Eye-catching, modern product packaging is one of the gateways to increased sales and customer dedication. Consumers appreciate attentive, stylized packaging that reveals more about brands. You can convey company tone, goals and target audience with boxes and wrapping alone. Learn more about how product packaging can make a difference in your business.
Elevating First Impressions
Creating a positive brand association starts with the customer journey, whether online or in person. Product packaging and the items themselves must correlate with customer data gathered during the awareness and consideration phases. The lasting first impression is why pleasing product packaging is crucial for increasing customer retention and advocacy.
Customers want to see more than a brown cardboard box, primarily with e-commerce. Using an on-brand color is an immediate headstart compared to other companies. Is your brand name on the box encouraging customers to connote the colors with your name? Even the tape has the potential to create distinctive designs and deepen brand awareness with patterns or social media handles.
The box must find a compromise between sturdiness and accessibility. If the package is too strong for customers to open effortlessly, it tarnishes the experience. The first impression continues after opening, too. What filler is in there to protect the product, and is it recyclable or sustainable?
Inspired product packaging has to transition inside. Otherwise, customers sense a lack of cohesion. The quality of everything before handling the product signifies how high-quality the item is for customers. Robust, personalized and conscious packaging alerts customers what the product stands for.
Advertising Value-Based Marketing
Branded packaging could reveal a company’s values, depending on what you print on the box or pack inside. How else can you capitalize and tempt customers using packaging to market corporate commitments? If your small business is honed in on a mission statement or particular values, the fun begins in translating those priorities into packaging, making each brand’s process diverse and individualized.
For example, one business may focus on being eco-conscious. Around 66% of customers say they’re willing to pay more for sustainable products and packaging. With this in mind, it wants to research recyclable or biodegradable alternatives to packing peanuts and find tape without adhesives that are toxic to the planet. The packaging may also contain statistics and links about their current goals and environmental impact.
Another venture may prioritize innovation. If a brand focuses on the newest trends in industry packaging, they may invest in research and development to create a new form lighter but more durable packaging. The box may contain a small letter to the consumer explaining the case studies that affirmed how forward-thinking it is. Details like these are another facet of product packaging that adds to the experience.
Targeting Customer Preferences
Buyers prefer packaging that differentiates from other stores. This translates to products of all types, prices and sizes. When you consider this, consumers are more satisfied with their purchase.
It heightens the relationship between the brand and purchaser, making it possible for product packaging to evolve alongside customer desires. Brands must use customer preferences to influence packaging decisions over time.
Customers appreciate the dedication and attention to detail when packaging aligns with their preferences. They are more likely to share it with friends or online if it is artistic. If the box is multipurpose, consumers may use it around the house. Each time they interact with the objects in that container, they remind themselves of the brand. Every associative instance increases the probability of repeat purchases and product advocacy.
The best way to leverage customer preferences is through thorough audience analysis and marketing segmentation. This way, you can align company values seamlessly with what customers want. Making smart packaging decisions works well with any audience-targeting method to expand your company’s reach.
Boosting Influencer Marketing
Unboxing videos, hauls and reviews are some of the most popular forms of online content. The influencer already went through the first several phases of the customer journey alone. Influencing a single experience is more within a company’s control. However, the influencer’s audience relies on them instead of the business to guide them on their journey.
Maintaining control is why unique product packaging is vital. It recognizes other people outside of the brand’s purview will be responsible for pitching their wares — for better or worse. Solid packaging with a gripping on-camera presence improves an organization’s chances of success in realms with less say on prospective customer perception.
In online content, influencers will display packaging and discuss its texture, aesthetics and even smell. They have to create a sensory experience for viewers, which has to look good in photographs and manipulate well in video.
Customers and content creators connect with this content emotionally, connoting purchases and hauls to a diary for different points in their lives. You want that level of connection, so considering every packaging element is essential for impactful influencer marketing.
Product Packaging and the Customer Experience
A flimsy white or brown box could belong to any company and have anything inside. Why deliver that uncertainty to customers when you can increase joy and brand loyalty with attractive boxes and wrapping? The effort goes a long way in enticing customers to make initial purchases and return for more. Make an effort for thoughtful packaging that reflects your brand and products to reinforce customer relationships and industry reputation.
Eleanor is editor of Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.
