October 22 2013
This is the second article in a series of three on A/B testing for your website. Read part one here.
Colors are important. When creating a logo, website or any marketing material, you need to choose a color which will connect with clients.
In A/B testing 101, we discussed how small changes to a website can increase the amount of leads it generates. A/B testing 102 will focus on what specific colors are proven to increase the chances of visitors taking action after visiting your website. Wouldn't it be great if you knew what color the sign up button for your email list should be? Or what colors are proven to create trust in your clients mind? Read on to find out which colours are proven to create clients.
Red is the best colour for sign up buttons. This has been proven time and time again with various experiments. There was a test done where 1,000 website visitors were shown a sign up page with a green button and another 1,000 visitors were shown the exact same page with a red button. Before conducting the experiment, many thought that the green button would outperform the red button. It is the most common colour for sign up buttons, since many people associate green with "go" and red with "stop."
However, when the results of the experiment came in, the red button outperformed the green button by 21%. That means that 21% more people clicked on the red button than the green button when everything else on the page was the same*.
Psychologists dug deeper into finding out why the color red outperformed the color green. They found that green is thought to represent nature and the environment. People associate it with a green traffic light which means go, continue in the direction you were already heading; there is no need for you to take an action.
Red, on the other hand, represents passion, excitement and warning. When people see a red light they have to stop--they need to take action and change their course. The red button was able to outperform the green button in the A/B test because it drove a sense of urgency into visitors who felt they needed to stop and sign up*. It's amazing how much of a difference a colour change on a website can make.
Have you ever wondered why most links online are blue? It turns out that blue is everyone's favorite color and it's the one color that everyone can see. If someone is affected by a color vision deficiency, they usually cannot see red or green, but it turns out that almost everyone can see the color blue. In a recent study of color preferences, blue was discovered to be the favorite color of most participants regardless of their age or gender*. Blue represents trust, loyalty and calmness. If you are struggling to choose a color for your website or logo, go with blue. It is the safest choice.
There are a lot of other colors and experiments that can be covered, but I thought I would start with the basics. Choose Red for sign-up buttons and choose blue for general site colors. Check out the use of the color blue on this REALTORĀ®'s site--it does a great job of communicating professionalism to the website visitor and makes them feel a sense of trust with the brokerage.
Before a lead picks up the phone and calls you, they must feel like you are a professional who they can trust and feel comfortable with. Choosing the right colors for your website can establish this connection.
*Sources:
To view the original article, visit the WebsiteBox blog.