Color Makes a Noticeable Difference

Posted by Scott Bounty on June 24, 2010 in Customer Communications

A recent study by Leflein Associates comparing consumer attitudes toward receiving printed mail vs. e-mail, provided a number of interesting insights.  Among them, we learn that, by clear majorities, people prefer physical mail to e-mail for bills, invoices and financial statements as well as for most catalogs and promotions.

The survey also reveals that by a margin of almost 70 percent, the people surveyed responded that they more likely to open a mail piece with color text and graphics on the front before opening pieces with no headline or graphic.  Not that surprising.

What really caught our attention, however, was this finding:  Given a choice of color graphics or black-and-white text, participants indicated they were 247% more likely to open envelopes with color graphics first.  Statistically speaking, 247 percent is an extremely significant number.  Why does color matter?  And why does it matter so much?  A quick search on the Internet reveals some interesting findings.  A site called “Color Matters” makes note of research conducted in association with the 2004 Seoul International Color Expo that documented relationships between color and marketing.  Key findings include:

• 92.6 percent of respondents said that they put the most importance on visual factors when purchasing products.
• When asked to approximate the importance of color when buying products, 84.7 percent of the total respondents think that color accounts for more than half among the various factors important for choosing products.

The Color Matters Web site also cites research conducted in 2003 by Xerox Corporation and International Communications Research (presumably to support sales of color printers…) that includes the following findings that among business owners:

• 83 percent believe color makes them appear more successful
• 81 percent think color gives them a competitive edge
• 76 percent believe that the use of color makes their business appear larger to clients

Still, why is this the case?  What is it about color that commands so much more of our attention? One answer may be in a report cited on the Color Matters Web site from an article in the May 2002 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).  The article, entitled: The Contributions of Color to Recognition Memory for Natural Scenes, notes that  “by hanging an extra “tag” of data on visual scenes, color helps us to process and store images more efficiently than colorless (black and white) scenes, and as a result, to remember them better.”

Whatever the reasons, the fact remains that using the latest advances in technology to include full four-color messages and visuals on your company’s printed, mailed communications represents a significant and effective new way to increase the effectiveness of a widely used, and competitive, medium.

Why not put the power of color to your own test?  In the next few days and weeks, take note of communications you come across in your daily life and see if what’s just been discussed rings true.  Tell us if, in your opinion, color makes a noticeable difference.

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Tags: color, color graphics, color matters, color text, envelopes, four-color messages, mail openability, printed mail