Want Better ROI from Your Email Marketing? Leverage the Power of Color

Marketers have used color psychology for generations. It's the reason McDonald's logo is a cheery yellow and an exciting red. The mix is more than ketchup and mustard: It's an emotional trigger that encourages people to feel hungry. Of course, this is now an accepted concept in the fast-food branding community. Yet it's rare to hear companies talk about using the innate power of color to get stronger results from their email marketing. That's a missed opportunity because color can be pivotal in nudging recipient engagement to convert leads into buyers.

If you're new to the overarching concept of color psychology, the basic premise is that specific colors stimulate us in specific ways. Color analysis isn't a perfect science — color meanings can change across cultures—but it's a reliable approach to increasing any business's content marketing ROI. You can move the needle on open and click-through rates by choosing the right colors and palettes in your emails.

For example, let's say you want your call-to-action (CTA) at the end of your email to stand out. What color would you choose? To make the CTA stand out, you'd want it to be bold and unavoidable. A strong color like red would be eye-catching. Additionally, red would showcase the importance of the button. When something is red, we generally consider it essential. Case in point: stop signs (important) are red, Walmart's "rollback" lowered price signs are red, etc.

Could your CTA be another strong hue, such as trustworthy blue, motivational orange, or sustainable green? Absolutely. Nevertheless, you would want to justify and measure the colors you pick. This could be done with a simple A/B test to see which color CTA attracts more attention when everything else in your email stays the same.

Before you turn your eyes to the rainbow, keep a few email marketing tips in mind. Otherwise, you risk lowering the user experience — and outcomes — of the emails you send to prospects and clients.

1. Keep it clean.

You don't want your emails to be a mess of colors because they'll be hard to read. Use one color at most as a highlight and psychological stimulator throughout your content. The bulk of your email should be dark text on a light background for best readability.

2. Think about your brand colors.

It would be very strange to receive a Starbucks email that used colors that didn't work well with its signature shade of green. Be sure that any colors you choose in your email marketing work with your brand's colors. And always use those same shades rather than varying them. Supposedly, there are 40+ shades of red, although a trip to the paint store will assure you there are far more. Consistency is your friend in marketing, so avoid using different tints whenever you send an email.

3. Measure each color change.

Always collect data on all color changes you make across your marketing. Color psychology is all about experimentation; today's advanced technological systems allow you to measure anything. Keeping tabs keeps you focused on getting more mileage from all your emails.

Email marketing is a proven way to connect with new and existing audiences. Fold color psychology into the mix to give all your digital correspondence an edge. You may be amazed at how you can cash in with a well-considered splash.