The Influence of Website Colors and Web Design on User Behavior

To retailers, shopping is an art of persuasion. Although many factors will come into play when customers are looking to purchase, a lot is determined by visual cues. The strongest cue identified, which also happens to be the most persuasive, is the color.

As marketers, web designers, freelancers and other creative professionals introduce new products to the market, it is vital that they place color and visual appearance before other factors like sound and hosting service used. To learn more about how a website’s color design is likely to influence how customers purchase products, it is vital to look at the relationship between colors and customer perception.

If people’s perceptions could be controlled using color, such as yellow making people more susceptible to buying a product, the work of web designers would be much easier. However, the science behind such thought is thoroughly frowned upon by some individual. A study of some of the most successful websites from all over the world reveals that colors are used for certain subtle purposes.

Human Behavior and Color

Numerous studies on the subject have revealed that certain colors do cause customers and first-time visitors to act and feel certain ways. Some of the most popular colors that are likely to impact on human behavior include:

• Red – considered as the most emotional color, it is associated with life, love and boldness. Red is also a sign of danger. Some studies have even gone further to indicate that it increases the heart rate and creates urgency. It is for this reason that the color is often used on clearance sales.
• Blue – is probably the most commonly used color in today’s websites and branding. Since it is the color of the sky, it is often associated with productivity, tranquility, trust and honor. Blue is also said to aid in the suppression of appetite. Many banks and businesses adopt blue to induce feelings of security in their clients.
• Green – is the color of organic materials and nature and is probably the easiest color on the eye. Feelings associated with green include optimism, luck, wealth, stress-relief, harmony, growth and safety. Probably this is the reason it is used in many stores to help their customers relax.
• Orange – is associated with ambition and warmth. Since it is a vibrant color, it is thought to denote enthusiasm, creativity and new beginnings. Orange is also associated with a call to action; sell, buy or subscribe.
• Pink – a long-time color associated with femininity. It induces romance and love and is thought to produce a calming effect on anyone looking at it. Pink also happens to be the most popular color for the marketing of products targeted at young girls and women.
• Black – signifies authority and power. Black is also the color of elegance and sophistication, as well as mystery, and in some cases associated with gloom, taboo and evil. When it comes to marketing, black is the most popular choice for marketing luxury products.
• Purple – from history lessons, is the color associated with wealth, power and royalty, sometimes even spirituality. However, some individuals are likely to perceive purple as artificial since it rarely occurs in nature. In other instances, it is used to calm and soothe and is most often found in anti-aging or beauty products.

Customer Types and Color

Not only does color influence behavior, but is also associated with certain types of customers. The color used on the site has the capability to attract certain customers more than others, for example, to attract:

• Impulsive buyers – use red-orange, black and royal blue. These colors are most common in clearance sales, outlet malls and fast food establishments
• Shoppers on a budget – consider using navy-blue and teal. Large department stores and banks have certainly used this color scheme for many decades now
• Traditional buyers – rose, sky-blue and pink, all the colors you are most likely to find in clothing stores

Advertising and marketing companies have been using deliberate colors to invoke emotion in their target clientele. Before choosing the theme colors for web design, designers have to take into consideration:

• Who are their target customers?
• What emotion do they want to induce in their clients?
• Does the designer want the web visitor to trust and buy their products?

Using the right colors, in the right places on a page is likely to attract a positive effect from the audience. Apart from the hosting options available, it is crucial that as one creates an online product he or she considers the site’s color scheme. Users are easily influenced by the color whether they know it or not.

According to several studies on the influence of colors on human behavior, changing the color of the “call to action” button can increase a website’s overall conversion rate tremendously. As one chooses the site’s colors, ease of readability and consistency should be part of the overall primary objectives.