Using Color in Your Website and Marketing
How to Use the Psychology of Color in Your Website and Marketing
Color plays a big part in the minds of people, and have particular application as it pertains to evoking certain emotional responses we want to see happen, say for example on our sales pages!
The potential to evoke responses based on the colors we choose for our marketing is a vastly underused tool. There is a lot of data to dig through, and plenty of choices to make regarding color for sites, logos, marketing materials and more.
The basics of color psychology
It starts with a surprising truism: the favorite color for both men and women is blue. That’s where the similarities end, however. Some of the data means multiple things. For instance, green could mean money, the environment, and calm to different people. Reds can signify stop, excitement and boldness, based upon whom you’re addressing. Brown can mean ruggedness, or suggest a warmth. Women love purple, men hate it. Are you starting to see the issue here?
How you can use this information to your benefit
So how best to take this information and apply it to our businesses? Step one is to realize that testing is mandatory, and that the colors you see working well on one site might not apply to yours.
- Start by knowing your own demographics. Who’s your audience, or your desired audience? This will make a difference in regards to testing. Young, old, male, female; it does matter.
- Whichever colors you choose, make the important parts, especially any calls to action, stand out with the use of a bolder, yet complimentary color.
- Color evokes mood, and this should be taken into account when deciding how to best convey your message.
- Try to be consistent, and start by keeping your hyperlinks blue. There is some case for familiarity, and there’s no logic making it harder to get clicks by putting the links in different colors.
The best way to use the psychology of color in your marketing is by using the data to test for your own best results, and then proceeding steadily from there.
