The Future’s Bright – But is the Future Orange?

I’m sure I wont get sued for copyright infringement for mentioning a slogan that isn’t used anymore (touch wood), but the plucky little mobile operator that blessed the UK with Orange Wednesdays had a point…

Orange (the colour) has long been used in the advertising industry for its attention-grabbing, warm and even uplifting tones. The painter Wolf Kahn described it as a colour that ‘makes you immediately start having feelings’. I wont go any further on that but I’m sure we can all understand why many brands use orange in some way.

The psychology of colours is no new thing, and is used not just in advertising but in a whole host of industries. Did you know, for example, there have been studies on the perceived effects of certain colours of medicine? It was concluded that red, yellow, and orange are associated with a stimulant effect, while blue and green are related to a tranquillising effect. So how does this all relate to affiliate marketing?

One of Wolf Khan’s many orange-intense works. (Check out more of his amazing work at http://www.wolfkahn.com/artworks/)

There are endless splash pages being designed by affiliates across all verticals, and it would be good to have a rough idea of what  customers may be feeling when you use certain colours on your mock-ups.

This list is in no way a definitive truth, but if anything it should act as a spring board to make you think about the colours being used and what impact they may be having. These are not my own analyses (although I will use them as a launch pad for my own opinions), they are the conclusions of probably the most respected thinker in the world of colour psychology, the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (The little book of Colour By Karen Haller takes the credit for pointing me in the right direction).

Blue – Showing no bias, objective, detached, analytical – You see this colour being used in a lot of enquiry forms, ‘fill in your details here and we will find you a great energy deal’ (great job Uswitch!). I would advise to use this when you are building any type of insurance quote page, or any offer that is looking to save you money. If you can reassure someone you will be helping them in their time of money saving/insurance needs you are on the right tracks.

Green – Still, tranquil, calming, soothing – Lots of health organisations use greens in their branding (Nuffield and MacMillan use different shade of green in all their branding). I would favour this colour when creating pages for Psychic offers or a debt relief offer.

Yellow – Cheerful, uplifting, spirited, enthusiastic – There isn’t a company on the planet that hasn’t used the odd splash of yellow to brighten their branding. This can be used as a good attention-grabbing colour, so use it for offers like sweeps or survey brands to draw people into the ‘hook’ line. You would also see the benefit of using this on your Call To Action (CTA) buttons.

Red – Positive, decisive, bold, assertive – Gambling brands use this colour a lot, of course for reasons also associated with a casino floor itself, but reds and blacks on cards or the roulette table are there for the same reasons. They are decision making, associated with bravery and hopefully a bit of luck at the same time. This colour to a certain degree could be used in most landing pages, any emotion driven strap line can be emphasised with this colour or the old use of arrows can be coloured in red to allow someone’s gaze to move in the right direction.

Lets be honest, there are plenty of ways different colours can be interpreted and it will never be an exact science, but all affiliates need to understand how they can greatly impact their click through rates and could very well be the difference in turning a profit.