How often do you find yourself being enticed by the colors you see in your day-to-day life? We are all prone to being influenced by visually appealing and mentally satisfying colors and scenes. Colors and scenes play a big role in the process of shaping our perspective and forming our decisions. Up to 90% of snap judgements made about products can be based on color alone. The efficiency of your color palette can control the difference between a successful advertisement and one that just slides by unnoticed in a person’s feed.
Different colors evoke different emotions and one of the best ways to decide what colors suit your brand is by establishing how you want your customer to feel.
Our moods and decisions are impacted by color because they incite emotion - and depending on the person, specific colors can induce particular feelings. Not everyone reacts to color in the same way, but still, there are certain consistent emotional associations with color that can help you be more intentional about how people react to your visuals.
Here are some common associations that can help you choose colors for your eCommerce website:
Color psychology examines how colors affect perceptions and behaviors.The way color affects emotion is generally focused on immediate emotional responses. The psychology of color includes a broader range of human behaviors and interpretations, including long-term impacts and symbolic associations. In the marketing world, the emotion evoked by color is used in immediate situations. Psychology of color might be considered in more prolonged engagements, like store color schemes, product design, or branding.Psychology focuses on how colors can impact consumer’s impressions and increase persuasion over time.
The colors used for your branding can reflect the company's values or the feelings you wish to evoke. For example, eco-friendly brands might use greens and browns to convey a connection to nature.
While our brains are wired to respond to color stimuli in specific ways, personal preference, cultural history and context all play a big role in how color influences us.Understanding cultural perceptions of color is crucial when targeting a global audience. What works in one culture might not in another. For instance, while white is often associated with purity in Western cultures, it can symbolize mourning in some Eastern cultures.
Did you know that 85% of shoppers say that color is their number one priority when it comes to buying a product, and 66% of people won’t even bother buying a product unless it is in their preferred color. Color matters.
From the color of your product, to the interior of your brick-and-mortar store, to the lifestyle images on your eCommerce site, to the color scheme of your Instagram ads - they all can affect what and how your customer buys. Sale banners are bright to attract attention. Baby stores use pastels to signal comfort and calm. Blue often signifies trustworthiness which explains why so many financial institutions use that color. Purple, on the other hand, is associated with luxury and high-end products.
The use of color in retail whether in-store or online has become a complex art and science. Understanding how color affects mood and the decision to buy is crucial.
Within 90 seconds of viewing your product, the average consumer will have decided whether or not it is something that appeals to them; 62% to 90% of that assessment is based on color alone. So how can you create a visual or an advertisement that is guaranteed to influence customers?
Just think about the color red and its use for clearance sales, 'Buy Now' buttons, or limited-time offers to create a sense of urgency.
Depending on the nature of your product or your cultural context, colors can have a different impact on sales. Take an example of fashion vs food. The color blue is largely deemed unappetizing and therefore not widely seen in the food industry, whereas a bright blue background would be received with enthusiasm when used as a backdrop for a fashion shoot.
Color matters to consumers. It can signal urgency or energy, coolness or calmness, or build trust and confidence. If it matters to consumers, it matters to retail marketers. At KittyKat, we obsess over the impact of all aspects of the visuals we design and produce including color.
