Your packaging design is the visual representation of your brand’s story. Are you telling a great story with perfect packaging design?
Among many other advantages of having perfect packaging design, increasing consumer purchases stands as the most vital and critical for any brand, especially since the art of retaining customers is tricky, to say the least.
The exact percentages may vary, but most research studies conducted in the United States to evaluate the importance of packaging on consumer purchases report that at least 50 percent of consumers’ decisions to purchase a product are determined by the appeal of the packaging.
Creating a unique unboxing experience delights your customers in more ways than one. Customers feel like they are getting even more value for their money and from your product. Well-thought, strategic packaging design delivers exceptional unboxing experiences, reigniting your customers’ excitement for the purchase.
This, in turn also contributes to creating brand loyalty, wherein customers feel more connected to your brand and are delighted by the whole customer journey.
Telling Your Unique Story: Unboxing as a Brand Experience
The unboxing phenomenon is built around desire, anticipation, fun, and to some extent, the unknown. Even if you know what lies inside the packaging, there’s still an excitement when it comes to the reveal, especially if time and careful consideration has been taken to make the reveal part of what we already liked and purchased.
What makes unboxing a true brand experience and not just a regular activity is the thought and attention a brand puts into making it memorable. Unboxing should always be a magical experience.
That instant spike in excitement when you receive your product creates a delightful and powerful brand experience. If your customers’ everyday experience when unwrapping products felt like Secret Santa, then you will have made significant strides at boosting brand loyalty amongst your customers and ensuring repeat purchases from them as well.
The ‘WOW” Factor
As you begin to think about how to create packaging design for your product, it is key to understand that the main goal is to bring out the wow factor. If you are attending a Halloween party, your choice of costume would determine if you get applause from the crowd or if you go unnoticed. Getting recognition would mean that your presence was felt and that you were able to deliver the ‘WOW” factor. This is essentially what your aim should be when it comes to custom packaging.
A study by Harvard Business School shows that you have about 30 seconds to impress any consumer with your packaging. This is why custom packaging has to put into consideration factors such as colors, fonts, shapes, and designs that can effectively communicate what the brand stands for to its target audience.
Consider these when creating your packaging design
Target Audience
Understanding the demographics and psychographics is the beginning of your packaging design thought process. Age, gender, location, and lifestyle are some of the factors that would determine the slant on which your packaging design is based.
- A breakfast cereal product meant for children aged between 5-10 years would have colorful cartoons or cereal mascot illustrations on the packaging. Children would find these cereal products more appealing since the mascots or cartoons portray their child-like nature and which they can very easily relate to.
- In the United States, 59% of wine drinkers are women. This would mean that more focused marketing efforts would need to be considered when deciding on packaging design. However, gender-targeted packaging is a delicate subject since it requires a lot of consideration on whether your product would benefit from this approach.
- Different lifestyles determine people’s purchasing habits. In the case of food products, people living alone or single would prefer buying their food supplies in smaller packaging to ensure that food stays fresh longer and buys more efficiently.
Color Psychology
Out of all the visual cues, color is the most powerful as it is seen even from afar. Color elicits and evokes different feelings and actions from customers about a product.
It is a big factor that determines whether a product appeals to the target audience or simply becomes a flop. This coffee study is a good example; it shows how colors attract certain consumers because of the intangible values they inspire in that audience. Colors injected into images or art on the packaging should portray the right values and messaging to attract the right audience, and to influence people to make the right decisions.
Color has a huge part to play when it comes to the unboxing experience. Determining the colors to use when working on your packaging design goes hand-in-hand with the use and functionality of the product. For example, black and white are used for many tech products since they are known to portray purity, simplicity, and class. A combination of these colors such as black and gold done the right way evokes luxury, while black and pink suggest a powerful, feminine touch.
Imagination
Art and creativity start with details as specific as the fonts used on the packaging. Font types, font colors, shapes and styles can dramatically change how packaging design is received by customers and what kinds of emotions it inspires. Fonts and text styling are visual tools that drive messaging. They can dictate what gets read first and how that message is perceived by the customers.
Creating innovative packaging design works well when it also gives you a glimpse of what to expect inside the packaging. The simple addition of clear windows on custom bags can give customers a peek at the items inside, heightening anticipation and excitement.
Think about how your packaging design can extend your brand experience. Apart from the usual logo on the outer box, a sports shoe business could invest in custom printed packaging tape, with their tagline proudly displayed on the box. Within the same package, a shoe tote bag inclusion that one can always carry in place of the box when going out can cleverly display the logo and messaging prominently.
Deliver quality + Give “gifts”
Executing a remarkable unboxing experience first and foremost demands quality materials. High quality doesn’t necessarily mean expensive—you can substitute inexpensive custom tissue instead of using more costly custom printed boxes and still get that luxe feel. Investing in good packaging materials tells the customer that the product within is worth more and is of higher quality.
Inexpensive, tangible elements that make your packages feel more like gifts are additions that go a long way in making sure customers share their unboxing with others. Lining boxes with tissue and sealing with special tinsel labels work at increasing protection, branding real estate, and specialness of the intended brand experience.
Personalized touch
Adding something to further customize the unboxing experience is a worthy endeavor. Think about simple touches that your customer will appreciate so they have a deeper connection with your brand.
A personalized note accompanying the product creates a more memorable unboxing experience. Include free samples of some of your other products to delight the customer, increasing brand awareness as well as giving a venue for marketing other products.
Sustainability
In this day and age, consumers continue to be more cognizant of environmental issues and problems that come as a result of using non-recyclable and non-reusable materials. Eco-friendly packaging is the newest emerging trend in packaging. Making sure your packaging decisions also resonate with your customers’ values is a surefire way to establish a good, long-term relationship
Consistency
Being able to communicate who you are consistently using your brand colors and marked brand presentation helps customers be able to easily identify your product and your brand. A cohesive brand experience should be strengthened by your strategic packaging design. Consistency will certainly keep you top-of-mind. 4 out of 10 customers share an image of a delivered package via social media if it had a unique presentation.The point that carries the day is increasing social shares and brand equity by focusing on consistency.
To wrap it up
Unlocking the power of unboxing means driving focused efforts on creating packaging design that makes your unique brand experience possible. Perfect packaging design is not all aesthetics, and certainly not all visual eye candy or bells and whistles. All elements of your packaging design must be consistent with your brand image, make your customer feel special, and work to establish a ritual that is exciting and boosts social shares.
Numerous options fit every budget, and many smart choices can give the desired results at a fraction of the cost. Remember—you are only limited by your imagination when it comes to perfect packaging design. Make it special: Turn your packaging into a powerful tool that earns you more loyal customers.