In their tests, the blue button won, producing a 9% lift.ĭespite that “upset” by blue buttons, red or reddish buttons were dominant, a trend supported by other studies as well.Īnd yet, didn’t Peep write the following about colors in web design in this post: This study, instead of comparing reddish versus green buttons, looked at an orange versus blue button. If color can impact our athletic performance, academic achievement, and perception of taste, can it also affect our decision to click? What’s the best color for CTA buttons? “In reality this varies depending on the type of food, but the truth is that, as this effect occurs, more attention should be paid to the color of the container as it has more potential than one could imagine.” “There is no fixed rule stating that flavor and aroma are enhanced in a cup of a certain color or shade,” recognized Piqueras-Fiszman. However, the sweetness and the aroma was judged to be similar, no matter the color. The flavor of the hot chocolate served in orange- and cream-colored cups was judged better by the participants. All were the same size, and all were white on the inside. Piqueras-Fiszman and her research partners had 57 participants sample hot chocolate served in containers of four different colors: white, cream, orange, and red. That’s true, at least, for drinking hot chocolate, explains researcher Betina Piqueras-Fiszman. It turns out that the color of the container in which food and drink are served contributes to the perceived taste. What makes that hot chocolate so good? It may be the color of the container you drink it from. The findings showed that “care must be taken in how red is used in achievement contexts,” the researchers reported, “and illustrate how color can act as a subtle environmental cue that has important influences on behavior.” Color and the taste of hot chocolate ““It led people to do worse without their knowledge,” said Elliot, one of the authors. In an academic context, the color red is traditionally associated with marking errors.įour experiments showed that just a brief perception of the color had a negative impact on the results. In their experiments, they wanted to find out if the perception of red would affect the results of IQ tests or major academic exams. Researchers at the University of Rochester found that the color red can also keep us from performing our best on tests. “We find that wearing red is consistently associated with higher probability of winning,” University of Durham researchers Russell Hill and Robert Barton wrote. And that red can be a deciding factor only among evenly matched competitors-but it still exists. Researchers are careful to point out that the effect is subtle at best. Similar tendencies were found in the 2004 European Soccer Championship. In 16 of 21 rounds, those wearing red won. In those sports, competitors are randomly assigned red or blue outfits, so no rigging is possible.Ĭompetitors in red outfits tend to perform (slightly) better at the Olympics, even when colors are randomly assigned. They examined boxing, taekwondo, Greco-Roman wrestling, and freestyle wrestling, basically all of the one-on-one sports.

And by analyzing the results in the 2004 Olympics, researchers found that red also means dominance. There’s some truth to these interpretations, but can we translate these supposed associations into conversion lifts? Experiments with color usage Red can make you a winner…Īlmost universally, red means stop. Yellow brings with it sunshine and happiness.

Green supposedly means nature, freshness, growth, and money. It’s also said that, in North American culture, the color blue creates a feeling of trust, but also encourages appetite. People from tropical countries respond favorably to warm colors people from northern climates prefer cooler colors, and so on. Yellow symbolizes happiness and peace in Hinduism but represents sadness in Greece and jealousy in France. For example, white is the color of mourning and death in Chinese culture, but the color of death in Brazil is purple. In different cultures, different colors mean contradicting things. There’s also a psychological side to colors-certain colors are associated with different qualities and emotions. Different colors can lift us up or bring us down.

The red button game 4