Increasing Website Traffic and Conversions: How to Use Color Psychology

There are numerous techniques to boost your SEO and one of them is the clever use of visuals. Among these visuals, colours are the most pronounced section. However, marketers often fail to listen to the advice of graphic designers when they tell them that colours play a major role in website design.

We are going to go through the most common colour schemes to demonstrate the power colour psychology has on buyers.

Yellow is not mellow

The first colour on our list is yellow. However, this colour is not as mellow as you think, since yellow is the colour of warning. You will remember this when you remember that yellow is used in all warning signs, from “Caution: Wet floor” to traffic signals (traffic lights and in some cases, the “Stop” sign).

On the other side, yellow is considered by psychologists as the colour of happiness. This is because yellow stimulates the “happiness” centre in our brain since it’s a radiant colour. After all, we see the Sun as yellow, don’t we?

Regardless of the exact symbolism of yellow, it certainly stimulates our brains. For this reason, it’s ideal for grabbing visitors’ attention but it shouldn’t be used extensively.

A yellow(ish) call to action is button is ideal to get a shopper to click on it. On the other side, yellow bordures around photos are a bad choice of colours, as they drive people away by raising their anxiety levels. Therefore, try to use yellow in small doses on your blog and/or shopping platform.

Sleek and luxurious black

You know how dark colours make a car smaller? For this reason, automobile manufacturers usually paint luxurious models black, to make them appear exclusive and sleek. Black has always been associated with luxury and power, making it ideal for all sorts of visuals, not just digital ones.

A dark-tone website design implies that your brand is luxurious, i.e. you sell high-end merchandise. Even if you don’t opt for a sleek black design of the website, consider adding a black background and borders to pages that display more expensive items in your collection.

Blue is a colour you can trust

There are few people on the planet who will say they hate the colours blue. It may not be their favourite colour but no one will leave a website that is rich in blue tones. This is because blue is associated with trust, i.e. it’s a colour that invokes a sense of loyalty, order, and serenity.

Perhaps the serene effect the colour blue has on people can be associated that’s it’s the colour of the sky and water (seas and rivers); two things that have never failed the human race. In the corporate world, blue is a symbol of security and orderliness.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Facebook, for example, decided on a blue and white colour scheme and has stuck to it for over a decade and a half. If you look closer, you’ll notice that many banks and even PayPal use blue colour schemes.

Therefore, blue is the ideal colour for the overall theme of your website or blog. However, if you sell food and/or natural products, then go easy on blue visuals, as blue is one of the rarest-occurring colours in nature. Red is much more digestible for such a website if you understand the pun.

Red: Bold web design

We have already mentioned that in terms of web design, yellow is considered a strong colour. As the hottest hue, red should be used even less often but that doesn’t mean that you’re website should be entirely deprived of red notes.

The full range of red’s symbolism is vast, from passion to danger. For this reason, many businesses have opted to use red in their web design and logotypes. However, as is the case with yellow, red should be used only to complement the overall theme of a website and not as the main colour.

Which areas of web design can be coloured?

Colour psychology in web design is a pretty widely used term. Namely, there are many aspects of web design that can be coloured, as websites and blogs are just the starting point. For instance, an experienced web design agency will tell you that you can play with colours on logos, brand names, and even e-mails.

Moreover, landing pages should have multicoloured schemes and different menu bars can be distinguished by colour. Also, be sure to take full advantage of colourful visuals, such as videos, professional photographs, and infographics. Cover photos on social medial profiles should be particularly colourful.

Colour schemes that women like

It is not sexist to say that women prefer a particular colour scheme, while men opt for other hues. Quite the opposite, such sociological differences have been widely studied and are essential for brands that sell gender-related products.

For instance, a company selling men’s luxury watches isn’t going to accentuate purple watches in all of their ad campaigns. Speaking of particular colours, the aforementioned purple, as well as blue and green are colours preferred by female shoppers.

In terms of least favourite colours, women mostly reply that it’s orange, grey, and brown. Therefore, if you run a website for a beauty parlour, for example, don’t expect these colours to increase traffic. Women simply have an aversion to earthy tones (sans black, mind you).

Be aware that choosing a dominant colour scheme for a website based on the gender of visitors can easily backfire. For instance, a popular myth has it that women adore the colour pink, which is simply not true. When asked about it, only a small percentage of women would choose pink as their favourite colour.

Colour schemes that men like

If you do decide to use colour psychology to attract customers, then it’s only fair to mention men’s favourite hues. In a nutshell, men prefer black, green, and blue. As you can see, these colours mostly coincide with the ladies’ preferred choice, so we were right to claim earlier on that blue is a universally loved colour.

Much like women, men don’t like orange and brown, nor are they particularly fond of purple. However, keep in mind that gender colour preferences aren’t an open and shut case, as the choice is primarily individual. For example, pink polo shirts for men have been popular since the 1960s.

Green: The colour of organic traffic

Green is another colour equally popular with both men and women. This is because the symbolism of green is universal, as most nations associate it with nature. Green details tell of eco-friendliness, the outdoors, and the environment.

Furthermore, a good designer will tell you that green is the colour of creativity. That’s why it’s popular among IT folks and writers, to name just a couple of professions. If your business has anything to do with nature, the outdoors, or organic produce, then use green ornaments extensively.

For other platforms, green can be used as the colour of accentuation. Just like yellow or red, it is a colour that draws people’s attention but it isn’t tacky or repulsive. That’s why green is ideal for call-to-action features and borders.

Orange is the haste of impulsive purchase

Ladies might not like orange very much but it still has its place in the web design palette. Apart from being a fun colour, orange stimulates productivity and boosts confidence, just what you need for your online business to thrive.

Because of its boisterous nature, sports teams (e.g. New York Knicks and Denver Broncos) in particular like to use orange for their logos and jerseys. In web design, orange is the telltale colour of limited offers and discounts.

Orange is suggestive of urgency and it draws a visitor’s attention just as red or yellow does. This warm colour is ideal for use in banners that offer great, time-limited offers. However, for orange to truly be the colour of urgency, i.e. compulsive buying, don’t use it all the time.

White is a colour. Sort of

Pure white might be regarded as an absence of colour but this hue shouldn’t be neglected in web design and driving up traffic. Copious use of white (blank) space is a design feature that marketers can profit from, literally. When it comes to blogs and websites, the main use of white is as a background colour.

This applies to the daylight mode, as black is dominant at nighttime. White space on web pages is indicative of freedom, room to browse, and general spaciousness. Shoppers feel more at ease roaming through an eCommerce website when they are faced with a white background.

An ever-changing colour scheme

The final word of advice we have for you is never to blindly stick to a colour scheme. Colours are alive and vibrant and even the oldest brands on the planets have shifted from one hue to another. The Italian carmaker FIAT, for example, changed their company logo from a blue background to a red background.

Colours are an essential part of brand identity and as your business goals change, so should the colours representing you in the cyber world.

Colour psychology might be latent but it plays a major role in increasing (organic) traffic on your website. From mellow yellow to sexy black, it’s not all the same which colours you choose to decorate your blog or website. The better you manage the digital palette of your brand, the more conversions and leads you’ll generate.