What Colors attract Customers to your Website or Store?
Visual presentation in your marketing materials can turn on, and even turn off, potential customers. It does not matter if it's on paper (flyer or newsletter) or online (website or eBay Store or other online shop).
Is it really that important? Well I think it is. It is a fact that major corporations spend billions of dollars on doing color market research, usually in product or packaging development. Research has revealed that people make a subconscious judgment about an environment or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone.
The Colors You Use
The colors you use will affect whether a potential buyer will continue clicking through your site. Color also helps to keep these folks involved on your web site (it's not always just about the content) and how long they stay.Colors also influence how people will respond and behave. For example, as a general rule, a black background on your web site now represents a sex-type web site. It is important that if that isn't your focus, that you don't use a black background.
Let's take a few minutes and play with this concept. The next time you go into a fast-food restaurant, look closely at the colors. Do they decorate with vivid reds and oranges because they encourage diners to eat and leave quickly like many of the fast food establishments. Yes? Well, that is exactly the response they want.
Visit large corporate web sites that have spent funds on this type of research. Look at eBay, their search pages are in a pale yellow, looking for warmth and happiness, which actually matches their current marketing strategies and General Motors uses blue for trust and reliability.
Color References

Cultural Differences - Colors obtain symbolism through cultural references in the culture you grew up in. Depending upon the culture, colors can have very different meanings and actually cause problems for your site. For example, in the East, white is the color of funerals while in the West white is the color of Weddings. In China, white symbolizes death and in Brazil, it's purple.
Class Differences - Marketing research in the United States has shown that working class people tend to prefer colors that you can name: like blue, red, green, etc. While more highly educated classes tend to prefer colors that are more obscure: like taupe, azure, mauve, etc. This is why Walmart does their store logo in bright red.
Gender Differences - In many cultures, men tend to prefer cooler colors (blues and greens) while women tend to prefer warmer colors (reds and oranges).
People from warm countries generally respond favorably to warm colors; people from colder climates prefer the cooler colors.
In the US and Canada, green is associated with jealousy or money.
Here are a few other color references:
Red - (most noticeable) excitement, strength, passion, speed, danger.
Blue - (most popular) trust, reliability, belonging, coolness.
Yellow - warmth, sunshine, cheer, happiness.
Orange - playfulness, warmth, vibrant.
Green - nature, fresh, cool, growth, abundance.
Purple - royal, spirituality, dignity.
Pink - soft, sweet, nurture, security.
White - pure, virginal, clean, youthful, mild.
Black - sophistication, elegant, seductive, mystery, of a sexual nature.
Gold - prestige, expensive, elite.
Silver - prestige, cold, scientific.
Shopping Habits
This also means that color affect shopping habits.
Did you know that
- Red, orange, black and royal blue attract impulse buyers
- Pink, teal, light blue and navy attract smart budget Shopper
- And pink, rose and sky blue attract conformists
Pick your colors for your market
Young children materials contain large amounts of bright primary colors. These colors will attract the child yet the parents or grandparents will open the wallet.
This means that for the children you would use the primary colors and for the marketing material being read by the grand/parents you would use reds, blues, pinks and yellows for trust, reliability, security, and playful.
If you have a web site or online store and you choose the colors because they are your favorite, then you may have chosen it for the wrong target market.
We've all been subjected to sites with unpleasant color combinations. I have seen a few that although the colors used may be the owners favorite colors, they are either very hard on the eyes (almost blinding) or make the text very difficult to read. You want people to view your website with ease. Remember, it's easy for your visitors to press the back button.
Using too many colors, or the wrong combination of colors could alienate or turn off your potential buyers completely. On average, you should only choose three colors (or shades of those colors) at the most.
Information compiled from several articles on the internet.
On a Funny Note.....

I thanked her, but admitted that our official business colours since 1983 were actually black and "no-name" yellow and that since we went into ecommerce and online sales, I switched to red..... which promotes impulse buying * blush *
Shhhh, don't tell anyone, ok? LOL
Color Codes
Looking for color codes? I have both non-dithering and basic color codes on one of my websites.What's non-dithering color codes? In layman's terms, these colors will look like the color you ask for on all browsers and all computer screen resolution settings.
Please refer to my Color Codes.
Guestbook Feedback
Thank you for dropping by, please feel free to say howdie!
Only Squidoo links are allowed, those comments that include non-Squidoo lenses will not be approved.
-
Reply
- California_Dreamin California_Dreamin Jun 20, 2009 @ 12:03 am
- Thanks, this is really interesting and useful information.
-
Reply
- janices7 janices7 May 26, 2009 @ 1:28 pm
- Very interesting lens. I guess I should make all my 'BUY' buttons red:)
-
Reply
- BevsPaper BevsPaper Apr 7, 2009 @ 8:13 am
- This was so very informative! Makes me think I might need to rethink my background color though. 5*s!
-
Reply
- MikeMac MikeMac Apr 5, 2009 @ 11:59 pm
- Good stuff. Very helpful info and good food for thought as I look at my lenses.
-
Reply
- EverythingMouse EverythingMouse Mar 18, 2009 @ 7:25 pm
- I think it is really difficult to decide on color for my vacation home website. Most of them out there for vacation homes are blue and white and people say they remember mine as it is the brown/gold one!
-
Reply
- Michael_Toth Michael_Toth Mar 11, 2009 @ 11:18 am
- This is really interesting information. I knew that color was important but the statistics that you listed were really shocking. I always have found the "what different colors represent" kind of things to be very interesting, so I liked this lens a lot. Great job!
-
Reply
- Michael_Toth Michael_Toth Mar 11, 2009 @ 11:18 am
- This is really interesting information. I knew that color was important but the statistics that you listed were really shocking. I always have found the "what different colors represent" kind of things to be very interesting, so I liked this lens a lot. Great job!
-
Reply
- mistyblue75605 mistyblue75605 Feb 26, 2009 @ 2:42 am
- neat info!! 5*'s
-
Reply
- HorseAndPony HorseAndPony Feb 23, 2009 @ 12:37 pm
- We loved this 5* lens. Thanks for the info.
-
Reply
- Treasures-By-Brenda Treasures-By-Brenda Feb 9, 2009 @ 8:44 am
- On your food lenses do you use colors that make people hungry???? Great work here.
Brenda
-
Reply
- Steve-SEO-UK Steve-SEO-UK Jan 18, 2009 @ 1:39 pm
- Many thanks for an informative and interesting Lens,
Steve
Cheap Web Hosting - The right choice
-
Reply
- OhMe OhMe Jan 8, 2009 @ 8:09 pm
- Red, you say. Ok. I am now switching everything to red. Great lens.
-
Reply
- enslavedbyfaeries enslavedbyfaeries Jan 6, 2009 @ 5:15 pm
- Just to had to come and say, "you rock!". Those color codes are awesome, just what I needed. :)
-
Reply
- enslavedbyfaeries enslavedbyfaeries Jan 6, 2009 @ 5:12 pm
- I completely agree that certain colors change moods and influence our choices. I try to work with the options available for my lenses, but I'm definitely going to check out your color codes link for some new ideas.
-
Reply
- ElizabethJeanAllen ElizabethJeanAllen Jan 2, 2009 @ 11:18 am
- I'm an impulse buyer. Maybe that's why I like midnight blue, black and red.
Great lens
Thanks for the tips,
Lizzy
- Load More
About Me on Squidoo
awelldressedbullet has been a member since June 14 2007, has rated 1,866 lenses, favorited 842, and has created 157 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "Turkey Dinner at Kathy's". See all my lenses
Check out these great lenses...
-
- About A Well Dressed Bullet Website
Our website offers you custom handmade Belt Buckles, Bolo Ties, Bullet Pens, Card Guard Protectors, Clocks, Keepsake Urns, Key Chains, Shotgun Wedding Bar & Party Lights, Zipper Pulls and so much more.Unique gift ideas for hunters, rifle, handgun... view lens -
- Squidoo Orange Guy Visits Canada
When I first found the Adventures of Squid Contest I knew I just had to take the little Squidoo Orange Guy out for a spin, and show him what Canada is all about. I had to make sure to get written permission from his adopted parents, Seth and Megan,... view lens -
- Lensography of Kathy aka Pretty Bullet
Hello! It seems I've been a wee bit busy on Squidoo! This lens is a list of all my Squidoo lenses and lensography's, a way to keep track of all my lenses and to allow folks to view my lenses by category. So, grab a cup of coffee, browse around, I kn... view lens -
- Pretty Lenses by Pretty Bullet
We already have so many incredible "How To" lenses on Squidoo, explaining what Squidoo is, what a lens is, what the different modules are and how to use them, how to get more traffic, how to make more money, and so on. So I thought I would make a len... view lens -
- Kathy's Squidoo Help Library
This is a quick reference lens with a few of my favorite Squidoo lenses that I often refer new lensmasters to. Of course, I've tried to organize them so you can find what you are looking for easily. I've offered a selection of lenses on the same top... view lens
by awelldressedbullet
A Well Dressed Bullet offers handmade Belt Buckles, Bolo Ties, Bullet Pens, Card Guards, Clocks, Earrings, Key Chains, Party Lights & more, made with...
(more)
