{"id":47217,"date":"2019-09-24T13:07:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T07:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vwo.com\/blog\/?p=47217"},"modified":"2025-04-29T11:31:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T06:01:17","slug":"psychology-of-colors-in-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vwo.com\/blog\/psychology-of-colors-in-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Psychology of Colors in Marketing & Impact on Conversions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Colors are one of the most powerful visual cues to draw someone\u2019s immediate attention and evoke them to take the desired action. Scientists have long known that colors, when used most appropriately, have the ability to instantly change a person\u2019s mood, behavior, thinking, and perception of a brand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, did you know that nearly 92% of individuals say that visual dimensions serve as the first influencing factor which affects their purchase decisions? <\/em>Or that color plays an important role in shaping a brand\u2019s perception and can <\/em>increase conversions<\/em><\/a> by up to 80%?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download Free: A\/B Testing Guide<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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But, how can you use the psychology of colors to improve your brand and marketing? How can you use color as a tool to market your products or services more effectively? Let\u2019s find out!<\/p>\n\n\n

Colors convey your brand\u2019s personality<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

Notice carefully, financial institutions like Chase, Citibank, Barclay\u2019s, Bank of America, Prudential, and Merrill Lynch use blue as their primary color. Obviously, it\u2019s not a mere coincidence. Rather, it\u2019s a strategic decision. Blue conveys a plethora of good emotions. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, depth, and stability. Practically everything that we humans expect from a financial institution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image source: Google<\/a>
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Coca-Cola, on the other hand, uses red as its signature color. Red is known to increase one\u2019s heartbeat and instill excitement. It can also signal anger, which is why Coca-Cola always portrays happy people to offset this possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image source: Coca-Cola<\/a>
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Colors are not just about capturing a person\u2019s attention. They\u2019re a crucial element that represents your brand\u2019s image and a tool to communicate with your target audience. If you don\u2019t put thought into colors that will represent your brand\u2019s personality, you run the risk of people making assumptions about your business and its offerings which aren\u2019t true. So, the smarter the color choices you make, the better your brand\u2019s image will be, and the higher your chances will be of creating more <\/a>customers. <\/p>\n\n\n

Contrasting colors create impact<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n

An average consumer, according to Nielsen Norman<\/a>, spends 10 to 20 seconds on a web page looking for what they need before bouncing off. And amazingly, color has a huge impact on their experience. Is this surprising? Well, most of the things we see around us are a perfect example of contrasting colors. Let\u2019s again take Coca-Cola as an example. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Image source: Coca-Cola<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Coca-Cola\u2019s red and white scheme has been a permanent success for the beverage company. Besides using the contrasting color theory<\/a> combination in its logo, Coca-Cola also uses the same hues in its website copy and CTAs as well. While white is a neutral color, Coca-Cola uses contrasting colors (red and some black) to focus the reader\u2019s attention on the right elements and create impact. . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The principle of \u2018conversion-centered design<\/a> principles\u2019 aptly applies here \u2013 design your page elements in a manner that immediately capture the attention of your visitors. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Image source: Apple<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Taking another example here, Apple keeps its website clean, uncluttered, and simple. This creates a sense of sophistication and allows Apple to focus attention on the high converting elements. The choice of primarily black and white with pops of color is purposed to create an impression that Apple\u2019s products are technological marvels, yet easy to understand and operate.<\/p>\n\n\n

Creating color associations to help orientation<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n

Most people abandon websites that are difficult to navigate. If your site is loaded with a lot of information, use different colors to organize information into logical categories to help the user feel oriented and aide navigation. For instance, VWO offers a plethora of products<\/a> to our customers across the globe. To enable visitors to process all the information given on the site easily, we allotted different colors to each product category. Take a look:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Similar to a binder file with colored tabs, using different colors to differentiate between various sections can make your site look more organized and feel user-friendly, keeping visitors interested and engaged. The Von Restroff effect helps to explain this – items that stand out (owing to their color scheme) are more likely to be remembered than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download Free: A\/B Testing Guide<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n

Convincing colors can convert audiences into customers<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n

The next key to colors and conversions<\/a> is to understand what your target audience expects from your brand. If you\u2019re marketing products mostly to enterprise-level companies, then colors will most likely need to be more conservative than flashy. On the other hand, if you\u2019re marketing your products to startups or youth aged between 18 and 30 years, it may be more effective to use brighter colors to grab their attention and convey a sense of playfulness. Using the color palette to appeal to each target audience segment is important to give relevance, but always keep it aligned to your core brand color scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hurly Burly Live Cultures, for example, is a leading food brand based out of Ipswich, England, that uses bright and playful yet complementary colors to convey a sense of health, wellness and calm. Its color palette centers around green, drawing inspiration from its actual food colors to communicate vitality and goodness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image source: Hurly Burly<\/a>
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Asana, a workflow management tool, on the other hand, uses a mix of conservative and colorful gradients to represent its brand motto \u2013 clarity with energy. While clarity means being on top of things, energy portrays a feeling of making progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image source: Asana<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a brand, it\u2019s important to understand that the best way to cultivate a strong emotional connection with your customers is to understand what colors will create the perception you want them to have of your business. Use these colors to your advantage and strike straight to your target audience\u2019s hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Customizing colors to match cultures<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n

As per Professor Ian F. Wilkinson, a Professor at the University of Sydney, the meaning of a specific color changes depending on a specific culture<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, a wedding planning company expanded from the Asian market into the Middle East. They used their native red color scheme in their logo and across the website for the Middle East market because they felt the color red associated with passion and excitement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six months later their branches in the Middle East were on the verge of closure, as not many people were engaging with their brand. So, what had gone wrong? What made them fall?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After digging deep, the company found they hadn’t properly contemplated the Middle Eastern cultural context. In Asian countries, the color red is associated with love, passion, joy, and sensitivity. However, Middle Eastern nations equate the color red with danger and caution. This was the key factor in the failure of their expansion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So understanding the essence of color and its underlying meaning to a specific culture is crucial. Colors can make or break a business. Here, the company should have opted for golden and white to flourish in the Middle East Market which are understood to represent elegance, wealth and purity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out our latest conversation with consumer psychology expert Ben Ambridge on using psychological intelligence to optimize customer behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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