- David Kosmayer
- March 10, 2019
You create a website, write high-quality content, and post content regularly. All of this is needed in today’s landscape. And as far as marketing goes, these elements are essential to building your brand’s foundation.
But to what end?
You want to keep your brand on your target market’s radar so you can grow your website’s traffic and foster a loyal and engaged audience. However, if that’s the only thing you are doing, you’ll be out of business before you even begin.
A couple of years ago, having a successful website simply required you to post high-quality content and that’s it.
But now, we are living in a completely different world. There are maybe hundreds of other competitors gunning for the same audience. So, you need to do much more, including taking a look into the colors you have incorporated into your website’s design. As they say, the devil is in the details.
Now I know what you’re thinking: what does color have to do with my brand?
It’s crazy, right? But before you do a scornful snort-laugh, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find out that the color on your website has just as much an effect on how your audience perceives you as any photo or content you’ve put up. Maybe even more!
The truth is, colors wield an enormous sway over our behavioral patterns. So, if you want to market your products, you need to capitalize on the kind of colors you use in your web design. However, choosing the right color combination presents a challenge. And since it takes about 50 milliseconds for users to form an opinion about your site, you can’t afford much trial and error.
You have to choose color combinations that will entice your audience and lure them to your website.
So let’s dive in and discuss how colors impact the perception of your website!
Color and Psychology
Colors have a lot to do with psychology. And although it might not seem like it, marketing and psychology are very closely related so you’ll have to apply customer psychology if you want to have a successful marketing campaign.
Makes sense right?
On the surface maybe, but it’s easier said than done.
For you to succeed, you have to have an understanding of how your customer’s mind works so you can decide what works for your audience and what doesn’t.
For example, there’s a major misconception that the universally loved male color is blue and that for females that color is pink. It’s not.
According to recent studies, both men and women seem to be more inclined to pick the color blue over any other color. There are plenty of other misconceptions that we are going to discuss as we break down the various types of colors you can use on your website and the psychology behind them.
Blue
Coming in the top of our list is the color blue since we have already stabled that it is a favorite color for both men and women. This color is often associated with a certain level of trust, security, and dependability which is what many corporations and businesses want their customers to associate them with.
It also signifies a sense of spirituality and calmness which is why many people are drawn to it. Choosing among the dozens of shades isn’t necessarily easy. Because of this, it helps to have a little background of the various shades of the color blue.
Here are a few helpful nuggets:
Even though both a lighter hue and darker hue of blue represent the same thing, if your website is more inclined to a sociable concept, using lighter ones will help better communicate that message.
But if you are trying to portray a more corporate or business-like feel, you will want to use darker hues of blue instead.
Purple
Purple is royal in every sense. It exudes a sense of nobility and signifies luxury and glamour which is something that most high-end audiences gravitate towards.
Pink
If your website is geared more towards women, you should ensure that you use more feminine tones on your site. And although pink isn’t a universally loved female color, it represents sexuality, sweetness, love, nurture, femininity, and warmth.
In short, it’s a color that every woman resonates with, and using pink will resonate with a woman shopping for female apparel or accessories.
Red
What comes to mind when you think of the color red?
For the most part, the color red comes across as instinct. So naturally, when you see a red color, it instantaneously means stop or danger. But there’s much more to the color than instinct.
In marketing, red creates a sense of urgency, which is why most shops use it when giving out a discount. Additionally, it fuels your shopping appetite.
From an emotional viewpoint, red means many things to different people. It could be passion, intensity or a symbol of love.
Yellow
The color yellow is mostly a warm color that arouses happiness, cheers, and joy.
However, while it creates a primarily positive vibe, it could also be perceived as a warning or caution against something, so you have to ensure that the message is clear. More importantly, you need to ensure that you use a shade that best compliments your website’s agenda. So, if your site deals with a much younger audience, you should use a brighter shade of yellow.
But if you are dealing with a more mature audience, a darker shade of yellow would be more appropriate.
Orange
Orange is not exactly a favorite color. Accordingly, it is also not commonly used. However, if you are looking to stand out, it might be a color that you want to consider.
Plus it is sociable and friendly which is why it makes a great color for your CTA (Call-To-Action) buttons.
Green
If you want to portray a sense of harmony, life, wealth and nature, green would be the best color to use on your website. However, the color green means different things to different cultures, so it helps to be well informed about your audience and their culture.
For example:
In the USA, green represents inexperience. And, in South America, it is associated with death. So if your audience is in South American, you might want to keep away from any green colors!
White
It is a fact that white is associated with luxury brands and high-end products. It also adds a touch of sophistication and elegance to your website.
That’s why most high-end brands add a hint of white to their products.
Black
To most people, black is considered to be a very dull color often associated with death.
However, it also signifies elegance and luxury. You need to be careful about using it on your website because it might be detrimental to your efforts to attract your audience.
Brown
Brown has an obvious earthy tone that comes across as dirty. It is perhaps the best color to use if you are dealing with plants and agricultural products. All this being said, it can communicate dependability and reliability when used on a website.
Wrapping It Up
A wide array of factors influence your audience’s perception of your website. However, we cannot deny that color plays an integral part in forming those perceptions. It is therefore vital to ensure that the color of your website is alluring to your audience and fuels their shopping appetite.
