Color Psychology in Branding
The link between color and perception
The psychology of color in branding studies the influence color has on human behavior and decision-making. In Marketing, different colors can positively or negatively impact the way buyers view your brand. Likewise, all brands use colors to persuade. Research has shown that certain colors can trigger certain emotions, such as happiness, trust or appetite.
Nonetheless, it is important to note that individual taste and life experiences can change how individual colors affect us. Regardless, the largest brands worldwide use color carefully, proving there are benefits of using color positively for your brand.
1. The Importance of Color in Branding
Selecting your brand’s color is as important as your brand’s name, logo and initial product offerings. The choice of color is going to instantly impact how your brand is perceived. The color of your brand’s logo, website, or products will be your brand’s first impressions with your target audience.
Credit: The Logo Company
2. Color and A/B Testing
Market Studies and A/B testing help in providing real data about colors and their effects on people. Before launch, most companies test the effects colors have on Marketing efforts like advertisements, posters and call-to-action (CTA) buttons. HubSpot performed a color test on their CTA button and determined that a red CTA button outperformed the green CTA button by 21%. By simply changing the color of their call-to-action button, they instantly increased their conversion rate.
3. First Impressions
In the study titled “Impact of color on marketing”, researchers found that people make up their minds within 90 seconds of their first interactions. More importantly, researchers concluded that up to 90% of initial judgements made about products is based solely on color, depending on the product. Moreover, it was found that brands use colors to increase appetite, enhance mood, calm down customers, etc!
4. Decision Making
A study titled “Exciting red & competent blue” also found colors greatly affect a client’s purchasing intent, as it has a direct impact on how the brand is perceived. This is because colors influence how people view the “personality” of the brand. For example, many brands use the color green to evoke a “peaceful” or “natural” personality, which can be seen from companies like Whole Foods, Holiday Inn or Publix.