How The Psychology Of Colour Affects Email Response

How can colours affect your readers?

How can colours affect your readers?

Colour is critical when it comes to the success of your marketing and branding. Email can be particularly affected by colour and you can see the results in click-throughs and conversions. So why is colour so important and how can you improve your results by using it in your marketing?

What Impact Does Colour Have On The Reader?

Colour has long been associated with emotions. Different emotions and meanings are evoked depending on the primary colours used. Four main colours are used to illicit emotions from an audience: red, blue, yellow and green.

Each colour will have a different meaning for your audience and to make matters more complicated when choosing colours within your marketing, each colour has both positive and negative emotions, which can make it difficult to choose.

To understand how to use colour, you must first know what each colour means. So here is a quick guide:

Red

Red is seen as a physical colour and is often used for warning signs and danger. However, it can also be used for strength, warmth, energy, stimulation and excitement. Of the negative side of the colour, people can perceive aggression, strain and defiance.

Red can seem closer than it is, which is why it often grabs the attention of the audience earlier than other colours. At the same time, readers respond physically to the colour with a quickening pulse rate and the perception that time is passing faster than it is.

Because it evokes the fight or flight survival instinct within humans, it often doesn’t have the subtlety of other colours and sometimes can have an adverse impact on your marketing. It all depends on whether you want quick actions and to demonstrate power, or if you want to be more calm and relaxed.

Blue

Blue is the colour of intelligence. Often when viewed, the colour communicates intellect, communication, trust, efficiency, serenity duty, logic, coolness, reflection and calm. However, it is not always positive. Blue is often associated with a lack of emotion, unfriendliness, aloofness and cold.

Unlike red there is no physical reaction to the colour but rather a change in our mental state. Blue is often used in relaxing areas as it seems to calm the mind. However, it does depend on the shade of blue. Stronger blues will stimulate clear thoughts, while lighter, softer blues will calm the audience and help with their concentration.

Interestingly, despite being perceived across the world as being cold and unfriendly, blue is most often chosen as a favourite colour.

Yellow

If you want to be emotional, yellow is the colour to choose. It is often seen to reflect optimism, confidence, emotional strength and creativity. On the flipside, it can also evoke fear, irrationality, emotional fragility, depression and anxiety. So it has to be used very carefully.

Yellow is very stimulating, so it will have a greater effect on the audience’s mood compared to blue or red. But you have to ensure that you have the right shade as some shades will lift spirits, provide confidence and optimism while others will reduce the audience’s self-esteem and lead to fear and anxiety.

Green

Green is all about being balanced and nature. Those who display green in their marketing are not surprisingly connected to rest, restoration, the environment and peace. It can also be reassuring to the audience.

However, green also has negative aspects. It can be seen as bland, boring and stagnant – which makes it a poor choice for those who want to be seen as the next big thing.

When the eye sees green, it doesn’t react as it would with the other colours. Therefore, we often see this as a relaxing and restful colour. Being at the centre of the colour spectrum, we also see green as a balance.

Conclusion

When using the right colours within your marketing, you can evoke the emotions that you want to generate the right reaction. Whether you wish to develop a trusting relationship with your audience or get them to take quick action, you need to know what the right colour for your email is as well as the right text.

What colours do you use in your email copy? Does it get you the results you want?

Let us know in the comments below.

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