If you want to remain inconspicuous at a party, don’t wear a bright red dress. At a funeral, the widow always wears black. Is it just coincidence that our flag is red, white and blue?

Purchasing Decisions

People use all of their senses before they decide to make a major purchase, but, by a very wide margin, visual appeal is the most important reason why someone chooses a specific product. Marketing studies show that more than 90 percent of people are most influenced in their purchasing decisions by the color and the way a product looks. Two out of every three people will not buy a washing machine or refrigerator because it is not the color they like.

Marketers, advertisers and web designers all understand the importance of choosing the right color or color scheme. Women are most attracted to blues, purples and greens. Women like orange, brown and gray tones the least. Men love blue, green and black and are least influenced by brown, orange and purple.

Color and Conversion Rates

A well designed website is an important component of any company’s overall marketing plan. It cannot be stressed enough that choosing the right colors can make a big difference in response and conversion rates. Color choices on your website should not be left to chance.

If you have ever had the misfortune of landing on a web page that presents a white background and light pink lettering in an exotic font, then you will understand why the choice of color and contrast really does matter. You should never choose colors that make the information on your website hard to read. No one wants to strain to see what your website contains. Instead of spending time on your website and possibly taking action that will convert their visit into a sale, visitors get annoyed and leave. Pretty colors may look good, but only when they interact in a positive way with the other colors on your website.

Psychology of Color

All of the different colors of the rainbow have been studied and shown to have a definite impact on perception and human behavior. By researching your target audience and using the colors that appeal most to that audience in the design of your website, you can improve your conversion rates.

·         Black is formal, elegant, serious, mysterious and powerful.

·         Blue represents peace, trust and loyalty, but it can also be cold and sometimes depressing.

·         Green is connected to life, healing and growth while sometimes attached to greed.

·         Red is an exciting, vibrant and passionate color. It is in your face and can warn you of danger ahead.

·         White is associated with purity, cleanliness and safety.

·         Yellow is joyful, happy and bright or it can be the sign of caution and jealousy.

Optimizing your Website to Maximize Conversion Rates

Along with the quality of your content, color is the other major force that will keep visitors at your site. To make sure that you are using the best colors for your target audience, you should work closely with your web design team. Color can be used to focus a viewer’s attention on a specific part of a web page. Make your site clear to see and easy to use, especially when you want someone to click and opt-in to an offer or make a purchase from your website.

Testing your use of colors is a good idea before you finalize your web design. Get as many people in your office to take a look at the design. Get a consensus of opinions. Colors on a computer screen do not look the same as the colors you see when you look around a room. Using brighter colors makes it easier on the eyes to read.

The bottom line is that people are visual creatures. They react positively to some colors and negatively to others. If you want to improve conversion rates, one way to do so is to focus on color.