Branding and marketing do not only rely on a sound business strategy and a beautiful design. There is also the often overlooked influence of color psychology, affecting everything from logo creation to web design.
Colors are known to impact our subconscious and shape our perception. They can evoke specific emotional responses and compel us to take action. By applying this phenomenon in your marketing efforts, you will be giving your business an edge through influencing customer behavior – all thanks to the clever use of colors.
In order to achieve this, you need to understand the psychology of color and how it can help your business thrive, whether you are aiming to boost brand awareness or improve your conversion rates. Here are some of the ways you can use this knowledge to your advantage:
Leave a Great First Impression
According to Design Advisor, it only takes 90 seconds for a potential customer to make a product assessment, and most of this judgment is based on color alone. That is why it is important to help them form the best impression at first glance. You can do this by incorporating colors which most suitable for your business and goals.
Different demographics are drawn to different colors. Women, for instance like blue, pink, and green, so using these colors in products geared toward them can make your marketing campaigns more effective. Men, on the other hand, are more susceptible to bold colors in shades of blue, green, and black, while they dislike brown, orange, and pink. If you want to impress them, it is a good idea to remember their color preferences.
Using a color that can grab your customers’ attention right away is one thing. But it is just as crucial to choose hues that get your message across effectively. Make sure that the color you will be using communicates your brand personality well. The look and feel of your website also depend on how well you’ve chosen your color scheme.
Evoke the Right Emotional Response
Appealing to your customers’ emotions is a marketing strategy that never fails to bring in positive results. While personal experience can dictate your customers’ perception of a particular color, it is still possible to find the best fit for your brand and evoke the right response from them.
You can start by cultivating brand awareness. Using a color that best describes your brand can make it more recognizable. Do you want your brand to be perceived as trustworthy, competent, or sophisticated? Stereotypical color associations can play a huge role in this one. Green can help them relax, red symbolizes boldness, while black indicates power and authority.
If you are in the tech industry, for instance, you’ll likely want to communicate a sense of security to your clients. It is said that the color blue inspires trust, which is why it is perhaps the most popular choice when it comes to branding, websites, and logos. Just look at the leading online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype, LinkedIn, and PayPal.
If you’re looking to elicit feelings of excitement and boldness, red is the ideal choice. This emotional color creates a sense of urgency, making it the perfect fit for food and transport industries. Brands such as Coca-Cola, Nike, and Red Bull make use of this color.
It is up to you to choose colors that will trigger the desired emotional response in your customers, be it excitement, desire, comfort, happiness, or loyalty.
Use Colors for Better Conversion
Attracting visitors is not enough. It is still more important to convert them into paying customers. When applied to your website, the psychology of color can influence consumer behavior and persuade visitors to take action.
Let’s assume that you’ve already chosen a color scheme for your website that best represents your brand. Another thing you should consider, however, is the navigation and call-to-action buttons. These elements must stand out from the rest of the page to efficiently captivate your visitors’ attention.
CTAs are an integral part of the conversion process. Through the use of colors, you will be able to drive your conversion rate higher. Data shows that red, orange, and green make the best color choices for CTAs, but only when they stand out. This is reinforced by the success cases as experienced by BMI, HubSpot, and Beamax, to name a few.
Simply changing the color of your CTA button can work wonders. Use colors that will boost the visibility of the buttons compared to other elements of your website.
In Conclusion
Now that you’re familiar with the impact of color psychology on your audience’s perception and behavior, it’s time to start applying what you have learned into your business.
Bear in mind that using color psychology will not usher in great results overnight. It is something you need to work on over time. It might even require a lot of trial and error. The important thing is that you continuously find ways to discover what will work best for your brand.