Colors in Communications

Are you tracking your open rate? That's the percentage of people who get your newsletter and actually click to open it. According to MailChimp, an email newsletter service, the industry average open rate for financial services is 20.1%. How can you increase your open rate? Adding color may seem like a great option. If your readers know that your newsletter is easy to read and eye catching, they may choose to open it more often. Before you go tossing handfuls of brights across your page like a kid at a color run or Holi Festival participant, you may want to stop and read a few key tips on color theory.
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What is color theory? Believe it or not, there is a science to color. While we all may have learned that yellow plus blue equals green, we may not know that a combination of different colors in the same document or screen can have widely different impacts on the viewer. Color theory is the collection of knowledge about the effect color schemes have on readers on both a visual as well as psychological level.
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Cooler colors (blue, purples, grays) usually have the impact of inducing calmer moods. Brighter colors, as well as being attention grabbing, can create active, energetic moods. Hot colors, like bright pinks and some yellows can be so attention getting that they can be aggravating or even make folks uncomfortable. And obviously, bright reds usually convey danger, like stop signs.
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Financial advisors may feel like adding bright green color schemes to their marketing materials would be a natural fit, since green is the color of money in the United States. Yet, that color may not translate culturally. For example, the unmistakable blush/salmon color of the Financial Times quickly evokes a sense of confidence and trust in whatever financial information might be conveyed in it.
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Similarly, many cultures have vastly different meanings for colors. In the United States, purple is often used as a Spring time color, one that is associated with Easter. In Thailand, purple is associated with mourning. Red, as noted above, is a color associated with danger or passion in the U.S., but is one of good luck and prosperity in China. Men and women perceive color slightly differently as well. According to research, men prefer bolder, more saturated colors (sapphire blue) whereas women prefer softer lower contrast colors (lavender purple).
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Adding to the complexity of color choice is that different age groups prefer different color schemes. As readers age, they prefer shorter wave length colors like blue, green and purple, versus younger readers who prefer longer wave length colors like red, orange and yellow.
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Given all of the possible impacts of color on your readers, how can you make a smart choice in adding color to your email newsletters? Research studies showed that no matter their personal preference, shoppers chose brands where the colors the company used were perceived as appropriate to the brand. In other words, a fitness company used bright, bold colors like yellow and a safety-based manufacturing company chose blue and gray. Other research studies have indicated that consumers want the colors chosen to correspond to how the item or service should make them feel. For example, feeling steady, safe and predictable works well for financial companies, but not so well for sports cars.
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Finally, adding color to your newsletter should follow the basics of branding: don't stray too far from your brand or logo's colors; don't use more than two colors in one document, though you can choose shades of those colors in the same document; and choose photographs or images that incorporate the colors you have in the newsletter to keep contrast down (e.g., if your logo includes orange, choose the images with orange accents rather than ones with purple).

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