Article: How do colors affect purchases?

D

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http://blog.kissmetrics.com/color-psychology/

There are some interesting facts in the above article. It should be a valuable read for all those engaged in online commerce

Glad that this was brought up. I bit the bullet and decided to totally renovate my site, renaming it and re-doing the colours. Seems people didn't like my black layout, so now I have white and orange. Always glad to see colour psychology sites mentioning orange is a 'call to action / buy it now' thing. :D
 
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What totall bollox consumers place the product and its price way above any other consideration.

Colour has an important minor part in inducing sales,but to suggest that 93% choose on colour is crap of the highest kind.

Earl
 
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directmarketingadvice

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Aug 2, 2005
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http://blog.kissmetrics.com/color-psychology/

There are some interesting facts in the above article. It should be a valuable read for all those engaged in online commerce

It's interesting and thanks for posting.

Though, I have to say, I'd like to see the data behind these conclusions. I read some of the sources listed at the bottom of the graphic and there wasn't a great deal of scientific substance.

Steve
 
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Scott-Copywriter

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May 11, 2006
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Colour can play a part in design and it plays a big part in making something look 'good'.

However, this article makes some misleading points, and it isn't all as it seems.

Result 1: You can't convey smell or texture online so it's irrelevant when it comes to e-commerce. Plus, it really depends entirely on the product, so the statistic is fairly meaningless.

Result 2: A 'particular product'? The only thing those results could remotely apply to are clothing, pens, buttons, ribbon, paper or anything else where colour is one of the few major variations of a product. For everything else, that statistic is utterly wrong in my opinion.

Result 3: 'Colour increases brand recognition by 80%'. Compared to what? Black and white? I cannot see how they could accurately measure this anyway.

'Colour is one of the most powerful methods of design'. Colour is a method of design?

'Colour is not the only item that influences customer behaviour'. Really :rolleyes:.

'Percentage of shoppers who base their opinion of a website on overall design alone'. I find it very, very, very hard to believe that 42 out of every 100 people manage to blank out every element of a website other than design to form an opinion. What people say, and what people do, are often very different things.

'52% of customers are more likely to enter a store if there is a sale sign in the window'. 'More likely' is utterly meaningless. How many of those 52% could still enter the store anyway even if they aren't 'more likely'? Plus, with some stores, putting up a 'sale sign' could actually do more harm than good.

The only things I can spot in here worth taking serious note of are:

  • Speed up your website
  • Use a good design
  • If you're starting up a new website or new branding scheme, then it's worth looking into how colours can have a small influence.
Everything else could actually do some damage if people start re-designing their websites with magical psychology-busting colours and slapping up sale and guarantee signs everywhere.
 
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Matt1959

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Sep 8, 2006
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I'm sure the subconcious plays a large part. Also, ff you were in a shopping centre with lots of shops and there was a drab shop front, you'd instantly form a negative opinion on the shop without knowing anything about it. Same with websites?
 
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Scott-Copywriter

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May 11, 2006
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I'm sure the subconcious plays a large part. Also, ff you were in a shopping centre with lots of shops and there was a drab shop front, you'd instantly form a negative opinion on the shop without knowing anything about it. Same with websites?

Perhaps yes. However, how much does that directly influence sales? That's all people should really care about in my opinion.

Plus, it's misleading to say that colour is such an important factor, as there are so many different elements of design. For example, I've seen shop fronts which are simply black and white, yet they have a spectacular eye-grabbing design with different shapes and fonts. Just look at Apple too. Their shops are more or less grey and white, but the way they've created their shop front can grab your attention from a mile away.

I just hope that people don't take this colour thing too seriously. It's fine to look into it if someone is creating a new website or business with new branding, but it really isn't worth ripping any existing websites or branding apart just to fit in some mystical colours.
 
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