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Brand colours that can boost your sales

by Funmilayo Tijani

January 17, 2022

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The average business owner knows the importance of having the right logo and website for their business, but let me ask you today, how much thought have you given to the colours you use for your business?

Did you just decide to select colours because they look fancy or gravitate towards a generic and safe blue? Not that blue is a bad colour, but notably, a lot of businesses go for it because it is considered safe, versatile and popular. In fact, a study of the world’s 100 brands showed that over 33% make use of the colour blue and we will reveal why shortly. Yes, there are relevant brand colours that can boost sales for your business.

Logos of core brands that use the colour blue

Some of the world’s biggest brands use various shades of blue.


The colours you select for use in your business goes a long way in communicating what customers can expect. It communicates what your brand does, your brand tone and is quite influential in attracting customers and potential customers to engage with and even make purchases from your business. Ever wondered why so many restaurants have some shade of red in their logos? (suddenly endless KFC and McDonald’s imagery comes to mind).

In this article, I will be sharing how your choice of brand colours can boost your sales.

 

What your brand colours say about your business
Colours are not brand isolates, each colour has a specific connotation influenced by common usage, historical factors and even nature. Lots of people have their own interpretation of what various colours connate but the table below is a broad interpretation a lot of people agree on.

Colour Meaning Can be found in
Blue Relatable, Dependable Tech, Automobile. Finance, Insurance
Red Energetic Food
Purple Expensive, Sophisticated Fashion, Health
Orange Fun, Playful Tech companies
Yellow Warm, Positive Service industries, Food, Creative industry
Gold Luxurious, Rare Fashion, Cosmetics
White Pure, Holy Health, Sustainability
Black Prestige, Solid Fashion, Automobile
Green Growth, Life, Sustainability NGOs, Agriculture, Insurance, Healthy food

 

How to choose the right brand colours for sale

First, create a brand personality.
As a business owner, the ultimate goal is to make sales. You need to start by asking yourself how you want to go about making sales. What personality do you want your customers to associate with your brand? How do you want them to go about making their purchase?

Chart showing the psycographics of various colours

Source: Ergonomic

 


1) Want to denote excitement, fun and urgency? 

Try Red and Yellow.

These colours have been proven to depict a brand that is adventurous and energetic, It is popular amongst hip and trendy brands. It is also used to call attention to urgent sales when combined with yellow, as this is a combination that shows you are accommodating to customers and want them to quickly take advantage of the promo you are running.

 

Where to use it
Most restaurants choose vivid (hence red) and warm (yellow) tones to show that their meals are eye-catching, delicious and you are sure to be hosted in a welcoming environment. This is why a lot of restaurants use bright, large logos accompanied by these colours.
If your brand is in the food business, colour schemes around red and yellow will be ideal for your business. This is a proven brand colour that can boost sales.

Source: Amasty

What it does for your sales
Red encourages customers to take action, especially when it is accompanied by a brief, catchy copy. If you are in the e-commerce business, your customers will be more attracted to a Buy now or other promo buttons in vivid red as opposed to cooler colours.

Comparison between green and red CTA buttons

Hubspot ran a campaign that tested the effectiveness of the colour green and red for CTA buttons and found out that red outperformed green by 21% out of a total of 2,000 visits to the site.

 

2) Want customers to know you are dependable and trustworthy for the long run? 

Think of Blue
Businesses that handle a lot of personal information will want to show that you can trust them with that information and can always rely on their services. Blue is an inviting colour that encourages you to speak to a brand and learn more about them.

Where to use it
This is why so many large banks, financial institutions and insurance companies (Paypal, Morgan Stanley. IBM. Capital one etc) use the colour blue. You need to be able to trust those you entrust with your money and valuables.

If your business creates products that can assure customers of their safety and guaranteed use, then blue should be on your radar.

What it does for your sales
Blue is great for website background, icon and vector images especially for brands that want to keep their readers engaged. Legible black text on a website’s blue environment is great for keeping readers engaged and projects a sense of security to them. 

Blue is great for CTA buttons that require readers to take action to build further relationships or make more enquiries like the urgent sales factor associated with red and orange. Buttons like Learn more, Speak to a rep, Click here to learn more etc will do better with a blue background.

 

 

3) Want to communicate how luxurious and quality your products are? 

Try Gold, Black, Silver or Purple
If I ask you to paint a mental image of a luxurious, expensive watch, what comes to mind? 

I may not get the exact image but I bet it is something like an intricate gold watch lying in a black velvet material inside a purple box.

Purple has always been closely associated with royalty throughout history and this has carried on unto the modern-day. Gold is literally the colour of a precious material we already perceive as luxurious. Black depicts a solid colour in products that are mature and of high quality. If you are presented with a colourful pink car on one hand and a sleek black car on the end, which would you consider more high-end and expensive?

Luxury brands that use black and white in their brand colours

Source: Pinterest

Silver and Grey are careful balances of black and white and as a result are also associated with quality, maturity and dependability. Silver as an element is also known for its durable and long-lasting properties.

Where to use it
Luxury goods designers and fashion aficionados have cornered the use of these colours. Beyond them, other industries that also deal in high-end expensive products and services like winemakers, luxurious automobiles (Rolls Royce, Mercedes), cosmetics etc have also incorporated the colours black and silver into their brands.

Ever notice how so many automobile manufacturers make use of black, silver and white colouring in their brands? They want you as a customer to perceive them as being solid (black), sustainable (white) and durable (silver). Now you understand why Nissan, Mercedes and Tesla all look like they share the same graphic artist.

Purple is a colour that is very persuasive for products specifically marketed towards women. It is after all more sophisticated than the traditional pink and yet not as serious as the colour blue. It sits at a nice middle between blue and picks which makes it very attractive for older women.

What it does for your sales
Purple doesn’t give off the energetic CTA of red or the inviting hue of blue however when used with other contrasting colours such as muted blue, pink or white, it can act as a great background for CTA s on your website particularly if your products or service is geared towards women.

It is important to note that the psychology of brand colours is very vast and deeper than the brief article above. Here are two case studies from our previous work and what drove our choice in the colour scheme.


Charisol case study 1

The brand – tishlms
The brief – Deliver interactive and engaging videos virtually
Industry – e-learning
Brand colours – purple, black, white

Analysis

The use of the colour purple as the main brand colour ties in with the fact that tishlms is different from the other e-learning platforms currently in use and offers a higher value proposition.

White shows the gentle and professional way the brand approaches its operation. As an e-learning app customers need to find that they can actually trust the brand to deliver and the colour white shows the honest nature of the brand in this regard.
Black helps to build a solid foundation of the very concept that is tish. It acts as a third player in showing the reliability of the brand.

Verdict
The brand is unique, elegant and of high quality.

 

 

Charisol case study 2

The brand – Alukka
The brief – Pay for the medical care of your loved ones overseas with no hassles.
Industry – health
Brand colours – black, grey, white

Analysis
This is a brand that is a mix between health and fintech, hence, they deal with life-saving financial transactions and people need to know they can be trusted with it. The colour black shows them as being professional, solid and reliable

The use of white ties into the medical nature that is at the core of this business. It shows they have nothing to hide and are pure and focused on helping those who need it.

The colour grey is a healthy balance that shows the business as a solid lifesaver. As the site shows a number of financial transactions. The grey background makes it easy for texts to be read and shows the brand as open and trustworthy.

Verdict
The brand is dependable and trustworthy.

 

Conclusion
There are several factors that work to influence sales beyond colours and logos, however choosing the right colours, alignment, text and fonts, basically, the entire UI/UX design of your website is very essential. Not only can the choice of colour contribute positively to your customers’ purchase intent, but your brand colours can also strengthen brand association and retention.


At Charisol, we are experts in building optimal websites and products that will connect with your audience and help achieve your business goals.
If you would like to learn more about how we can integrate the best colours, elements and design in building websites that reflects your business goals, click here to see what we can do for you and get started.

Author

Funmilayo Tijani

Funmilayo Tijani

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