Dark Mode: Conversion Booster or Marketing Disaster?

Ever since the dark mode became a trend, it’s been a ubiquitous and sometimes ill-advised choice of developers desperate for relevance. But the choice of a dark or light theme has a tremendous impact on conversion rates, which is why it should always be justified.

The “dark art” is part of marketing strategy. It must always work to advance the goals of the business, the website, and the users.

The key to achieving maximum conversions is finding a balance between design trends and practical considerations that make your website or app look good and function flawlessly for all users.

How does one avoid choosing the wrong theme? Here’s some useful info for designers and marketers.

1. Behind the dark veil of marketing

In the dark, human responses follow the instinct for self-preservation. They activate the brain and produce intense concentration. A glow-in-the-dark object causes a surge of hormones, a heightened awareness, and a desire to examine it closer.

This, above all, is what makes the dark theme so appealing for marketing and design. Things like benefits or harm to eyesight, battery savings, etc. come a distant second.

Having discovered that objects in the dark attract attention more efficiently, marketers in recent years have flocked to exploit this trend. However, many were disappointed. Some brands aren’t well suited to the dark theme, some users dislike it, and the testing hasn’t always been unbiased and representative.

2. Does your brand need a dark theme?

Research shows that users perceive light-mode websites as more trustworthy and reliable, especially in industries that prize professionalism and authority.

So before implementing a dark theme, consider the nature of your content and industry, your brand identity, and the needs and expectations of your audience.

The list below helps you understand if a dark theme is right for your brand on an emotional level. Negative reactions should either be minimized or made to work to your advantage (which requires some knowledge of psychology and marketing).

Darkness and objects in the dark generate:

• interest, curiosity;
• nervous and emotional tension;
• wariness;
• concentration;
• awareness and focus;
• desire to reach out and achieve the goal;
• feelings of exclusivity and being privy to secrets;
• mistrust;
• fear and risk.

Not every brand needs such a set of emotions. What is good for a gaming or dating site, restaurant or club, won’t work for services associated with cleanliness, openness, and transparency of transactions. As a rule, things that happen in the dark in real life (movies, nightclubs, dates, parties) fit well with a dark theme.

The theme of secrecy also suits security, cybersecurity, blockchain, and other services that deal with secure data storage and confidential information.

If some of these emotions are perfect for your business (e.g. interest, exclusivity, focused attention), they’ll work as a conversion-boosting tool.

However, that still leaves all those unwanted negative reactions on the list. You’ll need to neutralize them. This requires establishing things like user trust, reliability of transactions, and a sense of security.

Intense concentration isn’t always welcome, either. It would certainly benefit, say, a coder, but it will only tire out a book reader. Make sure that tension is really necessary for your website and user goals.

3. When the dark mode is a conversion booster

Any design theme, whether dark or light, should support the goals of your business, your product, and your users.

These goals are what you should base your design on.

Choose a dark theme if your goal is to emphasize visual content, enhance emotional branding, be stylish, match your corporate colors, or improve usability.

• Emphasizing visual content

If images play a central role in your app or website, a dark background is the perfect solution. It’s like a movie theater where the audience’s attention is automatically directed to the screen.

Dark backgrounds make bright colors and images pop out, drawing attention to key elements of the site and improving the overall impression. The screen seems to gain depth.

Deep, rich shades of black provide the perfect backdrop for images, graphics, videos, and visuals of all shapes and colors. This reinforces the visual hierarchy. Light elements stand out better against dark backgrounds, especially with large, high-contrast images.

• Enhancing emotional branding

Dark apps and websites evoke stronger emotions than light ones. The psychology of color also affects emotional appeal. We associate dark colors with mystery, power, elegance, and drama. So when dark backgrounds are combined with large, high-contrast images, the result is impressive.

• Improving usability

Dark mode reduces eye strain, especially in low-light conditions. By minimizing glare and background distractions, people can more easily focus on the content or task at hand, making it easier for them to interact with the website.

For mobile users, the dark mode saves battery life, since dark pixels require less power to display.

However, without testing, it’s impossible to tell what percentage of your audience will find the dark mode convenient or inconvenient.

• Creating eye candy

Dark mode makes your design look sophisticated and modern. This appeals to users who appreciate elegant aesthetics.

Generally, dark mode will benefit your design if:

• it suits the brand image;
• it reflects the brand emotionally;
• it doesn’t clash with the corporate style;
• it emphasizes the highlights more effectively;
• there aren’t too many visual highlights;
• the page isn’t cluttered with elements;
• there’s not too much copy;
• there are no small typefaces;
• tests confirm a reduced cognitive load.

4. When the dark mode is a conversion killer

• Clashing with the brand image

Dark mode is not suitable for all content types or industries. Health and wellness websites, for example, would do better with a tranquil, light color scheme to convey a sense of calm and cleanliness.

If your brand needs to broadcast trust, sociability, and openness, then mysteriousness is inappropriate. The dark mode weakens a trusting emotional connection and is not associated with openness.

• Clashing with the corporate style

If your brand is commonly associated with bright colors or light themes, using the dark mode will create a discrepancy that can confuse users and reduce brand recognition.

• Accessibility issues

For visually impaired users, dark mode can create readability problems, especially if contrast is not carefully calibrated.

• Poor design

A poorly implemented dark theme can cause text and elements to blend into each other. This will reduce readability and annoy users trying to navigate the website.

• Too much copy

It’s hard to read a lot of text in dark mode. Most users prefer a light background for reading. You can offer the dark mode as an option for those who want it (if testing confirms such a need exists).

• A lot of varied content

Dark design requires more empty space around objects. This makes it expressive, minimalistic, and visually attractive. If you have a variety of different elements (such as videos, images, text boxes, forms, widgets, and ads), you won’t be able to provide the right amount of air. A dark background crammed with disparate content looks bad and turns users away.

Thus, a dark theme wouldn’t be suitable for B2B apps with many forms, components, and widgets.

• Too many colors

If your corporate identity encompasses a rich color palette, it may lose out on a dark background. Each individual color will stand out and appear brighter, wreaking havoc with the design.

5. The right to opt out

It has recently become commonplace to offer dark mode as an option. That’s great if this option was designed from the outset. But adding it as an afterthought is a recipe for disaster, and it will only take away from your design. It’s better to think of your dark-loving users in advance.

In conclusion

I know websites and apps that were forced to abandon the dark theme. I’m thinking of some cryptocurrency services and bank websites in particular. The dark mode didn’t work out for them. (These were specific cases, not a generalization.) Sometimes, such design can be remedied by establishing an atmosphere of trust, but that’s not always easy or cheap. It’s better to start with researching the goals of the business and users, identifying the right tools to approach these goals, testing user impressions, and then boldly follow the path of light — or darkness. :)