Retail’s True Colors
July 18, 2017
Color in marketing provides a spectrum of consumer engagement that drives results. From social media, to merchandising, to traditional marketing, color grabs the consumer’s attention and starts the buying cycle.
Let’s take Starbucks as an example – for a moment forget everything about the brand – you only know Starbucks sells coffee and their green logo is on a building nearby. Based on the logo’s color alone, the brain subconsciously understands that Starbucks believes in growth, fresh products and harmony. Psychologically, we see Starbucks as a place where commerce meets quality; where fresh coffee fuels fresh ideas. We want to follow the promise of this experience so we enter the store, starting the buying process.
Color also has a dramatic effect on website conversions. An online slot machine company used color theory when designing call to action messaging on their website and saw a 187.4 percent increase in conversions. Another psychological principle that increases conversions is the Isolation Effect, or the utilization of an accent color that is complementary of the base colors in limited application. This principle pushes the bright color at the consumer and increases call to action engagement.
According to Satyendra Singh’s study, “Impact of Color on Marketing,” people make a snap initial decision about a product within 90 seconds of exposure. Today, online consumers decide whether to stay on a website in less than three seconds, and about 62-90 percent of their decision is made based on color alone. Color tells our brain how to react to our environment and what to expect. These statistics clearly illustrate that effectively unifying color theory, company values and marketing goals sets the company up for lucrative response marketing.
So, is driving results through response marketing as easy as spinning the color wheel? Well, the answer is not that simple. Looking at the statistics above, however, one thing does become clear – there’s power in colors.