The Power of Packaging
Packaging should be the backbone of building your brand in an online retail landscape. Think of your boxes or bags that ship to your customers as your brick and mortar store. Imagine opening a small physical store location today with empty walls, no branding identity, and just products on shelves.
How do customers know who you are and what you stand for? Unless your brand is has a minimalist aesthetic or zero waste philosophy, that would result in a weak branding impact to your consumers. Packaging needs to be a part of your marketing strategy. It is essential to stay top of mind for your consumers and drive customer advocacy.
Packaging is not just a product detail or protection for goods anymore. It is so much more. In this post, you will see how your packaging can serve a far greater purpose in e-commerce. Drive sales and build brand loyalty so that your customers and their friends keep coming back to you for more.
The “Why”s we'll cover in this post:
Packaging Elevates Your Customer Experience
Packaging is Creative and Sharable
Build Relationships with “Personal Touch” Packaging
Complete Messaging Control
Blend with Direct Marketing and Retention
1. Packaging Elevates Your Customer Experience
Customers love better customer experiences. It can heavily influence their purchasing decisions. In fact, 65% of all consumers find a positive customer experience with a brand to be more influential than great advertising.
The demand for elevated experiences is growing more and more each day. Brands are turning to custom packaging to answer the call of the consumer. Apple is a master example of this. Their packaging solidifies the value and class of their products by pairing it with high quality luxury packaging and incredibly thought out detail. They even designed anticipation into their packaging by making the lids come off ever so slowly when you lift it.
There are so many kinds of experiences that you can create with your packaging. Loot Crate does a great job immersing customers in the world of what they receive. Everly Wellness uses their packaging to personalize and educate on each unique customer's needs. Why is this so important?
Besides the product or good you sell, the only physical touchpoint in online retail is packaging. If nothing else in this post lands with you, please remember this: do not underestimate the power of customers experiencing your brand with their own hands. Packaging is the best way for consumers to interact with your brand in a tangible way. Make it count.
2. Packaging is Creative and Sharable
Stand out from other online purchases by tapping into the power of creativity. Show off your unique brand personality. Whether your brand is loud and colorful or soft and simple, packaging is an incredible tool to facilitate a lasting first impression.
Now, there are so many options with printing options and even structural design. Increase your perceived value by using an embossed logo or text. Wow your customers with shiny gold foil messages that catch their eye. The sky really is the limit in what you can do.
Companies that get creative with their packaging increase their likelihood of getting shared. Some accomplish this through personal and fun messaging. Others achieve shares with jaw dropping visual design. Customers that share your packaging (even over social media) with people they know is a quick and cost effective way to acquire new prospects and even customers that are more likely to trust your brand from the start.
3. Build Relationships with “Personal Touch” Packaging
Custom packaging helps you connect with your customers in a way that builds trust and loyalty over time. When you create an emotional bond with your customer, they will be more likely to come back again and again -- even if they don't need anything else from you right now!
It's hard to curate this "personal touch" in our digital world where connecting has never felt more impersonal. There's often no physical store where customers can check out what's new on display or ask questions about products in person (which would usually lead to sales).
Instead, you can integrate this "human" interaction and experience within your packaging by adding things like a personal welcome video via a QR code link. It could even be something as simple as a friendly "hello" message on the outside of the package that feels like a conversation. Thoughtful additions to your packaging like this can go a long way in making your customers feel special and appreciated.
4. Complete Messaging Control
Branded ad copy and messaging can often feel disruptive since it is often showing up in a place that consumers are not wanting to be messaged on. In contrast, messaging when customers receive a product order is expected and even desired. It's fun to be talked to by the company you bought from.
That is why custom packaging is the best opportunity to share your brand message with your e-commerce audience. Whether you’re trying to find the perfect balance between fun and informative or trying to create something that will really stand out, businesses have the ability to tailor their messaging specific to that customer's customer journey.
Get creative with it! You have complete messaging control. It's practically free ad space.
Plug your socials or announce a new product that you think they might like. Tell them secret uses for your product to make them laugh or encourage them to hug their mom. As long as the message fits in with your brand, the options are limitless.
Curate the exact emotion that your customer should feel when receiving their product from your brand. The minor extra expense for this is well worth the ROI.
5. Blend with Direct Marketing and Retention
Would you believe me if I said packaging is marketing? Maybe you will if you just read the last section. Seriously, custom packaging is a valuable marketing expense that winds up directly in your customer's hands.
Using other means to do this can be expensive and easily forgotten about, but your packaging experience is tangible and people are EXCITED to receive it. Why? Because it has the product or good they have eagerly been waiting to arrive!
Packaging is one of the only marketing tools consumers choose to interact with. Make it personal and they will stick around forever. Did you know that 60% of consumers report that they will become repeat buyers after a personalized purchasing experience?
Packaging is an undervalued retention strategy. Making your customers experience who you are in person, even in an online landscape, can result in them becoming lifelong fans of yours. This can give you an edge over other companies who don't include packaging as a part of their retention plan.
Start Building Your Brand Through Packaging
As online shopping continues to grow year over year, the expectations for packaging are still relatively low. With no physical store to interact with your buyers, this is your chance to really impress in a personal and tailored way.
In fact, using these strategies in the right way can make it feel like your customers are receiving a gift rather than a purchase. This is the power that killer packaging has for brands that sell online.
Like this post? Share it with someone in your network to help convince them you were right about custom packaging and it's ROI.
Looking to build your own interactive packaging experience? Contact our team today to get a project started. We love new packaging projects. No really, we LOVE this process and would be thrilled to help your vision come to life.
You may also like:
