How Colours Affect Our Consumer Behaviour

Consumers respond to colours. First of all, consumer behaviour is an all-inclusive factor in the presentation of your product or service to the market. Or also to grow your business in our consumer society. Colour psychology in Consumer behaviour is, generally, a challenging and positive study that should bring you the experiences and the perception of your clients or prospective clients. Incidentally, perceiving consumer behavioural and evaluating it towards your product or service is essential to your brand.

ACADEMICS HAVE ALREADY FOUND IT

The American Psychologist Abraham Maslow wrote in 1943 his motivational theory ‘The Hierarchy of Needs’ in which humans are compared to an animal in need who is rarely completely satisfied except for a short period of time and once his wishes are fulfilled, he attends to another desire. In fact, his theory is extremely useful for marketing managers as they have insight into the motives of consumers to guarantee that their products reach the needs of their target market.

We admit, however, that several variables, internal and external impact consumer behaviour. It is a mental, emotional, and physical activity. The process involves choosing, buying, using, and discarding products and services that either satisfy their needs and demands or frustrate them. Consumer satisfaction, though, is a function of quality, price, advertisements, and the way the products are presented, i.e. packing, colours, literature, website demos, staff skills, et cetera to meet the customer’s demand.

Scholarly and academic papers have demonstrated that colours affect customers. Scholars go from the selection of fresh vegetables to coffee drinking, to restaurant eating, gardening, books cover selection, clothes and so on. Colours and their associations are everywhere.

MARKETING AND BRANDING

Many variables are partly controlled by the seller, such as price, quality, delivery time, promotions, and others. Those variables could become not personal. So, it is important that the sellers realise that their products are suited to the market goal based on personal factors.

One of the factors having a profound effect on consumer behaviour is the colour of the product which they intend to buy. In other words, colour commands a consumer’s perception of a product or service according to the emotion that they connect with that colour. Don’t we use this in our choice of colours for our cars? The bright iconic red of Ferrari, or the superb, brilliant yellow of Lamborghini, or the ultimate Wimbledon white of the Mustang. Uhmmm… perhaps colours have a role in consumers’ identity factors.

Usually, what people perceive from colours is based on the relationships between that colour and its associated meaning. For instance, do you feel calm when surrounded by blue skies and green fields? Or frightened by a red signal? Colour psychology is, therefore, a determinant of human behaviour and is used by brands to induce different responses.  

HOW COLOURS INFLUENCE PEOPLE

By the way, there is a great article by Gregory Ciotti on The Psychology of Colour in Marketing and Branding, really worth reading. He goes through how colour affects our spending showing a beautiful guide on colour emotions that I reproduce below.

IMPORTANCE OF COLOURS IN MARKETING

Therefore, if you are planning an office redesign, advertising, or developing your brand, do not forget the wise use of colours, after all, according to research by Shortstack, 84.7% of consumers affirm that colour is a primary reason for them to buy a product and 93% look at visual appearance when they buy. Staggering numbers for us to just forget and buy the colours that are on sale!

HOW COLOURS AFFECT THE VISUAL OF YOUR PRODUCT

Consumers notice colour before words. So, if you are thinking of advertising, promotions or a brand-new branding development then remember that colours influence consumer feelings about your product or service and have the same power in generating sales as any well-written slogan.

• Colours change moods and attitudes – For example, do you want your customers to feel serene and clean? Then use blue. Do you need to emphasise clarity and purity? Well, choose blue and white. To summarise, the emotion the colour generates will be associated with the emotions the consumer feels toward your product and hopefully will be extended to a purchase experience.
• Colours grab consumers’ attention because of the specific association we have with colours. For instance, red is one of the most vibrant colours in the visible spectrum. It invariably attracts the consumer’s eyes because of the numerous association we have with that colour, including the presents from Santa Claus!
• Colours appeal to your customers – they play with their desires and wants. Do you live in an urban marketplace? Maybe blue, green and white will offer you the expansiveness and closeness with nature that you desire.
• Colours show product characteristics to attract the target customer base. Does your product emphasise elegance, mystery, and power? Then use black.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF COLOURS

The primary colours are red, yellow, and blue and the secondary colours are orange, green and purple. With them we create warm and cool colours; tints, shades and tones and beautiful colour harmonies to set a mood, attract attention or make a statement.

FINDING YOUR OWN PALETTE

Generally, choosing the perfect colour scheme is still a tricky thing to do even with all the skills we have developed. Subsequently, the impact of different colours on shopping behaviour, especially regarding time pressure and willingness has still been scrutinised. But it is known that the colour of the product the person is willing to buy has a profound effect on the shopping experience. So, if colours are combined with attractive prices and excellent quality, we should have an invincible tactic to lead to a shopping decision according to the customer’s needs and desires.

CALL TO ACTION

As we have seen, colour is thus an essential tool with an incredible impact on marketing. In conclusion, it is essential to understand what colours mean to your customers in practical ways and in emotional subjective. We don’t all react the same way to colours and, in particular, the significant events, cultures, people, and memories we have accumulated will influence our decisions. Consequently, test your colours to see which ones make people click on your content more frequently. Testing is extremely important. Without it, you will not know how your audience will respond and with the testing results, you will be able to determine colour combinations and placement to generate better positive results.