Yellow is the new red
Button colour is one of the long standing debates online in the world of conversion optimisation. Surprisingly button colour has a substantial effect on the success of a form and fortunately it is an inexpensive thing to test.
In order to do an accurate test on the success of button colour you need to ensure there are no other variants in the test case, all wording form elements and even traffic levels must be exactly the same, the only difference between the test should be the hex value of the button.
In the past the two biggest competitors were green and red. Green is said to connotation the “natural” environment and in the world of transportation is a signal for “go” or moving forward. Red on the other hand is symbolic of “passion” and excitement but was perceived to signal stopping or a warning. A couple of years ago majority of the tests I studied found red to outperform green buttons, by up to 30%.
In recent tests I have seen yellow buttons make a comeback. Yellow is eye catching and unlike red offers a feeling of warmth and cheerfulness. Yellow is a stand out colour and offers a contrast with almost any other colour.
It is no surprise that all the major call to actions on Amazon are yellow.
Which Test Won is based on A/B testing different forms to see which converts the best, again, all yellow call to actions. These guys have nothing but stats to base all decisions on.
Crazy egg have a business based on the foundations of analytics and tracking, yellow buttons as far as the eye can see
Click tale, again a business based on user analytics and tracking movement through websites, yellow, yellow and more yellow.
