Color alone won’t convince anyone to buy something they don’t want. But it does decide whether a customer notices the “Add to cart” button, finds their way around your online store quickly and trusts it. In this article, you’ll learn how to work with colors so they help you sell – and why it doesn’t pay to believe rules of thumb like “a red button sells best”.
What colors in an online store really affect
- Attention – what people notice first on the page.
- Orientation – what’s clickable, what’s a sale and what’s a warning.
- Trust – whether the store looks tidy and credible.
- Brand perception – whether the colors fit what you sell and who you sell to.
Color psychology isn’t magic. Contrast and consistency – whether you use colors across the whole store according to a clear system – have a bigger impact than any specific shade.
What individual colors usually evoke
Color meanings aren’t universal. They depend on culture, industry and what your customers are used to. Still, as a rough guide:
- Blue – trust, calm, reliability. Common in electronics, finance and services.
- Red – energy and urgency. Great for clearance sales and discounts, but aggressive in excess.
- Green – nature, health, “you can continue”. Typical for organic products and confirmations.
- Orange – optimism and playfulness. Stands out well on buttons and sales.
- Yellow – attention and joy. Good for highlighting, but text is harder to read on it.
- Black and dark shades – elegance and a premium feel. Common in fashion and luxury goods.
We explore how colors affect people’s behavior on websites in general in our article How colors affect user behavior on your website.
Practical rules for online stores
1. One action color for your main buttons
Pick one bold color and use it only for the main actions: Add to cart, Proceed to checkout, Place order. If a banner, an icon and a heading share the same color, the button gets lost. Customers should quickly learn that this color means the next step.
2. Contrast matters more than the shade
A button has to clearly stand out from the background and its surroundings. It doesn’t matter whether it’s orange or blue, as long as it’s the only bold element in that part of the page. A quick test: squint, or look at the page blurred. Whatever you see first is what your customer sees too.
3. Prices, discounts and availability
Distinguish discounts and original prices consistently and the same way across your entire store. “In stock” often gets green, “Available to order” a neutral color. Save red for things that really matter – if everything is red, nothing is important.
4. Readability and accessibility
Light gray text on a white background may look elegant, but some people simply can’t read it. The WCAG accessibility guidelines recommend a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for regular text – you can check it with any contrast checker tool. Accessibility is also increasingly a legal requirement – read more in our article on web accessibility.
5. Think about your product photos too
Photos make up a large part of every online store. A consistent background and lighting calm the design down and let both the products and the buttons stand out. Mismatched photos with different backgrounds look chaotic, no matter how well thought-out your color scheme is. If you need photos in a consistent style, take a look at our product photography.
6. Consider your target audience
A toy store can be colorful and playful, while an industrial tools store should be more restrained and clear. Colors should match what customers expect from the brand, not the latest trend.
Example: colors in the cart and checkout
The cart is where the decision to order is made. A sensible color setup there could look like this:
- the main “Continue to shipping” button in your action color, with the “Continue shopping” link only as subtle text or an outline button,
- the total amount bold and prominent, not in the same color as the discount,
- free shipping or delivery time information highlighted with a soft background, not a loud color,
- error messages, for example for an invalid discount code, in a clear color right next to the field in question.
The goal is simple: customers should see at a glance how much they’ll pay and where to click next. Everything else should fade into the background.
How to test a color change
- Find out where people drop off during checkout – in your analytics or session recordings.
- Pick one change, for example the color and contrast of the Add to cart button.
- Run an A/B test: half of your visitors see the original version, half the new one.
- Let the test run until you have enough orders for a reasonable comparison.
- Keep the change only if it brought more orders, not just more clicks.
If you change a button’s color, change it everywhere it marks the same action. Inconsistency confuses customers more than the “wrong” shade.
The most common mistakes
- too many colors without a clear system,
- the same color for buttons and decoration,
- poor contrast in text and buttons,
- copying colors from big online stores regardless of your own brand,
- changes based on personal taste instead of data.
Frequently asked questions
What color should the Add to cart button be?
Whichever color stands out most in your store and isn’t used for anything else. There’s no universally best color.
Do I have to change my logo and whole brand because of colors?
No. Your action color can be an accent and doesn’t have to be part of your logo. What matters is that it fits your brand and has enough contrast.
How do I find out whether my text has enough contrast?
Use a contrast checker tool where you enter the text and background colors. It’ll show you whether you meet the WCAG recommendations.
Is it worth A/B testing colors with low traffic?
With a small number of orders, a test takes a long time and the results are unreliable. In that case, stick to proven principles – contrast, one action color, readability – and test bigger changes instead.
An online store that leads to orders
In our website and online store design work, we design based on how people shop, not just on what looks nice. If you’d like, we can also take a look at the colors and buttons in your current online store.
