleekness, stability, strength, formality, and intelligence.

However, it can also symbolize death, mystery, evil, and rebellion.

When to Use Black? Depending on the colors you use along with black, it can be elegant and traditional or modern and edgy.

Moreover, black can be great for luxury goods, fashion, marketing, and cosmetics.

When to Avoid Black? Too much black can quickly become overwhelming,

Also, black can also feel menacing or evil, making people feel uncomfortable or even afraid.

The Psychology of White

Experts associate white with purity, cleanliness, virtue, happiness, sincerity, and safety.

When to Use White? White is associated with doctors, nurses, and dentists which makes it great for websites related to the healthcare industry.

Moreover, it can also work for high-tech and scientific sites.

When you pair it with black, gold, silver, or grey, white can also be a great option for luxury goods.

When to Avoid White? Since the effects of white depend on other colors in the design, it can theoretically be used for any type of website.

The Psychology of Grey

Grey is associated with formality, professionalism, sophistication, practicality, timelessness, and strong character.

When to Use Grey? It is great for professional websites, luxury goods, or to create a balancing, calming effect.

When to Avoid Grey? Certain shades of grey can feel dull and detached or even cold.

Moreover, grey is not ideal for grabbing the attention of people.

The Psychology of Pink

Though pink is a tint of red, it has some very specific associations beyond those of red.

Moreover, pink represents sophistication, sincerity, romance, and love.

It does not have violent, angry connotations of red, and can be quite soothing and gentle.

When to Use Pink? Pink is a great option for feminine products or sites with content specifically geared towards women and young girls.

When to Avoid Pink? Bright pinks can be gaudy and light pink can feel too sentimental or sweet for some sites.

Summing Up

It is easy to overlook the potential of color psychology, however, you can choose colors for your website, branding, and marketing that may be more powerful than you realize. When choosing the color scheme, take an active part and do not leave the decision to a designer. Only know what you want for your website and what you want your visitors to do when they visit your website.

If you want to increase conversion, then you may want to use certain colors, like red, blue, and orange. However, make sure to remember that the psychology of colors does not guarantee results and the same colors will not have the same effect on everyone.

Do you take color psychology into consideration in your Website design and marketing? Let us know how you use it below.