What Colors attract Customers to your Website or Store?
Visual presentation in your marketing materials can turn on, or turn off, your potential customers. It does not matter if it's on paper (flyer or newsletter) or online (website or eBay Store).
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, and yes 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.
|
jasmineann
Thank you for this very interesting and useful information. 5 star and added to my faves so I can refer back to :) Posted June 04, 2008 |
|
Stephene
Thks for useful information.. i hv bookmarked this lense and joined your fan club.. (^o^) Posted March 16, 2008 |
|
FoxMusic
Thanks fro the great infomation, we tend to lean towards the yellows, oranges and reds Posted March 14, 2008 |
|
maxy
Great lens, creative and informative! Please check out my phone card lens! Posted March 04, 2008 |
|
StarrFinancial
Hi everyone! Nice lens! I coordinate my colors with my website so I won't be changing too soon. Large projects have to wait. Posted January 30, 2008 |
|
tplus
Congratulations! You are #6 at Who Has the Most Lenses?! I've picked this lens to be featured alongside your name. Come check out your competition! Posted December 01, 2007 |
|
Great info! Thanks for sharing. Looks like I'll be making some changes. Posted November 24, 2007 |
|
Barkely
You've created an excellent resource here. Posted November 14, 2007 |
|
SteveMNash
Great lens. I shall forward it to my web designer friend right now :-) Posted September 27, 2007 |
|
KimGiancaterino
Great lens, definitely a favorite. I really like the color codes and will be referring to them often. Posted September 25, 2007 |
|
GypsyPirate
What a great resource lens! Definitely marking it as a favorite!! Posted September 25, 2007 |
|
DianeStafford
Great information about the effects of colour. thanks Posted September 22, 2007 |
|
FengShuiStyle
Awesome! We are definitely on the same page, since I am a Feng Shui consultant, and color is probably THE most important thing you can use to change someone's life. Check out my lens on "Selling your home quickly with Feng Shui" for color tips in the (soft) real estate market... Posted September 19, 2007 |
|
awelldressedbullet
* squidwaves all around * Thank you so much everyone for stopping by and leaving comments - Kathy Posted September 17, 2007 |
|
Kabsannie
Awesome lens! 5 stars. You would never think about colors affecting someone's buying. This all makes alot of sense. I found it extremely useful and will take your advice. Thanks for this lens! Kathie Posted September 16, 2007 |
