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What does the colour red mean to most of us within the UK? Danger perhaps you might assume, but maybe not. To some people of differing ethnic backgrounds red can have very positive connotations.  As an example, to those of Chinese ethnicity red has happy connotations, even bringing good luck. Some examples of associations with differing colours are given below, these cannot be definitive but I can guarantee that if a number of people were quizzed similar words would appear in the list.

RED - love, passion, danger, warning, excitement, food, impulse, action, adventure
BLUE - trustworthiness, success, seriousness, calmness, power, professionalism
GREEN - money, nature, animals, health, healing, life, harmony
ORANGE - comfort, creativity, celebration, fun, youth, affordability
PURPLE - royalty, justice, ambiguity, uncertainty, luxury, fantasy, dreams
WHITE - innocence, purity, cleanliness, simplicity
YELLOW - curiosity, playfulness, cheerfulness, amusement
PINK - softness, sweetness, innocence, youthfulness, tenderness
BROWN - earth, nature, tribal, primitive, simplicity.
GREY - neutrality, indifference, reserved.
BLACK - seriousness, darkness, mystery, secrecy

Examples in practice

I believe that if marketers place themselves in the position of their email recipients and appreciate the impact that the colour of a banner, a background, or an image, when the email is first opened it will aid their understanding of the thinking behind the ideas being presented here.

An example of how this colour coding can be used was seen on The Apprentice last year. One of the teams was marketing a cleaning liquid and chose a red and black coloured container. This was held to be a mistake, the general consensus was that pastel shades and especially green and yellow were a better choice. The former because of the Eco friendly association, and see above, health, nature, healing; whilst the latter associates with lemon citrus, indicating cleanliness and with cheerfulness. As red is often associated with danger, at least in Western culture, to use a red coloured container to house what is essentially a chemical compound would seem foolish. I believe that team lost.

What it means in terms of email marketing communication

It's a bit of a no brainer from here on in. As can be seen from the above list of colours, they are very definitely associated, in a marketing context, with certain attributes and so by inference with certain kinds of business activities. This is as true of email marketing campaigns as it is with other types of marketing. However I believe that there is an additional imperative as far as emailing is concerned. Very often and depending on the platform being used to view an incoming email the recipient does not see the graphics at first. Once the email has been fully opened and images enabled, the email hits the eye and, in all probability it is colour that will impact first, if only subconsciously. If then by following the lead of the list above, you use the colour or colours whose attributes suit your business activity best it just might encourage the readers to pay more attention.

As we email marketers know, even an extra percentage point in click through rates can pay valuable dividends.

Next time I shall be focussing on language, in essence ensuring that what you meant to say to the demographic you are addressing, properly comes over in the actual email being sent.

 

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