impact of colors on customer behavior

Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management

Vrije Universiteit Brussel / Université libre de Bruxelles

Impact of Colors on Customer Behavior

Professor: Dr. Christian Bluemelhuber

Students:

Dan Alexandru Rusescu

Fanli Shen

Giovanni Wang

Victoria Riba

Master of Management Science, Academic year 2012 - 2013

Brussels

2012

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Table of Contents

Literature review ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………..…… 3

Impact of colors ……………………………………………………………………………………...………………………………………………………….…………………… 6

Natural association component ………………….…………………………………...…….…………….……….…..………… 6

Effects on behavior……………………………………………….…………….…………………….……………….……………..……… 6

Psychological or cultural association component……………………….………………………..….………… 7

Effect on Colour on choice…………………………………………..……………….……………………...………….….………… 8

Examples in different cultures…………….…………………………………………………………………………….…..…… 8

Statistics on color usage……………………….………………………………………..……………………………………….……… 9

Color Meaning Association………………….………..………………….……………….……………………….…………….… 10

Non Cultural Factors…………………………………………………………….…………………………………………….…..…… 10

Data collection and interpretation of the results…………………………………………………..………………………….……………….…… 12

Bibliography ………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17

Appendices (A, B, C) ………………………………………………….…...…………….……………………………………………..………………………….………… 19

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Literature review

In their paper entitled “Basic Hue-Meaning Associations”, Arlen C. Moller and Andrew

J. Elliot state that “color may not only be pleasing to the eye, but may also carry important

associations relevant for psychological functioning”. According to their findings “hue carries

psychologically relevant meaning.” (Elliot at al., 2009, p.1)

But what is the meaning of the term “hue”? Alongside the “colorfulness”, “chroma”,

“saturation”, “lightness”, and “brightness”, hue is a property of colors technically defined as a

stimulus depending on its intensity. This stimulus is similar or dissimilar from stimuli that stand

labeled as red, green, blue, and yellow, which are known to be unique hues (Fairchild, (2004). In

other words these are the basic unique colors which can form the rest of the colors perceived by

humans.

Therefore colors are defined as a “stimulus” and marketers can effort to comprehend how

colors have the ability to stimulate attentiveness and afterwards provide intensification to the

appealing power of services image and nevertheless, the appealing of products (Funk and

Ndubisi 2006).

An example on that basis could be that color is used and is “manipulated” by firms as an

indicator of cleanness, freshness and taste and has been revealed empirically to be operative at

influencing insights of flavor intensity (Hoegg and Alba, 2007).

In their research, the authors mentioned above show that “inappropriate colors (e.g. juice

that is grape in flavor but green in color) can influence liking, identification, and perceptions of

quality” adding a further confirmation that visual cues are strong markers for evaluation than

other wrapping info such as pricing, labeling, entitlements etc. One of their studies emphasized

that different hue of one color (orange juice packed into a light orange hue container versus a

dark orange hue container) determined the consumers to rate orange juice to have significantly

different tastes even if the containers were rather similar, different just in color hue; whereas the

orange juice showed under two different brands and two different packaging was not considered

to have the same substantial difference in taste. (Hoegg and Alba 2007)

In marketing, color investigation is predominantly related to branding (Areni and Sutton-

Brady, 2009, p.1) and “yet, brands are not so much heard as they are seen” communicating with

the consumer trough visual images, being “here to be understood as symbolic images”. Those

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images “are more an issue of feeling and immersion” and form signs which are “consumed”

under the form of an “aesthetic activity” (Salzer-Mörlig, 2004, pp. 225-226).

“Color is usually considered in terms of aesthetics alone” (Elliot et al., 2009) but in the

world of marketing and brands this simple things “only pleasing to the eye, but also carry

meaningful associations that have direct implications for psychological functioning” (Elliot et

al., 2009, p.1).

Marketers have a deep understanding about the ways that colors build brand image and

the fact that they affect buyer’s decision making process, changing the disposition of customers

and nevertheless contributing to a better difference between competing companies. Another

important factor is that colors tend to create positive or negative feelings about products and are

perceived in different manners due to age, ethnic groups, gender etc. For example “red represents

love and blood for teens but blood and passion for the 55 and older age group” (Akcay at al.,

2012, p.1). In the same research, young adult prefer different shades of blue than older age

groups. In the United States, ethnic differences determine strong variances in matter of choice.

Brighter, sturdier, more penetrating colors tend to attract Hispanics while African Americans

favor intensely saturated colors. Green is not a preferred color in the Asian Americans ethnic

segment.

“Color is one of the primary purchasing considerations among consumers and is a very

important factor for product choice” (Clarke and Honeycutt, 2000; Akcay, et al., 2012) and

consequently choices suffer variations when the background of individuals differ. For example

Dr. Okan Akcay, Dr. Paul Sable and Dr. M. Halim Dalgin found out in their research that

African Americans and Hispanics incline proportionally in the direction of purple, Asians in the

direction of pink and Caucasian in the direction of green. On the same pattern blue tends to be

the number one global selection of color by all ethnic clusters. Correspondingly, ethnicity

determines the inclination of dissimilar colors and dissimilar shades of blue in the midst of

Caucasians, African Americans and Hispanics (Paul, 2002).

Response to color is a learned procedure and can be transformed overtime (Akcay, et al.,

2012). Additionally, “color has the potential to affect a consumer’s overall perception of a

product and the persuasiveness of purchase decisions (Sable and Akcay, 2010) and enables

marketers to categorize and suggest the accurate colors for products, appeal, draw attention,

create atmosphere in retail stores and stimulate purchase intention.

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It is needless to mention that an important purpose of color is to determine the price level

and typical life of a product (Akcay, et al., 2012). Comparing low involvement products with

high involvement products, colors have very different implications. Products with a high price

tag, long life and with high involvement tend to be chosen by the customers more on the basis of

color, whereas with low involvement products, consumers tend to be more flexible when it

comes to colors. “In general, understanding color choice and responses of consumers for various

products has become very complicated because consumers have developed a wide range of color

associations for various products”. As a result, marketers should pay a great amount of attention

regarding the importance of colors when it comes to “value-expressive products as opposed to

utilitarian type products” (Akcay, et al., 2012).

What's more is that one of the purposes of relating colors to marketing is that to “create

obvious brand associations” (Chang and Lin, 2010, p.2). To properly identify a brand, its

designers make use of signs for all human senses. This includes factors of visual impact, such as

color pigment, nature of symbol, contour and form; factors of hearing impact such as volume;

factors of touch impact, tasting impact and last but not least, smelling factors. The one factor

dominant is obviously the one with the visual impact, which needs to have a suited color for the

company image, suited font, style and so on, to be able to deliver the brand image efficiently and

correctly to customers. The customers need to associate all the above mentioned elements to an

image transmitted by the corporation, making a good view point upon which colors are chosen

cautiously and help the customer convert the brand to a symbol. Diverse colors characterize

diverse feelings, sentiments or emotions, and moreover “emotional benefits mean that the brand

causes positive responses from consumers, and functional benefits mean that the brand satisfies

customer needs and solves their problems in differentiating products” (Chang and Lin, 2010,

p.2).

As a final idea, Chang and Lin argue that “symbols guide people to generate images,

establish brand identity, and build relationships with it”.

On that basis we tried to prove once more the importance of colors and the associations

that are made involuntary by humans. We developed a questionnaire regarding the topic of

colors. We comprehended the importance of this topic and tried to bring a set of perspectives on

that matter.

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Many of the websites specialized in the creation of surveys offered few options regarding

a questionnaire with interchangeable graphics dependable on the respondent’s answers and many

of them are charging a great amount of money for a limited set of options, none of them suited

for our simple but yet “right to the point” survey. Yet we managed to develop a questionnaire

and we made public the website address to all known sources of friends, groups, social networks

so on and so forth. Our results are clarified in more detail further down this paper, where the

purpose, structure and all other particulars regarding our questionnaire are described.

Impact of colors

The Colours meaning can be divided into three main parts:

Natural associations

Psychological or cultural associations

Non Cultural Factors

Natural association component

By “natural association” it's meaning that colours could bring to mind certain ideas that

everyone consider to be aware. For example, green is associated with nature because that’s the

primary colour of plants everywhere in the world. Blue is associated with the sky and the sea.

Yellow is associated with the sun. These associations are simple and universal.1

Effects on behaviour

Almost everyone is affected by colour. But their reaction is usually quite different

towards a particular colour, though there are certain generalities: (Wollard) so the question is

"How can colour affect us?". During the years some researches have been made on this topic and

here is a list explaining how the following colours may affect you.2

1 "Consumer Behavior: Product Characteristics and Quality Perception" report: UAB, Barcelona

2 "How color affects Marketing" report: The TABS Journal

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BLACK: "Black is a classical colour. It makes you feel sophisticated when it is worn; it

forces, disciplines, authorizes, strengthens, encourages independence." (Jerdee)

WHITE: "White can make you feel absolutely quiet, and gives the feeling of

cleanlinesss." (Jerdee)

RED: "Red can make you feel excited, full of energy, and alive. Red can actually increase

your heart rate and so it increases the degree of perception of the colour." (Burtoff)

ORANGE: "Orange cheers, and commands, this is the reason why many warning signs

are orange. For instance it commands us not to walk in certain hazardous area." (Jerdee)

YELLOW: "The effects of yellow can vary widely. Yellow can either make you feel

cheerful, optimistic, "sunny, or it can make you feel irritated. An experiment has been done

regarding these effects and according to those studies; babies in yellow nurseries seem to cry

longer." (Burtoff)

BLUE: "Blue makes you feel calm and cool": (Burtoff) According to an article, Blue is

actually the most popular colour in America. (Piirto)

PURPLE: "Purple comforts, assures, and spiritualizes." (Jerdee)

BROWN: "Brown stabilizes secures, and symbolizes the "down to earth" attitude, since it

is the natural colour of the soil. People may feel more likely comfortable and confiding to

someone dressed in brown." (Jerdee)3

Psychological or cultural association component

As a result of the psychological effects colour has on human beings, the use of colour has

become an important marketing tool. Because the colours percept affect our moods, those trying

to sell us something by using the strategy to stress or the color of the product, or packaging or

even the colours of the atmosphere in which the product is sold (many examples represented by

department stores or even bis shopping malls). Colour is not the only factor that is important


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when trying to seal a product, but it is the color the primary element which attracts the customer,

and if the wrong color is used, the product won't sell. In fact color is ranked among the top three

considerations in the purchase decision. (Cooper)4

In general psychological or cultural associations are more tricky; As a an example in the

U.S., orange is associated with Halloween because pumpkins are the main vegetables used to

prepare dishes and they are a big part of that holiday, but since many other cultures do not

celebrate this particular holiday, that association doesn’t exist as an universal concept.

Furthermore, while black is associated with death in the West, white is often the death colour in

other cultures.5

In definitive our response to color also depends on who we are and what our culture tells

and teaches us about certain colors meaning. In China, a red door symbolizes hospitality and

good luck.

Effect of color on choice

"Colour combinations are considered culturally bound with certain ideologies and

traditions" (Geboy 1996).

The combination of colours selected for tools related to the product such as product logos

and communication may convey meaning as a result of the specific colour pairings. For example

the combination of black and red signifies happiness to Chinese people, and therefore these

colours combination is commonly used for wedding invitations. This is very essential when

choosing the colours for a logo, or the dominant colours of a banner.6

Examples in different cultures

In old Europe, doctors often wore red capes to show that help was on the way.

(Wollard)


5 "Consumer Behavior: Product Characteristics and Quality Perception" report: UAB, Barcelona

6 "Color Choices Matter" report: 4 print.com

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In the United States, we use the phrase "green with envy", while in many other

countries such as Japan, Italy and Turkey, yellow is associated with envy instead of

the green. (Piirto)

In the United States, black is generally worn at funerals, making black a colour

associated of mourning

In the Middle East, women wear black clothing as a sign of modesty

African American women are more likely to wear gold and silver

Hispanic are likely to prefer bright-red, orange and fuchsia

Caucasian women favour blues, and pinks

As a result of the aforementioned the colour of product packaging can be different from

culture to culture. In Hong Kong, for example, gold type on a label signifies high quality, white

and black lettering on white labelling generally conveys a generic inferior quality. (Gimba)7

Statistics on color usage

Here are some statistics resulting from a research of the "Color Marketing Group"8:

Colour increases brand recognition by up to 80%.

Colour improves readership as much as 40%.

Colour ads are read up to 43% more than similar ads in black and white.

Colour can account for up to 85% of the reason people decide to buy9

"Humans can only process a limited number of stimuli at one time. In order for an object

or communication to get noticed, it must catch our eye. Colour plays a critical role in drawing

the eye and attracting our attention."10


8 International company participating in colour forecasting

9 Color Choices Matter" report: 4 print.com

10 Color Choices Matter" report: 4 print.com

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Colour Meaning Association

In particular the meanings associated with different colours are important to marketers

because the tools used to communicate brand image are also mechanism of meaning transfer.

The principle is that: If consumers associate specific meanings with individual colours and/or

colour combinations, managers can take advantage of that and try to select the colours that best

fit their image strategy.

The effects of culture on the meaning associated with marketing cues (such as colour) are

critical in international marketing, but most of the times the meaning associate a colour or

combination of colours is quite different across cultures, it might be more effective and

beneficial pursuing a customised strategy with respect to the colour associated with the brand,

package, web page and other media communicative channels. In contrast, when colour meanings

are quite similar across markets, a standardised strategy is more feasible and effective.

"To give an example, McDonald's follow a customised web site strategy, with a different

web site and different colours in every country."11

Non Cultural Factors

Besides the natural associations and the cultural associations there are many non-cultural

factors that can influence colour perception. These include:

a) Psychological factors: Among the psychological factors are the visual effects: for

instance a stronger or lighter contrast between adjacent colours can influence our

perception of each colour, bringing out one colour more than the other one. The shape of

an object can modify our perception of its colour, like a heart-shape cut from orange

paper may seem to have a redder hue than a geometric figure cut from the same paper.

b) The state of physical and mental health: As far as health conditions are concerned;

schizophrenics are reported to have an abnormal colour perception while in the other side

colour blind people have difficulties distinguishing certain colours.

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"Color Choices Matter" report: 4 print.com

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c) The technology used, the media means etc...: Technology has an influence too, modifying

the colours due to different screens, or to the way the images have been compressed.12

Table 1 "Colour Symbolism for Western Europe countries" 13

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"Global propaganda" Colours Across Cultures: Translating colours in interactive Marketing Communications 13

"Global propaganda" Colours Across Cultures: Translating colours in interactive Marketing Communications

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Data collection and interpretation of the results

A survey (appendix A) was developed in pursuance of this subject. The structure of it

was the following:

7 questions from whom with two additional questions, depending on the answer of the

respondent.

The 1st question referred the age of the respondent.

The 2nd

question referred the nationality of the respondent.

The 3rd

question referred the sex of the respondent.

For the 4th

question the respondent was asked to pick a color from a list of 8th

basic

colours (black, blue, brown, green, orange, red, white and yellow). This question also

had a sub question. Depending on the color that the candidate chose, then on the

screen was popping out an image in that color and the candidate was asked to describe

what he saw in that image. This was a distracting question so that the respondent

wouldn’t understand the aim of the questionnaire.

For the 5th

question the respondent was asked to say if he would associate the color he

picked with a product or a service. This question also had a sub question, for that the

candidate was asked to write the product that him would associate with that product or

service.

Fort the 6th

question the respondent was asked if he would associate the product or

service he wrote at the previous sub question with any other color.

The 7th

question referred at the level of education of the candidate.

The survey was realized online, on a platform for surveys, more precisely the website called

http://www.limesurvey.org/ - Copyright © 2012 Black Duck Software.

The survey was available to be answered for a period of two weeks. The tools used to get

the questionnaire to the people were smart new media such as Facebook. This survey was

answered by 126 persons.

http://www.limesurvey.org/

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Analyzing the answers for the first question we discovered respondents from 27 different

countries from all over the world. The countries of the respondents are presented in the table

above:

Austria Belgium Bulgaria

China Czech Republic Ecuador

Finland France Germany

Greece Hungary Italy

Jordan Korea South Latvia

Lebanon Moldova Poland

Portugal Romania Russian Federation Saint Vincent & the Grenadines

Spain Sweden

Turkey United Kingdom Slovenia

The age range analyzed was from 16 to 60. The respondents were between the following

brackets:

16-20 years old – 29 respondents representing 23% of all the respondents



31-40 years old – 9 respondents representing 7.14% of all the respondents



Looking at the gender of the respondent: we had 83of the respondents women and 43 men.

Female 66%

Male 34%

Gender

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For the 4th

question the respondents were asked as described above to pick a color from a

list of 8 basic colors. The women picked all the colors as their favorites except for black, while

men chose all colors. The most dominant color for both genders was blue.

The pie below presents the colors in percentage that the women chose:

The next pie presents the colors in percentages that men chose:

29%

5%

24%

17%

20%

3% 2%

Women

Blue Brown Green Orange Red White Yellow

5%

35%

9% 19%

7%

21%

2% 2%

Men

Black Blue Brown Green Orange Red White Yellow

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This question had a distracting sub-question where the respondents were presented with

an image in the color they chose and asked to describe what they were seeing in the picture. The

appendix B will present all the pictures with all the answers from all respondents.

For the question number 5 the respondents were asked to tell if the color they chose they

will associated with a product or a service. For this question 85 respondents chose a product

while 41 chose a service. This question also had a sub-question were the respondents were asked

to name the service or the product that they will associate with that color. The list with the

complete answers will be presented in appendix c.

The most common products and the color for which they were written were:

A dress – for whom the respondents associated the color blue, orange, brown

An apple – for whom the unanimous picked color was green

A car – for whom also the unanimous chosen color was blue

T-shirt – for whom most on the respondents said that the representative color is orange

Clothes – were the products that appeared the most and they were associated to all

colors.

The most common services and the color for which they were written were:

Health care – which was unanimously red, perhaps from the association with the Red

Cross.

Telecommunications – for whom the respondents picked red and blue

Travel agencies – for whom the respondents chosen blue.

After analyzing all the answers we can conclude that the cost common color in marketing

in the perception of the respondents is blue which is associated equally with products and

services from different areas. Other common colors for marketing are red, orange and green. Red

has proven to be more of a color that is associated with services, while orange and green, colors

that are associated with products.

Another interesting aspect is that when asked if they would associate the product or the

service they picked with another color, the unanimous answer was that they would not associate.

From this statement we can conclude that in the perception of the client some colors go with

some products and when looking for them the consumer implicitly looks for the color of the

product. Like for example red for the car brand Ferrari, or for the drink Coca Cola, brown for

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chocolate and blue for Facebook and so on. There are some brands with what we may call a

trademark color and simply changing the color after analyzing the answers we received will

seem a very wrong marketing decision.

For the last question our respondents were from high-school graduates to PhD graduates.

To sum up, our research proved once again that the literature we revised is in

concordance with the practical aspects of marketing, this statement being proved in the above

analysis.

42%

1%

33%

24%

Education Level

Bachelor's degree Doctorate degree (for example: PhD, EdD)

High school graduate Master's degree

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impact of colors on customer behavior

Documents

color hue

different hue

color orange juice

basic hue

color meaning association

findings hue

term hue

inappropriate colors