Key Points:
- Understanding color psychology can do much more than just make your eCommerce store look good
- Color psychology marketing aims to create brand relevance and motivate customers to make purchases by provoking certain emotions
- Different colors trigger different feelings in online shoppers, so it’s important you understand the psychological effects of color
Color psychology plays a critical role in website design and marketing campaigns for your eCommerce store. Images and words can’t match color’s ability to generate emotional persuasion and create a positive or negative customer experience.
In his report, “Impact of Color on Marketing,” Satyendra Singh found that shoppers make an initial judgment about a product or website within 90 seconds and that 62%-90% of this is based just on color. Similarly, a Statista report found that 42% of women say color is an important consideration when making a clothing purchase.
Understanding color psychology can do much more than just make your eCommerce store look good; understanding which colors make people buy can seriously boost your sales.
The psychological effects of color determine what emotional reactions potential customers have to your online store; if you fail to deploy the right colors, you could shoot your business in the foot. Therefore, color psychology marketing should be at the center of your online marketing strategy to help generate leads and increase conversion.
Additionally, ensuring your color choices reinforce your brand identity can contribute to a higher conversion rate. In this article, we are going to explore the idea of color psychology as it relates to eCommerce and how you can choose the right color schemes to drive more sales.
Table of Contents
01Understanding Color Psychology
02The Use of Color Psychology in Marketing
03How to Drive Sales with Color Psychology and Marketing
Understanding Color Psychology
Understanding the theory of color psychology is essential to developing a unique perspective on your customers - and could help you increase conversions on your online store. Understanding how people react to different colors will give you an edge in the eCommerce space.
Color psychology can be defined as the understanding of how different hues determine human behavior. Using this to create an effective color scheme for your store can help you increase positive reactions to your marketing messages, call-to-action buttons, and links. The color psychology chart below will give you a good understanding of what emotions different colors can trigger.
As you can see, the connection between colors and emotion is huge; therefore, with color psychology theories, you can use the right colors to elicit certain emotions in your customers and encourage them to take specific steps.
Understanding the psychological effects of color, and what emotions they trigger or inspire can help you create a brand logo, call-to-action-buttons, links, and email copy that enhance your shoppers' experiences and boosts sales.
Don’t forget that branding also extends to the post-purchase experience; this is a chance for you to solidify your brand's identity by correctly deploying color psychology.
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The Use of Color Psychology in Marketing
Color psychology marketing aims to create brand relevance and motivate customers to make purchases by provoking certain emotions. Here is a breakdown of colors that are proven to increase sales, along with the specific emotions they evoke and the product categories in which they work best.
1.Red
Red is a useful color when it comes to color psychology marketing. It’s known for evoking feelings of urgency and excitement, so it can boost feelings of hunger, love, and fun. Many fast-food chains and brands - among them Coca-Cola, KFC, and McDonald’s - have found success by incorporating copious amounts of red in their branding, including in their logos and marketing materials.
Shades of red (and other related colors) work well for building a niche online store for kitchen supplies because they’re associated with good moods, appetite, trust, and coziness. Red also works well for impulse purchases and is a common choice for the “buy” button on eCommerce stores. It’s also often used to attract notice for various actionable items and calls-to-action, such as special announcements, notifications, links to emails, and errors.
Red is also commonly used to denote sales prices since it attracts people’s notice to the lower prices. Because of all this, red is one of the most useful colors that make people buy.
2.Blue
The psychological effects of the color blue is productivity, trust, peace, and stability. Unlike red, which triggers urgency and anxiety, blue quells anxiety. It stands out as a great color for background and conversion elements on eCommerce sites that deal with things like insurance, medicine, and finances.
Color psychology theory states that dark blue gives a sense of intelligence, gravitas, and tradition; lighter blue is associated with freedom and security. All shades of blue will also suit educational toys and sports to stimulate a sense of concentration, seriousness, and brain function.
Blue is a useful color to use as a conversion element for websites that deal with “scary” topics such as insurance. Because it’s intrinsically associated with trust and security, it can alleviate fears and make people more confident about using the site. On an eCommerce site, blue can be used in things like payment gateways - just think of PayPal and the Verified by Visa logo that often comes up when making an online purchase - both are blue.
3.Green
Green lends customers a pleasing feeling of warmth and invitation. It also evokes feelings of goodwill, health, and environmental responsibility. Green is also known to be the color of money and provokes thoughts of wealth.
If you’re looking at deploying green in your brand identity, you should remember that color psychology means that the color will work for an eCommerce store dealing with equipment for outdoor activities, as well as sports items as it inspires people to be on the move outside. It will also work well in the health and wellness niche. Green ranks second as a solid “buy” button and call-to-action choice.
Easyship client Tropicfeel produces a range of sustainable, versatile sneakers. To underscore the eco-friendly nature of its products, the website features plenty of soothing green shades, including its logo, feedback and notice bars, and most importantly, for talking about the benefits of its sustainable shoes.
4.Gold and Purple
In terms of the psychological effects of color, these two colors are all about status, prestige, and wealth. Purple is a color that lends your marketing materials a touch of elegance and prestige because it’s traditionally associated with royalty. Similarly, gold is also considered prestigious and elegant but outshines purple with an element of power; it’s a symbol of wealth and pedigree.
As you would expect, these colors will work well for jewelry and fashion products as they represent wealth and luxury. Silver will also work well in this niche. It’s also a good choice for financial organizations and educational businesses that want to give off a sense of status.
In eCommerce, though, purple should be used judiciously. It can be good for branding and conversion elements but should be used alongside neutral colors like cream, brown, white, and blue. Greeting card maker Hallmark is a good example of this - purple and gold are their brand colors, but they’re used carefully alongside neutral colors on their website.
5.Black and White
Black is a versatile color. More correctly, black is an absence of color, which means that it can be used in a multitude of ways if you’re considering color psychology in your site’s color schemes. It’s associated with dominance, power, and strength. It sends a message of confidence to potential buyers when used in eCommerce.
It’s commonly used in luxury brands that retail mainly to male audiences and works well in the niches of fashion and accessories. If you’re dealing with technology, electronic devices, computer supplies, or any other tech products, then black and white, along with metallic colors will work well for you. When combined, these colors are associated with high-tech products and the future.
In designing your online store, black and white are best used as background elements that allow other, more converting colors to stand out. The Rolls-Royce site, for example, uses black text on a primarily white background to allow its grand images to stand out properly.
6.Orange
Orange arouses feelings of ambition and energy and is powerful when it comes to grabbing shoppers' attention. It makes them feel as if they are dealing with a cutting-edge brand. It also symbolizes originality, passion, and a fresh beginning.
It works well with other warm colors such as red and yellow, and can be especially useful in any baby-related stores. Orange also works well for conversion elements in a clean, simple-looking eCommerce store as it stands out from other color schemes and customers feel positive about it.
Orange is another popular choice for conversion elements, but mostly on sites that have an otherwise clean, simple design. This allows the orange-hued conversion element to really stand out. Penguin Books, a segment of the Random House publishing company, uses orange in their logo and incorporates this into elements like the shopping cart and attention-grabbing header bar on their site.
7.Pink
Pink is closely associated with feelings of love, kindheartedness, and romance. Though it can appeal to males, it’s commonly associated with femininity and works well to offset more aggressive colors such as red, orange, and black with its soothing effect. Pink is frivolous, fun, and feminine, and if you are vying for the attention of young females with your beauty products, you can't go wrong with pink.
Pink can be a versatile color for your eCommerce store, but you should think about your audience when deciding how to use it. For example, Victoria’s Secret is a feminine, women-focused brand dealing in lingerie and beauty products; their website features a lot of pink, in line with their branding. Conversely, while NastyGal is a clothing retailer geared towards women, its audience is somewhat different; they use pink, but mainly as an accent.
8.Yellow
Yellow is associated with confidence, cheerfulness, and playfulness, and can work well when you want to command your customers' attention and show them that you are confident in your abilities. However, yellow has the most dangerous hue and can scare customers away if not used carefully.
Hues of yellow, orange, and other warm colors evoke feelings of tenderness, love, positive attitude, cheerfulness, and playfulness and can work well in pet supplies and accessories. For an eCommerce store, yellow is a good accent color to get different parts of your site to stand out, for example, it’s good for small chunks of text that contain important information, but it’s less useful for conversion elements. The site for First Sip Brew Box is a good example of this.
9.Brown
Brown is an earthy tone and is known in the psychological effects of color to create feelings of comfort and relaxation. If you want to create a cozy, friendly, welcoming, and comfortable atmosphere that will make your customers feel relaxed and comfortable, then this warm and quiet color won't let you down. This is especially true if you are dealing with products in home décor.
However, brown will work best on a website whose branding already uses the color. The website for Hotel Garda Golf uses cream as a background color and a deep, rich brown for accents and calls-to-actions.
This works mainly because the Garda Golf logo uses these colors too, and the hotel’s rooms and public spaces are rendered in earthy tones, so the photos work well with the site design. However, brown is not necessarily good for conversion rates as it is not really considered one of the colors that make people buy.
How to Drive Sales with Color Psychology and Marketing
Different colors trigger different feelings in online shoppers, so it’s important you understand the psychological effects of color. Having a working knowledge of color psychology can help you choose colors that make people buy, and which resonate well with your brand’s identity, improve conversion rate, and drive more sales.
The right branding colors on your marketing materials, seasoned with great customer service, pricing, and discounts are all you need to kill it with your eCommerce store and stay ahead of the competition.
Don't forget that branding is equally important in the post-purchase experience and Easyship can help with that. As well as giving you access to over 250 affordable courier services, we offer a streamlined end-to-end shipping service that enables you to deliver customized shipping experiences to your customers.
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FAQs
How is Colour psychology used in marketing? ›
Color psychology is the study of how colors affect perceptions and behaviors. In marketing and branding, color psychology is focused on how colors impact consumers' impressions of a brand and whether or not they persuade consumers to consider specific brands or make a purchase.
How do colors affect marketing? ›84.7% of buyers claim that color is the primary draw card. Different colors have different psychological effects on consumers – red encourages appetite, blue provides a sense of security, green stimulates harmony, orange promotes enthusiasm, purple is associated with royalty, and so on.
What are the psychological effects of colors? ›Warm colors like red, yellow and orange evoke higher arousal emotions, such as love, passion, happiness, and anger. Cool colors, like blue, green and purple are linked to calmness, sadness and indifference. Colors can trigger these arousal states and emotions.
Why is color so important in marketing? ›In marketing, colors can be a powerful tool used to influence reactions and responses in your audience. The psychology of colors explains that specific colors can trigger certain emotions and moods in people. While some colors can trigger urgency and alertness, others can make the audience feel calm or even nostalgic.
How do colors attract customers? ›Red is the color of power. It gets people's attention and it holds it, which is why it's the most popular color for marketing. The word SALE is always red, and you'll often find red a common tie color for professionals. When you want to be viewed as trustworthy and cool, blue is the color for you.
How color is used in marketing and advertising? ›Color in advertising plays an important role in how a brand is perceived, as well as how people think about and behave toward a brand. It can increase attention to advertising, influence product choice and prompt action, among other impacts. It also contributes to brand personality and helps with brand positioning.
Do colors matter in marketing? ›In marketing, color can impact how buyers perceive different brands and products, so it's crucial to pick the tones that align with your business's goals and target audience.
What colors are best used for marketing? ›- Red. Red is a highly popular color in marketing because it's bold, captures attention and can evoke powerful psychological responses. ...
- Green. Green can evoke feelings of harmony, health, loyalty and safety, making people feel welcome and secure. ...
- Blue. ...
- Pink. ...
- Purple. ...
- Yellow. ...
- Gold. ...
- Orange.
Color helps in brand recognition and has the power to influence a customer's purchase decision. Marketers have to determine which color suits the brand best, and how it can deliver a message to their target market. Studies say that 90% of people's perception and assessment of a brand depends on color.
Do colors have psychological effects on us? ›Every color creates different emotions and feelings. Colors can make us feel happy or sad, and they can make us feel hungry or relaxed. These reactions are rooted in psychological effects, biological conditioning and cultural imprinting.
What is the best color psychologically? ›
Blue is known for its trust and dependability. It's reliable, responsible, and mentally soothing. For that reason alone, it's one of the most-liked colors across the entire world.
How does color affect perception? ›Some colours induce a feeling of pleasure in the observer. When an affectively positive, or pleasurably perceived, colour is viewed after a less-pleasant colour, it produces more pleasure than when viewed by itself, an effect known as affective contrast enhancement.
Why is color psychology important in branding? ›Colors have a powerful effect on our emotions. And these emotions play a major role in how we behave as consumers. Brand color psychology provides a framework for understanding how and why we interact with the brands in our lives. And it is a powerful tool in brand design if you're considering rebranding.
Which color attracts the most attention? ›The color red attracts attention in an emotional context.
How do colors affect customers? ›Color dictates a consumer's perception of a product or service according to the emotion that they associate with the color of that product or service. For instance, a logo that is blue and white often causes a calm, soothing response from a consumer. The colors red, orange, and black will evoke a different emotion.
What color motivates people to buy? ›Red is more effective for impulse purchases, so it's a common buy button choice on ecommerce websites. But it's more effective for B2B software vendors too. When HubSpot A/B tested CTA button color for Performable, red out-converted green by 21%.
What color attracts success? ›Gold is the most powerful color if you are thinking of attracting affluence, fame, and wealth.
What color makes people interested? ›Red is the color of power. It gets people's attention and holds it. It is the most popular color for marketing. The color red tends to increase the heart rate and create a sense of urgency.
How color plays an important role in advertising? ›Color is important because it affects the entire outcome of branding and advertising. Consumers' brains use color to recognize products and the brands that make them. Color psychology is based on the association that our brains make with certain colors.
Which color is good for business growth? ›Blue – If you're looking to have your business accepted, blue is the way to go. This color is said to be the most widely picked. In addition, it represents water, which is an essential part of human life.
How can colour affect sales? ›
Colour can affect mood and therefore change shopping habits. Colour is a powerful communication tool and can be used to signal action, influence mood, and even influence physiological reactions. “Selecting the right colours to use has an enormous impact on product sales.” (J Suresh Kumar).
How Do colors affect sales? ›Although colors can be a deciding factor for customers, there is little proof that the choice of color will increase sales. Instead, the mood and feelings your brand incite, coupled with the image, can persuade your customers. Colors help to create these moods and emotions that characterize your brand.
Do colors affect our behavior? ›Color can have psychological effects on everything from human behavior to mood to performance. Prisons in Europe have started painting their walls pink in an effort to calm aggressive inmates. Red sports uniforms have been linked to higher win rates. Blue has been linked to higher rates of creativity.
What psychologists say about colors? ›Most psychologists view color therapy with skepticism and point out that the supposed effects of color are often grossly exaggerated. Colors also have different meanings in different cultures. Research has demonstrated in many cases that the mood-altering effects of color may only be temporary.
What colors give people anxiety? ›For instance, red shades tend to trigger your stress response, making you more anxious, while lighter shades calm you down. If you are feeling overly stressed, you can use color as a stress management tool.
What color is happiest? ›Yellow is widely recognized as the happiest color in the world and comes with a scientific pedigree to back up this esteemed honor. Research has suggested two main reasons why yellow is considered the happiest color. Many studies have linked the psychological powers of yellow to the sun.
What color makes most people happy? ›Yellow is usually the color of happy, joyful emotions.
What is a motivating color? ›Orange is a combination of red's power and energy and the friendliness and fun of yellow. Orange represents motivation, positive attitude, and enthusiasm. It is a great color for sporting events and sports teams.
How does color affect focus? ›Low wavelength colors promote restfulness and calm, and they improve efficiency and focus. So that's why green is an excellent color for improving concentration. Apart from being one of the easiest colors on the eyes, it reminds us of nature. That's why TV stars stay in the 'green room'.
What three things can affect our perception of color? ›Contributing factors that affect the way we perceive color include: Life experiences. Language. Art.
How does color grab attention? ›
The attention-grabbing factor when using color is the contrast it has in context to its environment. Luminosity, or brightness of that color, can help to increase contrast. The brighter something is against its environment, the more it will stand out.
How Does color affect influence brand identity? ›Brand memorability: The use of the right color can boost your brand recognition by 80%. Brand perceptions: Consumers make judgments about products within 90 seconds. Moreover, somewhere between 60% and 90% of these judgments are based on colors solely.
What colour attracts human eye? ›Red and orange seem to be the clear winner when it comes to eye-catching colors. These colors tend to stand out and are therefore used on many warning signs or safety equipment. Yellow is another color that comes in a close second to red and orange in popularity.
Which color relaxes the most? ›Blue is the Most Relaxing Colour, Scientists Say.
What color is the most calming? ›"Shades of blue or green are always very calming. Blues are especially known to have a relaxing effect perfect for creating a serene feeling at home," says Nicole Gibbons, interior designer and founder of Clare Paint.
What is color theory how does it relate to marketing? ›Color theory is a concept that most designers and advertisers know the basics of. Color is important because it affects the entire outcome of branding and advertising. Consumers' brains use color to recognize products and the brands that make them.
How does color psychology influence consumer behavior? ›Through the color perception of different cultures, the research concluded that using a color that is associated with something negative will negatively affect the customers' retrieval cues, therefore repelling them from purchasing the product or service.
What is color psychology give an example? ›Different colors are perceived to mean different things. For example, tones of red lead to feelings of arousal while blue tones are often associated with feelings of relaxation. Both of these emotions are pleasant, so therefore, the colors themselves can procure positive feelings in advertisements.
Why is color important for marketing and brands? ›In marketing, color can impact how buyers perceive different brands and products, so it's crucial to pick the tones that align with your business's goals and target audience.
How does color affect brand perception? ›The findings show that the color you choose plays a huge role in how your service or product is interpreted by the consumer. Green logos instilled a perception that the company was environmentally friendly, tough, durable, masculine, and sustainable. Purple logos invoked perceptions of femininity, glamor and charm.
How does Colour affect target audience? ›
Most colors are associated with moods that they evoke across demographics, so you can predict how the colors you choose will make customers feel. Red, for instance, is commonly associated with passion and urgency, while blue is calming and trustworthy.
What is color psychology meaning? ›Color psychology is the study of how certain colors impact human behavior. Different colors have different meanings, connotations, and psychological effects that vary across different cultures. Along with cultural differences, color psychology is largely impacted by personal preference.
What is color psychology called? ›Our understanding of color and psychology come together to create a field called color therapy. Color therapy, also known as chromotherapy, is based on the idea that every color on the visible light spectrum has a unique wavelength and vibration.
What are the 3 primary colors psychology? ›In colour psychology, red, yellow, blue, and green are considered as the primary colours. These colours represent body, emotion, mind, and the essential interdependence and harmony between these three elements, respectively.