Colors Highly Influence Customers!

Color Memory Purchases Brain Branding

Did you realize that color has a powerful impact on your brain? Interestingly, color is part of the powerful spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. These forms include microwaves, x-rays, infrared rays, and heat. In addition, color impacts the brain because it can greatly affect our physiology, since it influences anxiety, pulse, blood flow and arousal.

Color Memory Is Significant: A recent study examined differences in peoples’ recall of words and memory for colors. Results show that people recall color to a higher degree. And when people were asked to recall objects versus color, color memory was significantly greater. Even when people attempted to remember words or objects, color had the greatest affect on recall.

Color Impacts Mood: Peoples’ color preferences affect moods and reactions positively or negatively. Think about it! Have you ever walked into a room and immediately felt uneasy, while in another room you felt joyful and upbeat, and in yet another place you feel drained and down? Chances are the predominant colors influenced your mood and attitude even more than you realize.

Findings on color:

Dark Blue – associated with night, often leads to passivity.

Blue and Green – calming – blue is the most preferred color across cultures

Red and Orange – arousing

Red – may stimulate excitement and is used to light gambling casinos

Pink – interestingly calmed inmates in institutions

For more information on color choices see colors that attract.

Color Impacts Branding: Grossman and Wisenblit warn organizations to be wary in choosing a color to brand your product since past color associations influence consumers and can interfere with marketer’s intents. For instance, outdoor colors, such as green and blue, are associated with sporting goods stores and even though red may stimulate approach behavior in general, it may not be appropriate for retail environments though it works well for lighting casinos. One great branding example is Owens Corning's choice of pink to denote its fiberglass insulation brand. As a next step they included the Pink Panther image to signify a hip and cool product. In so doing, they created their own color association and developed an image around it. Potentially, such a strategy holds long-term benefits as the Supreme Court has ruled that a particular color can serve as a defensible trademark for a product.”

Color Preferences Change: A shift in color preferences is predicted to make an impact in the 21st century. Predictions indicate there’ll be a strong emphasis on blue, with an array of neutrals to complement it such as gray, taupe and pale brown. Soft pale colors like aqua will likely dominate.

Color Affects Consumer Decisions: Though color may appear as a relatively unimportant product attribute, intriguingly, it may play a more important role in decision making affecting purchases that are trivial versus purchases that affect status or ego. A few studies indicate when competing products are not seen as vastly different, colors may affect customers’ behavior even more for everyday purchases than for high ticket goods that influence ego.

Research shows people make up their minds to buy within 90 seconds of their initial interactions with either people or products. About 62-90 percent of the assessment is based on colors alone.

OK, what colors will you choose to brand your product and attract customers?

And, folks how might this discussion about the brain influence your next purchases?