Please login to the form below
The importance of colour psychology on patient recruitment materials
At COUCH Health, we recently conducted a research project in collaboration with Lancaster University, exploring the impact of five key variables (copy, concept, colour psychology, headings and patient centricity) on the effectiveness of clinical study recruitment materials. Results to be released shortly. However, as a teaser we thought we’d create a mini blog-series – not only to showcase the results we found, but to emphasise why these variables are so important to consider when developing recruitment materials.
The power of colour psychology
Colour is a powerful tool; just looking at different colours can influence the way we think, feel and behave. It’s known as colour psychology – different colours evoke different emotions. For example, warm red tones convey warmth, love and passion, whereas blue cool tones symbolise calm and serenity.
The psychology behind colour isn’t new to the marketing industry. Emotional marketing is a common technique – from creating good first impressions for a new business, to persuading a customer to buy their product.
But what about in healthcare? With recruitment and retention issues, could colour be used to improve the patient experience?
Considering colour in healthcare
The use of colour in healthcare settings should be carefully considered, due to its ability to influence our psychological and physiological reactions.
Colour in patient recruitment strategies
The same approach applies when designing patient recruitment strategies, as this could influence a patient’s decision to take part.
We’ve talked before about designing recruitment materials – with colour being one of the main factors to consider. It’s important that patient recruitment materials stand out – not only do you want to catch the reader’s attention, but you also need to evoke an emotion that will allow the reader to relate to the clinical research study, and ultimately make them want to take part.
Previous research has found posters that do not use eye-catching or engaging colours are often overlooked by the audience (Erren et al., 2007). Our research at COUCH Health was in line with this statement – participants believed that the poster that used eye-catching colours and bold images was the most effective.
The key take-away
Despite numerous research studies exploring the effects of colour in advertising, this topic is less researched in the healthcare industry. However, colour is one of the main factors that should be considered when creating materials for patient recruitment, due to its ability to evoke different emotions.
The full blog was first published here: https://www.couchhealth.co/post/colour-psychology-patient-recruitment-materials
Company Details
COUCH Health
Address:
Suite 2.10, Jactin House
24 Hood Street
Manchester
M4 6WX
United Kingdom
Latest content on this profile
- #DemandDiversity: Why cultural safety is an important step towards achieving diversity in clinical trials
- In our recent Demand Diversity research, a Black American participant said, “I wish people were more educated. Doctors are supposed to treat everyone the same, not have favourites. They need unconscious bias training.”
COUCH Health
- How do ethnic minority groups in the U.S. view clinical trials?
- This year, we decided to do the same with ethnic minority communities over in the United States (U.S.) too. Ultimately, we wanted to explore attitudes towards clinical trials from these communities, understand the barriers in participation, and determine what factors may influence people’s decisions to take part.
COUCH Health
- Three things to consider when using social listening research for patient recruitment
- We are looking at how patient research can power your patient recruitment campaign. A look into social listening follows on from this blog perfectly, offering a stronger and more authentic alternative to relying on data trends to guide your activities. So, let’s get started…
COUCH Health
- 4 ways mobile ethnography studies can elevate your patient insights
- How can we achieve more real-life, in-the-moment insights from different groups to understand their thoughts and behaviours? This is where ethnography studies come in.
COUCH Health
- #DemandDiversity: We’re calling on the clinical trials industry to include us all
- The lack of diversity in clinical trials is something we’ve spoken about time and time again. By now, you might think we sound a bit like a broken record. But, the fact is, many people still aren’t aware of the underrepresentation, especially those who don’t work in the industry. Do you think if the clinical research industry could see the people they were leaving out of clinical trials, and hear how they felt about being underrepresented, it would make a difference?
COUCH Health
- Include Us All in Your Clinical Trials
COUCH Health
