How to Use Color to Encourage Direct Mail Response
From the fast food industry’s addiction to red and yellow to the finance industry’s obsession with blue, different industries – and different brands – often use similar colors in their marketing.
This isn’t a coincidence. Extensive psychological research reveals that people feel different emotions from each color, and that these emotions affect the action that people take after coming into contact with an advertisement or logo.
Just like McDonald’s and KFC use colors like red and yellow to stand out during the daytime and encourage fast, immediate action, you can use specific colors as part of your small business’s direct mail campaign to increase your response rate.
Do you know which colors best match your business? Read on to learn how eight of the most frequently used colors in marketing affect your audience and can inspire your direct mail campaign’s recipients to take action.
Green
How do you feel when you come into contact with the color green? Most people feel relaxed, healthy and fresh when they see the color green, likely because green is the most commonly observed color in nature.
If you’re marketing a healthy or natural product – for example, a health supplement or spa – using green in your direct mail postcards can have a powerful effect on the way recipients view your offer.
Blue
There’s a reason so many banks, insurance companies, and healthcare companies make heavy use of blue in their branding: people naturally associate blue with integrity, loyalty, and security.
If your company offers a product or service that depends on trust – for example, an investment opportunity or a healthcare service – using blue in your marketing could motivate people to take your offer seriously.
Red
Red is an interesting color – as a color that doesn’t appear often in nature, except in dangerous situations – it’s a color that many people naturally associate with danger and excitement.
Many also associate red with sensuality, whether in the form of a red dress or red lipstick. This makes red a highly effective color for companies that want to stand out and make an impact.
Purple
Quirky and creative, purple is a color that isn’t often seen in marketing. However, it has powerful associations with individuality and creativity that make it an excellent color for products and services designed to appeal to people’s sense of individuality.
From artistic offers to greeting cards, purple is frequently used to market products that appeal to people’s creative side. Many luxury goods companies also use purple to reflect the aspirational nature of their products.
Yellow
Happy, optimistic and joyful, yellow is a warm and welcoming color that’s used very frequently in marketing. It’s also one of the most visible colors in daytime, which is likely the reason for its popularity in retail and fast food signage.
A favorite of fast food companies like McDonald’s, yellow is widely used in branding due to its visibility. Its optimistic feel also makes people associate it with happiness and satisfaction, making it a popular choice for restaurants.
Orange
Orange is closely associated with friendship and adventure. Over the years, this has made it a popular color for sports and adventure products like shoes and clothing, as well as travel-related offers.
Many marketers also use orange for its connection with success. As a color that just can’t help but inspire action, orange is best used to market offers that are related to hard work, adventure, and achievement.
Pink
Like green, pink is coupled with health and happiness. Widely used to market products aimed at young women, pink is closely associated with femininity and rarely appears in marketing aimed at men.
As well as being used to create an image of health and femininity, pink is seen as playful and lighthearted, making it a good color for products that are designed to relieve stress and encourage compassion.
Gray
Extremely simple and conservative from one perspective but secure and reliable from the another, gray is a surprisingly versatile color. Used to market everything from high-tech tools to intelligence services, grey is highly effectively if used well.
Since gray isn’t a highly visible color, it’s not always a good choice for retail or direct mail – two environments in which visibility is essential. However, for brands that need to showcase their reliability, there are few colors as effective as plain gray.
