How important is colour when designing a website?

Colour is undoubtedly one of the most powerful elements to consider when it comes to designing a website. Since the dawn of time, colours have provided us with a vital form of communication. Not only can the right colours attract attention, but they can also express meanings, evoke emotions, and influence everyday decisions and behaviour. In fact, recent studies suggest that people make subconscious judgements about a product or service within just 90 seconds of the initial viewing. Up to 90% of that decision can be based on the colour choice alone. Psychologists have also revealed that colour doesn’t just play an important role in influencing decisions with regards to the end purchase, but that colour selection can also impact the very first point of contact – the website. Recent studies suggest that over 60% of decisions whether to stay on or leave a website come down to the colour schemes used.

Colour is critical

Despite the obvious importance of choosing strong colour combinations for a website, the process can go overlooked during initial web design consultations. This means that you could end up with a fantastic website with regards to the navigation, functionality and structure from a technical point of view, but if your colour choice falls short of the mark, it could all be for nothing.

Whether you’re trying to sell a product, service, or idea, or you’re aiming to entertain or inform, colour is hugely important. As soon as a visitor lands on your site, the aesthetics of the page before them needs to grab their attention, generating a positive impact. If this is achieved, users are more likely to stay on the site longer, increasing the average session duration on your site whilst also reducing your bounce rate.  What’s more, the longer a visitor stays, the more likely they’ll convert – whether this is reaching out via a contact form or making a purchase…

When we talk about colour, we’re referring to everything on the page. This ranges from backgrounds that feature images or block colours to hero banners, menus and submenus, sidebars, borders, buttons, images, pop-ups, font awesome icons, and even text colour choices. Every element on the page needs to stand out clearly whilst also complementing one another seamlessly, creating a consistent and appealing visual aesthetic. You could have the best content out of your competitors but if users can’t easily access it, then potential customers will leave you for another site.

Thinking about your target audience

When selecting a colour scheme, it’s vital to consider your target audience. This includes asking yourself what their gender is, age range and much more. Once complete, you then need to ask yourself which colour combinations will translate the right message for your product, service or industry. For example, naturally when we think of anything healthcare related we think of colours such as white, blues or greens, all of which have strong connotations relating to health, well-being, cleanliness and even environmentally friendliness. When we think of products for children, we instantly think of bold, bright colours which are fun and eye-catching.

To put it simply, there’s more to colour than just pretty combinations. To ensure that your site resonates with your target audience and conveys the right message, colour selections need to be considered carefully.

Make your brand memorable

Colour also plays a huge role in brand retention, we just need to think of big brands such as Facebook, Coca-cola, and Microsoft to name but a few and the brand identity instantly comes to mind – Facebook with it’s blue and white colour scheme, coca-cola with it’s red and white scheme, and Microsoft with their four colour palette.

Whether you’re just starting out in the online world, or you’re an established business, ensuring that your branding is consistent across your marketing efforts is hugely important to ensure that your brand is memorable.

Speak to our Web Designers today!

Selecting colour combinations can be tricky and at Netbiz, we believe it’s hugely important to understand your market, audience and product/ service related guidelines before making any decisions. It may be that initially some experimentation is needed to find the perfect palette to strengthen your online identity. If you’re looking to update your existing website or you’re looking to enter the digital world for the first time, our team of creative web designers/ graphic designers can help you to create a site which will resonate with your customers for all the right reasons. To book a design consultation today, please give us a call, one of our Account Managers will be more than happy to help!