Finding your pot of gold: Harnessing the power of colour to drive conversions

FINDING YOUR POT OF GOLD:

Harnessing ‘colour power’ in UX to drive conversions

Colour is one of the most powerful tools in a designer’s toolkit. It can evoke emotions, create a mood, and influence behaviour. When used strategically, colour can be the secret ingredient that drives conversions. In a digital world where every click counts, choosing the right colour palette can bolster your brand in support of your business goals.

In this article, we’re looking at the psychology of colour, its impact on user experience (UX) and decision-making on palette choices. Whether user testing an app, website or launching a campaign; data-driven insight about the psychology of colour can help shape better designed products and services that truly speak to the people using them.

Using colour to influence decision-making:

Purchasing decisions are frequently mood-driven and colours are capable of invoking feelings of joy, nostalgia, affordability, safety, serenity, and more. The power of colour psychology means that an appropriate choice, which imprints the desired feelings on a customer, will not only serve to increase a brand’s credibility among its audience but increase the likelihood of converting a sale. In fact, many businesses rely almost exclusively on colour to communicate their brand.

Can you guess these famous brands by colour alone? Hover on the colour for the answer.

Guess the brand?

EasyJet

Guess the brand?

Barbie (By Mattel)

Guess the brand?

Tiffany & Co.

Colour is used to invoke emotion and also to highlight contrasts.

For example, it draws the user’s attention to certain elements on a web or app page, supports easy screen navigation and generates a very clickable call-to-action.

Choosing the right colours – A designer’s perspective:

The colour wheel’s use is to create complementary, analogous and monochromatic colour schemes to create accessible, engaging and memorable designs. A consistent palette across all business materials creates a sense of brand recognition and trust. In fact, most famous brands can be segmented by industry type on their branding colours alone.

When considering your own palette, ExperienceLab UX Design Intern, Abbie Maddison, suggests:

“I’d recommend to always circle back to the heart of your project to consider context. Good UX means making life as easy as possible for the user. One of the aspect we consider is whether your chosen palette is easy on the eyes. We’re lucky to have our user testing labs as they are completely kitted out for external hire so we can make use of the observation monitors, visualisers and mobile testing platforms to understand where there is contrast and where we’re drawing the user’s attention. It’s a great resource.

It’s critical to understand your user demographic. Different groups of people respond differently to specific colours. This is why we put people at the heart of our thinking; it’s people and their behaviours that drive businesses forward. We’ve got consultants on the team who specialise in understanding how products and services fit into different people’s lives.

This, coupled with our collaboration space, makes for some inspiring sessions where clients can learn how users engage with their product when its tested against accessibility requirements for visually- and hearing-impaired users, for instance.

It’s key to consider a brand’s personality in user and service design. Bright, bold colours lend to a sense of innovation, cutting-edge technology and ‘newness’. Whereas, an established brand could get away with more muted tones, a subtle hint to the user that they do not need to shout the loudest to succeed – regardless of how hard-won and relentless the marketing was to drive them to the page! For instance, part of our digital UX review could look to complete a SWOT analysis or A/B test colour palettes to gauge user engagement, if necessary.

We’re here to help our clients get to the root of their UX and CX issues so one tip I’d suggest is that if your unsure, lean on other’s expertise to test and let the data inform your decision.”

Top Takeaways:

Applying colour theory is to be considered when working to build and improve your customer’s perception about your brand:

Colour choices, like a sensory moment, can evoke specific feelings and likely play a role in impacting your user’s next steps on site/app.
Colour should be used to ease navigation and draw attention to your call-to-action.
Your palette, whether complementary, analogous or monochromatic, needs to be thought-out with your user journey in mind.
Meeting accessibility requirements is not just best practice; it is an essential consideration when meeting your customer’s needs.
Fully user test your choices in a controlled setting.

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Spanning the UK, Australia and the Middle East; the ExperienceLab team are specialists in product and service optimisation for usability, design and transformation.

Colour theory is just one small variable in usability testing for product and service design. We know the importance of understanding exactly what drives the people who use your business into making a decision.

Our London Bridge offices are fully equipped with user testing facilities, a spacious collaboration space and a digitally monitored focus group room.