Colour affects Customer Buying

“Colour increases brand recognition by 80%. Brand recognition directly links to consumer confidence,” – Sarah Mangion

Colour is an important part of our lives. Deciphering colours is one of the earliest activities taught to human babies because our visual senses hinge on the various types of colour and their many attributes. The world of commerce also hinges on colour to connect with its customers and in its efforts to acquire more customers. Is it well known that colour can influence mood, emotions, behaviour, and brand choice; therefore, most multinational corporations and local businesses use colour to introduce and reinforce their brand logo. We must note that individual experience and circumstances also help to form our personal opinions on colour, which translates into customer buying. Colour is known to play a distinct role in both conscious and sub-conscious purchase decisions. For instance, a young digital native is most likely to be partial to a certain shade of blue, because a certain pervasive social network platform has used the said shade in its logo for many years. Therefore, we could say that colour is a key differentiator when it comes to fashioning individual preferences for brands, products, and services.

Automobile enthusiasts and car buyers often use colour to pick their favourite set of wheels. When visiting a sale site or a car showroom, customer buying has been influenced by colour. The technical specifications and engine capacities are also deemed to be important predicators of customer choice. However, the colour of the automobile is the foremost consideration. Some buyers prefer to invest in a yellow automobile, because this colour indicates a positive mood and conjures visions of a sunny disposition. Other customers may prefer a shade of red or bright red, because this colour indicates energy and passion. A third set of customers may prefer black because it conveys a sense of power and authority. A young lady may decide on a certain shade of pink because that colour enables her to carry and convey her sense of the feminine. However, we must note that every purchase decision may not equate a snap judgement, but it is universally acknowledged that colour has a decisive role in car purchases.

Colour plays an important role in branding and corporate logos. Most fast food operators use a vivid shade of red in their official logos. Red denotes energy, passion, and excitement and can send the human pulse racing. Therefore, a fast food logo predicated on red can entice more customers to enter a quick service restaurant, order a meal, and consume it within the premises. The colour red has a unique effect on the human psyche, and this may be the reason why quick service restaurants often use the colour very prominently in the interiors of such business establishments. These instances convey a clear instance of the colour red being used to spur customer buying. In a similar vein, an energy drink manufacturer may base its logo on a vivid shade of red to denote energy and enthusiasm. Over the years, the logo gains a lot of mind share among customers who automatically prefer the said brand of beverage over its competitors.

Corporate entities must be careful in the use of colour to transmit a brand message. Various promotional gifts are used by commercial establishments and business enterprises to spur sales; the use of colour in such materials should be carefully thought through. For instance, a business that uses bright yellow umbrellas as promotional marketing must make sure that the primary colour does not clash with the colour of its corporate logo. A mismatch may degrade the brand or logo, leading to negative outcomes in a promotional campaign. Ideally, the base colour of the promotional material should promote the corporate logo if the campaign is to achieve the desired outcome, which is to spur customer buying.

Many enterprises are known to use two primary colours to shape their corporate logo. Consider this: an energy company that refines and markets fuel can use red and yellow to shape a distinct corporate logo. The logo may be outlined in a deep shade of red containing a vivid yellow. The yellow can signify the rising sun, which is a symbol of boundless energy, while the red component may be taken to signify an aura of excitement and passion. Together, the two colours can spell a distinct corporate identity that signals commitment to business. The primary colours can encourage customer buying because over time consumers and buyers and clients identify the logo as a promise of superior products and services. We could also deduce the fact that corporate enterprises believe that the use of certain colours helps to attract new customers.

Customers often place a premium on visual appearance and colour. This can be said to be an instance of human predilection at play. Brand choices, brand recognition, customer buying, and personal preferences often meld into specific instances of customer behaviour. The choices and the subsequent actions may not be governed by reason, logic, and science, but such choices tend to become a significant part of customer behaviour. A lot of customers may choose to invest in red sweatshirts because the colour may be a personal favourite. The reason may also lie in the fact that red tends to enthuse morning joggers during the cold winter months. A fair young woman may prefer red attire because it wonderfully complements her own pigmentation while boosting her heart rate. Therefore, we have to consider these instances of customer choice that are deeply informed and moulded both by personal choice and received wisdom alike.

Every retail business enterprise holds clearance sales at certain points in the annual calendar to dispose of its unsold inventory. The magic word “Sale” is often highlighted in red because it attracts the human eye and may lead to a faster clearance. The said colour often serves to pique human curiosity and this is leveraged by commercial businesses to lead the customer into a conversation. These tactics are known to attract impulse shoppers and budget shoppers to a retail location, thereby translating into more footfalls. We note that the outcomes of such strategies often lead to higher than anticipated customer activity, and in the final analysis, may lead to frenzied customer buying which translates into faster stock clearance.

In the preceding text, we have outlined the various selling strategies that hinge on the effective use of colour to spur customer buying. Every corporate enterprise needs to be careful about the colour palette it uses to design a distinctive corporate logo. Brand colours are known to affect customers at a sub-conscious level and therefore, brand colours should be consistent at every outlet, signage, marketing literature, promotional campaign, etc. Any dissonance in brand colours may lead to allegations of commercial fakery and may prove disastrous for the branding of a product, service, or a company. Brand colours help to build customer trust, establish business confidence, and to win the customer’s faith. The use of superficial colour tones or degraded combinations of colour can destroy brand reputation and may presage legal action. Therefore, enterprises must acknowledge that colour consistency speaks volumes about a brand or business, how the entity views itself, and ultimately, its commitment to customer engagement.

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