One of the most important factors in creating a website is choosing the perfect color scheme that speaks to your site visitors.

These colors need to capture the personality of the brand, tie into any colors already in use and reach the reader on a subconscious level. Then, there is the entire issue of contrast to consider when choosing the perfect colors for a website.

You can probably see why color choice is so important to a website’s success or failure.

If color scheme isn’t one of the first things you consider when designing a website, then it should be.

Here are six reasons why color scheme makes a major impact

1. Shows Personality

The color scheme of your website can show off the personality of your brand. If you visit an outdoor equipment e-commerce site, you’d expect colors in earthy tones, such as browns and greens. This reflects nature and the outdoors and matches the overall personality of the brand. If the site has a target audience made up of Generation Z, then you might use bolder, brighter colors that signify youth, such as Kelly green.

Take a look at Van’s SpongeBob SquarePants page used to advertise its shoes with the SpongeBob theme.

To attract the youthful crowd the shoes are made for, Vans utilizes bright colors of orange and aqua blue. However, it also uses colors that tie into the theme of under the sea and the colors used for the show. This pulls everything together while still presenting a fresh, youthful look.

2. Brand Recognition

Using the same colors in your website design, company logo and even on social media all work together to increase overall brand recognition. Once your brand has a recognizable color palette, utilize those same colors in all designs, even your website.

Brand recognition increases 80 percent with the use of color. Think about some of the big companies you instantly recognize just by seeing their logo. McDonald’s is a good example. When you see those yellow arches, you know what company they stand for. If they were purple, you wouldn’t be certain.

3. ROI

User experience tops the list when it comes to return on investment in design. If the customer doesn’t have a positive experience, he or she will simply bounce away from your site and head to a competitor’s.

Boosting your UX allows you to build a customer list without utilizing more expensive advertising, and an aesthetically pleasing site will continue to pay off past the initial point of creation.

For example, take a look at the color scheme used on El Burro’s landing page.

Bright pink probably isn’t a color you’d expect to see for a Mexican restaurant website. However, it definitely stands out from all the other Mexican restaurant websites. It also incorporates what you would expect to see, such as vivid green guacamole and the red tomatoes in the pico de gallo, but the pink is repeated in the image of the table filled with food.

4. Evoke an Emotion

Different colors evoke different emotions in people. The effect is often subtle, and people may not realize why they are drawn to your brand, but a skilled designer understands the basics of color psychology and keeps them in mind when choosing a palette.

For example, black is often seen as powerful and professional, while green is seen as natural. You might use green for a site that sells environmentally safe products to evoke that feeling, while black would work well for the website of a professional, such as a lawyer. There is an entire science to understanding what emotions different colors stir up.

5. Draws Attention

A pop of color can draw the attention of a site visitor, particularly when it contrasts with the rest of the design. This is particularly useful for call to action (CTA) buttons. If you want your site visitor to take a specific action when visiting your site, draw their attention to the CTA button. There is some disagreement about which color buttons result in the most conversions.

Some argue that green always wins, while others believe red draws more attention. The truth is somewhere in the middle and likely depends on your audience and the overall color scheme of your site. There are also many different shades of red and green within the color spectrum. One study found that conversions increased by about 34 percent with a red button.

Consider how Stitch Fix has chosen to colorize its CTA buttons. It uses a shade of pink to draw attention. People are used to seeing blue, green and red CTAs, so this shade of CTA stands out from competitors.

It is also interesting that it chose to use a pink CTA for men’s and women’s clothing. Either most of their audience is women, even ones shopping for men, or it simply wants to stand out as unique.

6. Color Preferences

People are drawn to certain colors. When surveyed, both men and women say their favorite color is blue, amounting to 57 percent for men and 35 percent for women. Men dislike the colors brown and purple and women dislike the colors orange and brown. If you know your target audience, you can factor in favorite colors based on gender and then choose hues within that color that works best for your audience’s age and other preferences.

Color Schemes Matter

There are many different factors to take into account when deciding on a color scheme for a website, but one thing is certain — color has an impact in a number of ways. Understanding the persona of your typical customer is a first step to figuring out what your best color choices are. The right color choice increases conversions, gets you a better return on investment and draws users to your brand.