How much attention did you pay to the colours you chose for your website, and your landing/sales page in particular? For most businesses, the colour scheme is an afterthought. Most of the time during the web development process is spent on things like language and functionality. Companies will spend countless hours tweaking the words on the pages and investing in expensive web developers to make sure their site has the latest features. But what if there was an easier way to improve its performance?
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The site’s copy and functionality are certainly important, and you should spend the time to get them right, however if the goal of your page is to convert visitors to take action — whether it’s capturing email addresses for leads or selling a product — simply choosing the right colour scheme can result in double-digit increases in your conversion rate. For example, HubSpot ran a test between two nearly identical landing pages where the only difference was the colour of the button at the end of the page. The only thing different between the two pages was the colour of the button, but the page with the red button converted 21% more visitors than the green button!
Now that you’ve seen how important colour can be to the performance of your site, you need to understand the emotional impact different colours have. Then you can make sure the palette you select fits the message you’re trying to communicate and your audience’s tastes. These emotional connections aren’t some made-up pseudoscience, they’re backed by numerous studies on behavior and psychology.
Black
The colour of authority. If your brand needs to project an air of power and trust, like for a government website, black would be a good colour to use regularly. Black is also commonly used in the colour schemes for luxury products. This makes sense, because a customer who is about to spend a significant amount of money on a luxury purchase wants to feel confident that they’re getting their money’s worth. By using a black to project an image of authority, these brands show their customers they can buy with confidence.
White
White inspires feelings of freshness and purity. By keeping your page design minimalist and having a lot of open white space it will help your visitors focus on the limited amount of content on the page. Allowing your page to “breathe” by opening it up and using extra white space provides a feeling of relief, because instead of being assaulted with a mass of information to process the visitor knows exactly where his eyes should fall.
Blue
The colour of trust, order, peace and safety. This is why the navy suit has been a staple for salesmen for so many years. Blue inspires trust, so by wearing blue it allows the salesmen to form a bond more easily with their customers and helps them increase their sales. If you have to compete in a market where a lot of your competitors seem shady and your potential customers will have their guard up, try incorporating some blue into your colour scheme in order to gain their trust.
Pink
Evokes a sense of gentleness and empathy, romance and femininity. Websites targeting women in particular would probably be wise to include some pink in their color scheme. However any site where creating a sense of softness is important can use it effectively.
Purple
The colour of creativity and mysticism. Purple is also soothing and calming. It’s meditative. If you need to project an air of imagination, creativity, or spirituality, try using more of the colour purple on your site.
Red
Red is youthful, bold and confident. Using red suggests to others that you are powerful, in control, and have high expectations. Red is a high-energy colour that inspires excitement and action. If you have a page that is not converting well, using a red button could help add some energy to the page and drive more clicks, like the HubSpot test mentioned above illustrated.
Green
Green suggests to visitors that your website is healthy, environmental and safe. Green implies growth and success, and is also connected to finance because of the colour of our bills. Green is also the easiest colour for our eyes to process, so it can make it easier to read.
Yellow
The colour of optimism, it’s also often used to grab visitors' attention. Yellow attracts a high amount of light, and therefore is bright and easily catches our eye, however this means it can also be fatiguing if used too much.
Contrast
The last important part of choosing your colour palette is to consider what parts of the page need to have the most contrast. The more two colours contrast, the more they stand out from each other, like black on white. The most important elements of your page should be set in high contrast with the background, while secondary messages should be set in a colour that doesn’t jump out as much. This will draw your viewer’s eye to the items you want to make sure they see, like your conversion button, and ultimately help you close more sales.
If you’re still having difficulties in deciding which colours work best in achieving your desired effect, then make a few different landing pages so that you can do some split testing and compare results.
on
There is a great tool for choosing colors that compliment each other. I’ll link it here for those who are interested.
https://kuler.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/
I hope this helps for those who struggle with creating pleasing color combinations.
on
There are colors that are universally acceptable like white and blue, while some colors may not be preferred by lot of people like black and red. Hence it is important to use universally acceptable colors and use a color like red only to highlight an image or text.
The combination of colors is also important. Some colors go well with each other while some don’t match. Use pleasing colors that go well with each other.
on
After reading this I feel like I need to change the color of my website. I wish I had read this before I finished everything. Usual information indeed
on
Dear Alon,
I am must first let you know that I enjoy reading this article. I actually read it two times. I have learned a lot and have taken a number of things into consideration. I even started to look at the colors on my website to see if it match up with my objectives. I am planning to make adjustments where necessary.
I must share this article because others will benefit from the information.
Thank you for sharing and all the best.
Carlinton
on
Colors speak before you open your mouth. What you wear is seen, and makes an immediate impression before you can speak, so choose colors wisely. Even though it may be true that certain colors do not look great on you, there are colors that level the playing field, like black. Black is often a default color for many people.
on
I find this article to be completely relevant and true. I compared your article to what I find attractive in blogs and this was spot on! I may change the color palette on my blog to better serve my visitor’s tastes. Thank you for such an informative article!
on
I am glad you posted this! I am a firm believer that colors of a website can affect the mood of its traffic. I mean businesses are on this as well. An example, Wal-Mart got rid of the smiley face because a survey showed that it made pregnant women uncomfortable. Something as little as a color or design can affect the traffic – more people need to be aware of it. 🙂 Great post!
on
I spend hours agonizing over the colors, but it’s sometimes my favorite part about setting up a site! I love that you can totally change a site’s attitude just by changing the colors.
on
I’m always amazed by color research and the psychology behind it. For the couple of sites I’ve built, the colors (without even trying) match what I’m going for. Awesome!