Customers are buying your product, but what are they receiving? It's more than just what you're selling, its about the experience your customer goes through.
Your customer is judging your business by your choice of packaging, and so they should be! When they get home and go to access their new purchase, wether it was bought in store or online, the packaging is the first thing they see. (1) 'First impressions are so important to the buying process, well-designed product packaging can go a long way in putting your product into the hands of buyers.' And from this, they begin to decide their view of the product and of the business.
There are many possible positives for businesses for being more conscious of packaging, including;
- Protection of the product
- Displays and promotes the product
- Attracts buyers
- Differentiates from competitors
But the message to take from this blog is the importance of businesses putting effort into ensuring the packaging is sustainable. For every product that is bought, there has to be packaging for it to be placed in for transport; from bags to boxes. So packaging shouldn't be overlooked, being such a large production and importance.
Sustainability
(3)
Consumers want to buy from conscious suppliers. Whatever you're selling, whoever your customer - how your product is arriving to that customer matters more than ever before, as well as what to do with it afterwards. So ensuring your packaging is sustainable enables us to (2) 'reduce the ecological footprint of all the stages in the product's life-cycle. It helps both the producer and the consumer reduce their environmental impact.'
Follow in my footsteps
Owning the largest online gift packaging e-commerce company in the UK, (Tiny Box Company) I have an insight into the importance, volume and design of different company efforts put into their packaging. And our most attractive feature to customers is our sustainability, used as a USP, because that means they can tell their customers the same about the packaging they receive. This includes being eco-conscious, being able to reuse and recycle, as well as products being ethically sourced.
Other key features that customers look for when looking for packaging for their product is sizing, design and personalisation. So our customers can make their packaging exactly how they please, and then have the choice to upload their artwork or we can create it for them!
Branding
So design choice plays a large part in the success of the packaging. From the choices of style, placement, shape, colour and text all influence the customers decision into wether or not your packaging is instagram worthy. And I don't suppose any business would pass on free marketing...
With these decisions comes great branding (5)
opportunities. Possibly relating a colour or design to your business, along with the logo would mean customers would recognise the brand without the name on it.
This is especially important for brands that rely more on the packaging than the product itself for recognition opportunities. For example, most people would recognise an iPhone without looking at the packaging, but would we recognise where a piece of jewellery was from? Much less likely, which is why packaging like Tiffany & Co's is so important to their branding, and could be to yours.
The tiny details
Packaging isn't just about the box or bag used to hold the product, there are many little things that can be added along way - accessories for your box or bag. This isn't to do with branding, but the customer experience. Depending on the product of course, but adding some tissue paper or ribbon will be appreciated by the customer, ensuring the customer feels as though their order was valued by you as a business. For smaller businesses especially, it is important to build customer
relationships, so like in any relationship - communication is key. A common method to do this, more personal than an email, is through 'thank you' cards, usually received in within the packaging when receiving an order. These can be typed and printed on card or stuck on as a label. However, to add a more personal touch, hand written notes show time and care. It's
very cost effective to do it this way,
(6)
and much easier to include a name and more personal details of an order when writing them individually compared to a templated, generic thank you card.
But however you do it, it's the thought that counts! And will be appreciated.
References: