Color in web banner advertising: The influence of analogous and complementary colors on attitude and purchase intention

•This study focuses on color combinations in the context of web banner advertising.•Two experimental studies extend research on analogous and complementary colors.•Blue-green analogous color set tend to elicit more positive attitudes.•Blue-green analogous color set tend to elicit higher purchase intention.•Results were partially confirmed for Study 1 and (totally) confirmed for Study 2. The purpose of this paper is to study how color contrast (complementary vs. analogous colors) affect individuals’ attitude and purchase intention in the context of web banner advertising. Previous research on the effect of color in marketing stated that color is one of the most important factors for fast decisions regarding product choice. However, the study of color has mainly focused on isolated colors (hue) and color temperature (cool vs. warm colors). Thus, color contrast studies are lacking. Two experimental studies (Ntotal = 409) were conducted in the context of web banner advertising. Study 1 involved a service setting (a wireless internet service provider) and Study 2 focused on a product category (a wireless headphone set). Findings revealed that the blue-green analogous color set tend to elicit higher levels of both attitude towards the ad and purchase intention. The results were partially confirmed for Study 1 and (totally) confirmed for Study 2. This research work contributes to shed some light into color perception and e-commerce strategy thus helping marketers and designers to create more effective web banner advertisements.