Is colour your website’s weakest link?

MAKE COLOURS WORK FOR YOUR WEBSITES TO HELP GENERATE LEADS

Is colour your website's weakest link?

Depending on the month and what newsletters you subscribe to, one button colour is held up as the correct choice for high conversion rates. A few months ago it was green. Now red is the Holy Grail. In a few months it might be blue.

I see the appeal. There are countless ways marketing and advertising can go wrong. We cling to supposed absolutes in hopes that we’ll come out of the storm with the leads to prove we’re worth the money the clients pay for advice.

It’s appealing to say that one button colour is 100 per cent effective. And it’s wrong.

This isn’t to say your quest for more leads is hopeless. You can use button colour to optimize your page.

You just have to understand that colour theory is more complex than “red means passion, green means growth and purple means royalty.”

Follow these tips and you can make colour work for you.

STAND OUT

Button colour is important. You want it to stand out from the rest of your page and catch the eye. It shouldn’t be a colour already in use elsewhere. If it is, it should be a slight accent here and there.

A green button on a predominantly red page will stand out. If that page is already using a green colour scheme, your green button will blend in.

Make that button leap out but ensure it complements your chosen palette. Be aware of how colours interact to create associations. Bold yellow with red is bright and energetic. Pair that yellow with black, and you conjure images of highways, caution signs, or construction. Soften that yellow and you add an air of sophistication.

You have to judge elements in their contexts, not as separate pieces. A button is only as effective as the other elements allow it to be.

SURROUNDING ELEMENTS

Any graphic designer will tell you simplicity is key to good design. That’s especially true for conversion pages.
Your main focus is driving the customer to fill out a form or make a call. That’s it.

Don’t clutter up the pages. The eye should go straight to the conversion opportunity. If your call-to-action button is bold blue then don’t use that same colour everywhere else.

Any graphic designer will tell you simplicity is key to good design. That’s especially true for conversion pages.

Your bullet points and testimonials can go below the fold. Your additional programs and resources can go in your navigation. Your one goal is to focus on that conversion opportunity.

At POTRATZ, we’ve found that removing unnecessary form fields is a good place to start. The e-mail address is the important thing — just to get in your customer’s inbox and remind them of your presence.

We also like to get a name so that we can send personalized e-mails. Everything else? You risk cluttering the page and scaring off customers by asking for too much information.

I’m a fan of the squint test. Open up your page on the computer and squint. Does your call to action button stand out from the page?

If not, go back and choose a different colour. Then get someone who hasn’t seen the page to sit at your desk. Ask them what they think they should do. If they don’t know, try again.

DOES IT LOOK GOOD?

Your button with “Call Us Now” is a bright yellow that stands out from your blue page, but it’s written in Papyrus and the alignment is wonky. Plus the text is lime green so even if Papyrus was a legible font — it’s not — the colour choice destroys readability.

That button colour is going to draw your eye. Your page is only as strong as it’s weakest element. You sabotage that bold button with ugliness at your own peril.

MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU

Colour will play a key role in driving leads. Make it work for you: draw the eye, keep your page clean and make your page beautiful. That’s what we’ve seen here at POTRATZ as we continue to refine our lead-generating methods.

By taking every page as it comes and making sure the elements work together, you can boost your conversions.

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