How colors increase conversions

colors can increase conversions? Yes. Different colors mean different things, read on.

We know some of the basic ways to increase conversions - on-site optimization and the increase of urgency, to name a few. However, there is another way to persuade your audience that may not seem as blatantly obvious. This factor is colors.

QuickSprout found that color accounts for 85% of the reason why we buy a specific product.

This highlights how influential color choice is within marketing. Pick the color that resonates with your audience, and you’ve got a winner.

Why are colors so influential? It all comes down to color psychology. This is the science of how color affects human behavior. This is often a field that is not completely agreed upon, with color psychology having many skeptics. After all, considering how subjective color preferences are, how can it be possible for a certain color to cause the same reaction with everyone?

The first thing you need to learn is what influence each color has. You can then continue on to learn the correct way to use each color, and select which colors are right for your brand.

The influence of colors on genders

colors have different effects on men than women. Philip Cohen from the University of Maryland found 35 percent of women prefer blue, 23 purple, and 14 green. 33 percent of women said they did not like the color orange. If you’re targeting women specifically, it’s best to avoid ‘earthy’ colors such as orange, brown or gray. It’s also tempting to lean towards stereotypically feminine colors such as pink. However, this is not a favourite color of every woman. Instead, opt for blue, purple or green to increase your conversions.

There were some similarities, with men also preferring blue the most, followed by green and then black. These colors are associated with manliness, and are therefore most preferred. Men dislike brown the most, followed by orange and purple.

Symbolic colors

It’s important to consider what colors are symbolic of. Consider what the following colors symbolise and whether you would want that associated with your brand:

• Pink: can be seen as feminine and romantic, and risks not being as appealing to men
• Gray: neutral, but associated with loneliness and sadness
• Black: can be elegant, but also symbolic of death
• Brown: represents boredom
• Yellow: optimistic and youthful.

However, it’s important to think about your target market when thinking about what a color symbolises, as it can change in each culture. For example, white represents mourning and death within China, whereas purple is symbolic of death in Brazil.

Spending habits

So what colors affect your spending? Certain colors represent different factors, and then cause people to decide whether or not to buy a product. color representations include:

• Black: sophisticated
• Orange: affordability
• Green: environmentally friendly, healthy
• Burgundy: rich
• Blue: trust, calming

People who are impulse shoppers will be mostly influenced by royal blue, orange and black. Those on a budget will be swayed by dark blue and green. Whereas traditional buyers prefer pink, light blue and dark pink.

Where to use colors

Now that you know about the importance of colors and what they are representative of, it’s time to know where on your website you should be using colors to increase conversions.

Rules to consider when using color to increase conversions:

• Have different colored text for links which have and have not been clicked, and make sure these colors are different to the text color.
• Use brighter colors for call-to-action buttons. Make sure it stands out and contrasts with the background color.
• Avoid colors that are too bright or will hurt viewers eyes.
• Make sure any text or headings can be read and contrasts with the background.
• Align the text color of your headline, call-to-action and value proposition with your marketing goal.

It’s clear to see how important color is to a brand, and how using the right color can increase conversions. Your business needs to choose a color that will be an accurate representation of your brand, and something that it will be known for. After all, people clearly associate the golden arches and red with McDonald's.

When deciding on colors, it’s important to run some A/B tests. Unbounce’s 2012 Conversion Rate Optimization Report found 46 percent of marketers considered A/B testing to be the best way to increase conversions.

A/B testing allows you to see what impact a certain color has on your conversion rates, and you can be using the correct colors. After all, there is no one color that will always work and get conversions. For example, there isn’t a rule that says you should definitely use red for your call-to-action buttons.

You simply have to test these and find which color works best for your brand. Just make sure you test one element each time, to ensure you know what caused the increase or decrease in conversions.

Testing your color choices will ensure you can settle on the right color for your brand and the one that causes the biggest increase in conversions.

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