Following design trends
Websites and apps must not only be functional and easy to use and navigate, but also be pleasing to the eye. You can work together with a UI designer or art director to make these decisions.
Choose a suitable color palette to not only communicate the message brand, but also to impact users' emotions, draw their attention, and put them in the right frame of mind to make a purchase. According to the Kiss Metrics Color Psychology Study, 42% of users base their opinion about the website on overall design alone and 52% don't return because of overall aesthetics.
Keep in mind that colors communicate and provoke feelings. You can take advantage of marketing studies on it, such as this color emotion guide of brands:
- Blue: The meaning of the color blue is mainly associated with the sensation of peace, as well as white, but in a more subtle way. It reminds you of cleanliness, water, serenity, and productivity. In dark tones it conveys safety, confidence, success, and power. It is used a lot in technology companies.
- Purple: The meaning of the color purple refers to wisdom, fantasy, mystery, and spirituality. Purple is a color that calms and imparts well-being, so beauty products, body care ads, and alternative treatments are frequent applications of this shade.
- Red: The symbolism of the color red represents love, emotion, excitement, romance, and pleasure. It also expresses urgency, and so is commonly used in the advertising of stores in clearance.
Combined with yellow, it is widely used in food segments, as in restaurants and fast food chains, as it stimulates the appetite. - Green: The color green is directly associated with health, nature, hope, and life. It reminds us of balance, freshness, harmony, and health. Its use in science, medicine, ecology, tourism, and organic food companies is quite common.
- Pink: A light pink color expresses innocence, while in darker tones it inspires desire, affection, and femininity. It is commonly used in products aimed at the female audience.
- Brown: The symbolism of the color brown conveys a sense of tradition, conservatism, reliability, solidity, and security, and it is widely used by furniture and interior decoration companies, and architecture.
- Yellow: The color yellow encourages creation and communication, and awakens joy, animation, and entertainment. For attention, it is used in traffic signs and also in store windows.
- Orange: The color orange represents an energetic, stimulating, young shade. It encourages expansion, creativity, enthusiasm, and optimism. It promotes change and dynamism. It is used in food, sports, and leisure segments.
- Black: The color black, according to the context, can represent sadness and mourning, but if it is used well it conveys nobility, tradition, curiosity, superiority, power, and professionalism. Engineering companies, law firms, cosmetics, and luxury products often use this color.
- White: The color white in combination with other colors is harmonious, expressing peace, faith, light, and purity. It is commonly used by medicine and dentistry companies.
- Gray: Gray is a classic, neutral color that conveys elegance and respect. It is used by technology and automotive companies, as it also demonstrates responsibility and professionalism.
Also be mindful of the images that are used. Studies by IRCE show, for example, that 75% of users list the quality of the images of the products; in e-commerce, this is the most important feature of the buying process, followed by showing alternative views of the product with 66% and zoom with 61%. Additionally, according to an A/B test run by visual website optimizer, larger product images increase sales by 9%. Using large, quality images is often a key factor in increasing conversion. They allow the customer to view the product in more detail.
Just to give you an idea, color ads have a 62% higher visibility rate compared to black and white ads. Colors also have the ability to attract audiences to a particular type of location:
- Red: Attracts impulsive shoppers, much used in fast foods and settlements
- Yellow: Aims to capture the attention of consumers in store windows, attracting impulsive consumers
- Blue: Widely used by corporations and large departments, can be seen in banks, seeking to bring a sense of security and confidence
- Green: Can be found in clinics and hospitals, also associated with money and wealth
- Orange: Aims to attract attention, also attracts impulsive buyers
- Purple: Associated with aesthetic clinics, beauty products, and fine environments, it attracts sophisticated consumers
We will go deeper into these elements in Chapter 5, Using UI and Content For Better Communication, but remember that all these elements might influence user satisfaction and pleasure when using your website, app, product, or service and can have an impact on conversion.