How to Use Color to Increase Your Website’s Conversion Rate

Color is a powerful marketing tool when it comes to website design. According to Kissmetric’s infographics, 85 percent of shoppers base their decision on color alone and proper use of color leads to 80 percent increase in brand recognition.

That’s why it’s important that the colors used in your design have a meaning and a purpose.

In this article, we will cover color theory and conversion funnel and see how you can connect the two to drastically improve your website’s conversion rate.

The Basics of Color Theory
Color theory is a very broad and diverse subject, however, the basics can be broken down into three major parts:

Contrast — the difference between two colors. Contrasting colors help establishing readability and drawing the viewer’s attention towards a specific element on the page.

Implementation — colors opposite each other on the color wheel are called complementary colors and using them together can make a very effective color scheme as they help accent each other.

Vibrancy — the general mood a particular color sets: brighter and warm colors such as red, orange or yellow energize us while darker and cooler shades like green, blue, and purple offer sense of tranquility and relaxation.

Colors Across Cultures
Colors have different meanings across cultures. Traditionally, the western world associates colors as follows:

Red – symbolizes passion, excitement, danger, love

Orange – associated with colors of harvest and autumn, generally considered a happy color

Yellow – symbolizes warmth, summer, and hospitality, another happy color

Blue – usually associated with financial institutions because it represents trust and authority, considered to be masculine color, as well as calming and soothing

Green – associated with nature, environment and considered to be the color of the Irish and good luck

Purple – represents elegance, wealth, fame, and mystery

Pink – feminine color, represents sweetness, childhood or fun

Brown – considered to be stable, dependable, and wholesome; generally associated with earth and health

Black – generally a color with negative connotations as it represents death and mourning but can also represent elegance and luxury, especially when paired with gold or silver tones

White – symbolizes purity, peace and is often associated with weddings and hospitals

In Western cultures, white is the color of purity and peace.

Color and The Conversion Funnel
A conversion funnel helps you understand the flow your potential customers go through after they land on your website and take the desired action. A basic conversion funnel has 4 main elements:

Awareness – this stage focuses on attracting potential readers to your site and introducing them to your brand. This is the first part where the importance of your website colors starts to play a role.

Interest – the second stage of the conversion funnel serves to pique the interest of your website visitors. It’s important to focus on creating compelling copy for your website and optimize your headlines, images, and banners.

Desire – in the third stage of the conversion funnel, you need to make your visitors really want your product. Everything they have seen so far on your website should guide the visitors towards taking an action.

Conversion – the last stage is where your visitors finally convert – or in other words take the desired action. In this stage, all your efforts should be focused on drawing their attention to that one most important action. The best way to do that is to use an accent color which pairs nicely with your main brand color but is contrasting enough to draw attention.

Your accent color should be used consistently throughout your website for your call-to-actions to make them stand out.

Putting it All Together
Now that we covered the basics of color theory and conversion funnel, how can you combine the two to increase the conversion rate?

Before settling on a color scheme, you need to be crystal clear on the primary goal of your website and your target audience. This is why it’s important to know their age, their income level, and general lifestyle.

The content of your website plays a part too. If you’re offering high-end products, your color scheme should evoke feelings of luxury and elegance.

A website selling children’s toys on the other hand, will do better with a bright and fun color scheme making use of primary colors such as red, blue, and yellow.

A good practice is to choose neutral colors for the background and text and use your main brand color to create a visually pleasing effect.

When it comes to call-to-actions, choose a color that clearly stands out from the rest of your website but do make sure it doesn’t clash with your primary brand color.

A few colors that have proven to be effective are red and orange, as shown in a study by HubSpot.

When it comes to your email opt-in forms, consider using a plugin that gives you plenty of customization options as well as the ability to perform split-tests. Be sure to choose a plugin that offers exit-intent technology which has been proven quite effective.