Add to Cart and Buy Now Buttons: CTA Colors That Make People Want to Buy [Original Research]

Table of Content

buy now add to cart button colors

Add to Cart and Buy Now buttons are the main call-to-action (CTA) buttons on your website. Everything you do in your store boils down to motivating the visitors to click on these buttons. And when it comes to driving such clicks on your e-commerce site, color can play a significant role. Studies have shown that certain button colors can evoke particular emotions and influence behavior. 

So, what are the colors that make people want to buy an item? What is the best color for the Add to Cart or Buy Now button? The answer is not straightforward but we hope to provide some useful insights with our original button color research.

Best Button Colors: Do They Exist?

There has been a lot of talk about call-to-action buttons, including 'add to cart', 'buy now' or 'place an order' buttons in e-commerce. One side is actively testing the button colors and reports various conversion rate improvements (from a legitimate 130% to a questionable 300-400% increase). The other side is saying that there's no use in testing the button colors at all and instead, we should all concentrate on the content of our websites.

As always, the golden truth is somewhere in between. Indeed, you can't expect your business to skyrocket just because you've changed the 'buy now' or 'add to cart' button color. Unless you offer useful content, you'll get zero engagement. After all, any type of button only works in collaboration with all elements the customers see on your page.

But, as multiple sources from WebMD to 99Designs state, the colors do affect people, and we can't ignore that. For example, red is known to create a sense of urgency, while green brings feelings of safety and relaxation. Blue is often associated with trust and professionalism: just think about online brands such as LinkedIn, Zoom, and Skype. Orange is an attention-grabbing color, making it a good option for sites with a friendly and customer-oriented tone. (Like Amasty). 

How We Picked Websites to Analyze Add to Cart and Buy Now Button Colors

Curious to know which colors are mostly used in popular e-commerce stores, we visited several hundreds of e-commerce stores and looked at which call-to-action button colors they were using. 

All the sites were picked from Alexa's Top Shopping Websites (Global), which means that all the websites are among the most popular and successful stores. The CTA button color was counted only if the site was working, selling anything, and the product was in stock. No pre-orders, back-orders, 'see in stores', or other options were counted. We also only included the product page buttons in the statistics, excluding pop-up, category, or search page buttons. 

Best Button Color Research: The Statistics

Best add to cart and buy button colors global stats

As we see, Red is the most popular button color among the reviewed websites. Green, blue, and orange are very close, altogether making around 74% of the total.

To see if the results differ in various industries, we analyzed the best color for CTA buttons in three key e-commerce categories: electronics, food, and clothes.

Add to Cart and Buy Now Button Colors in Electronics

In this category, the result is close to the general one: Red is among the most popular button colors, but so is Green. Blue and orange are the follow-up choices here, but the blue color has a smaller share this time.

Popular add to cart and buy button colors in Electronics

Add to Cart and Buy Now Button Colors in Clothes

In clothing, we see a complete change of leaders. Black is the new black. What's more, the share of the 'other' colors segment is much larger. It comprised pink, violet, purple, brown, white, and other colors that got 1-2% percent each. Also, the clothing category had the biggest variety of the 'other' section compared to other viewed categories.

Popular add to cart and buy button colors - Clothing

Add to Cart and Buy Now Button Colors in Food

Last but not least, the food category. Again, Red is the leader here and the 'Other' category is significantly large. Notice that blue colors weren't popular in Food at all. Instead, we see an unusual color - pistachio -  among the most popular add-to-cart and buy-now button colors.

popular add to cart buy button colors - food

How You Can Use The Button Color Stats In Your Business

Ultimately, the best CTA colors or best color for the "Buy Now" button will always depend on your specific industry and brand books. But here are the key takeaways of our study: 

  1. If you want to change or choose the color for your button, you can start with the popular options. For example, you shouldn't go for Blue if you're in the Food segment.
  2. You can also go for the most popular button color options if you have no time or resources to run A/B tests, research competitors, or perform a deep analysis of your product pages. 
  3. It's always good to know the general tendencies and 'what works' stats in your industry and observe whether they change with time.

While using someone's best practice is an effective shortcut, always find a way to see what works for your audience and try different variants. Testing different colors and monitoring their impact on conversion rates can help you find the ideal option for your website and your customers.

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Comments
dailytut
February 7, 2018
Thats a wonderful research you have done here Ksenia. Thanks. I was searching for some factors to create a perfect sales landing page for my client. You have just what i want here :) Surprised. Cheers. Robin.
Reply
Alina Bragina
April 13, 2018
Hi Robin, thanks for your feedback! We're happy to know the post was helpful for our readers. All the best!
Event Food Service
July 17, 2018
I think it all has to do with the color scheme on your web page. As long as it blends in and does not look too spammy and its a product people want it should be okay. If unsure split test !
Michael John
December 29, 2019
Great article, I am using the Yellow button on the product pic & blue button on the product Table and it improves my conversions. Regards -Michael
Reply
Alina Bragina
January 4, 2020
Hi Michael, thanks for the feedback!
asaad
March 6, 2020
thanks alina for your this amazing content but i have a question whats color if you have general store ?
Reply
Polina Litreyeva
March 9, 2020
Hi, Asaad. Thanks for your comment! In general, red is the most popular color for these buttons in e-commerce.
Morteza
May 21, 2020
Thank you so much for this article
Reply
Polina Litreyeva
June 16, 2020
Hello there! Thanks for reading and commenting! It's good to know that our article is helpful!
Lucas
May 28, 2021
Hello there, mind to share if for medical supplement and herbs market? Thanks !!
Reply
Vladimir Derachits
June 8, 2021
Hi Lucas! Thanks for commenting. We'll try to see if we can cover this question in the future articles.
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