Why Colour Matters on Your Website

Science has long told us that colour is important to humans. We know that it affects our mood and our emotions and we also know that it can inform our decision making. This, of course, makes it a critical consideration when it comes to putting together the colour palette for a website. So why is colour something that you shouldn’t ignore at the design stage? 

We know that people tend to make their minds up about products, services, and even other people very quickly, in around 90 seconds, in fact, but did you know that around 90% of that decision making process is affected by colour choice? If you rely on your website visitors taking defined actions then colour choice is very important.

Different types of web colour schemes

There are many colours and lots of palette combinations that can be used in web design and most websites seem to reply on a two colour approach to keep things simple and easy on the eye. These are a few of the more common colour schemes you’ll likely come across.

Monochromatic – using a single colour theme throughout

Analogous – choosing colours that are adjacent to each other on a colour wheel

Complementary – contrasting colours that sit on either side of a colour wheel

Split-complementary – Similar to complimentary, this style also uses two contrasting colours

Triadic – using three complementary colours 

Tetradic – using four complementary colours

How do you know which colours are right for your brand? A good designer will work with you to help you decide how best to apply a colour scheme to both your brand and your website. Keeping it simple is generally a good idea but you should also take the view from usability experts such as Digivante to make sure you are on the right track. With a good brief that clearly outlines your target audience and the actions you need them to take, your designers can come up with a palette that is visitor and therefore conversion focused.

A simple colour scheme would lead to less overwhelm if you have a lot of information to display or many options for a potential visitor. Navigation is key here as colour will play a huge part in how a visitor locates information on a page. It is critical they are lead easily to important navigational clues as well as important calls to action, colour will certainly help them to orientate themselves appropriately. Poor colour choices could lead to confusion and potential bounces (lost visitors).

Colour for conversions 

The right use of colours can also have a huge impact on your website conversion rates. In some usability studies, a green call to action button received over 20% more clicks than a red call to action button in a controlled environment, that is strong evidence that colour can be used to influence sales. 

It’s important that your website colours are on brand and work for the business as a whole but it’s certainly clear that colour choice, used effectively can affect visitor decision making and ultimately conversion rates.