As a business, you’ve likely spent a lot of time and thought perfecting your products for your customers. But have you put the same amount of thought and care into the packaging those products come in? Product packaging is an extension of your brand and gives you a tangible opportunity to stand out from the crowd and delight your customers. Let’s take a closer look at three reasons why your packaging impacts your marketing and how you can make the most out of this customer touchpoint.
3 Reasons Packaging Impacts Marketing
1. A chance to stand out
If your products are sold in brick-and-mortar retails stores your product will be stacked up right next to the competition. This makes it critical that your product stands out from the pack. One study found that one-third of customers’ decision making is based solely on the product packaging. You can make your product stand out with an eye-catching design. Choose colors that will spark the right feeling for consumers. For example, black can evoke a feeling of elegance or luxury, while green indicates nature, organic and eco-friendliness. If you have a tagline on your packaging, keep it simple and memorable.
If you sell your products online, your packaging is also a chance to stand out from the competition but in a slightly different way. When a package arrives at your customer’s home or business, that’s their first physical touchpoint with your brand. This gives you a chance to use the packaging to create emotions that will make your brand memorable for the customers and compel them to return.
2. Reinforce your brand
Your packaging is an extension of your brand and should convey the same feeling the rest of your customer experience is curating. Make sure the packaging feels in line with your overall branding and the other brand touchpoints your customers and prospects are interacting with to create a cohesive experience. You can even use packaging to reinforce your brand story. For example, is your company dedicated to being green? Your packaging could be more natural, using less dye and even be compostable to reinforce your care for the planet. If your company is steeped in a rich tradition, choose materials and a look and feel that harkens back to that rich history and a sense of nostalgia.
Packaging can also be used to communicate with your customers and continue the interaction. Share your social media handles, include an insert with a promo code for a future order, or explain the benefits of your product in a simple, customer-focused way to reinforce the customer’s feeling that they’ve made a savvy purchase.
3. Delight your customers
Well thought out packaging can delight customers and make them feel inclined to share with others. Premium packaging could lead customers to share photos of their order and the packaging on social media, providing great word-of-mouth promotion. With the popularity of unboxing videos, packaging that impresses will also increase your chances that customers will create this kind of content with their orders as well.
In addition to delighting your customers, make sure you’re not accidentally burdening them with your packaging. Being easy to open is key—difficult packages will create frustration with consumers and negate any branding or styling choices you’ve made.
Your packaging can convey a lot about your brand and your values. Make sure it’s telling your customers the right things. If you think your packaging could use reimagining, reach out to the B&Y team. We can turn your packaging into opportunities.