What Your Retail Packaging Design Says About Your Brand
Retail packaging design sets expectations and even evokes emotions. Learn how to create a good first impression and making the unboxing experience special. Marketers know that consumers often will judge books by their covers. Of course, it’s not just books but the retail packaging design for almost any kind of product. Colors, shapes, and other design elements do more than make a first impression. They might even impact the customer’s psychological state. Even beyond any words on the box, you can utilize your packaging to tell shoppers a lot about your brand. That’s why many businesses go so far as to hire an experienced packaging design agency to design custom product packaging that will help them stand out among their competition. What to consider for custom product packaging design Direct Packaging Solutions, one packaging design agency, touched upon two ways that package design can affect the customer experience: First impressions: Consumer research has found that packaging can change customer expectations for a product. As an example, MacBook has a reputation for having one of the top package designs on Amazon and other online venues. Owners mentioned how much they appreciated the way their Apple packaging displayed and protected their laptops and accessories. They enjoyed the unboxing process and liked the box so much that they didn’t want to discard it. Emotions: Several aspects of the packaging can actually evoke specific emotions. For instance, many food brands use red because it can stimulate appetite, and yellow tends to communicate happiness and competence. Even shape might matter. As an example, one beer company developed a bottle with a thicker neck and more angular shape to look more masculine and appeal to men. Of course, you can also use your consistent style of packaging to reinforce your brand. When people think of Tiffany, they tend to visualize the blue boxes. Likewise, it’s hard to think of Coca-Cola without picturing the iconic red can. Packaging can also communicate something about your company’s purpose. For instance today’s customers like to see recyclable or reusable packaging. Amazon should know quite a bit about packaging, and they have gone out of their way to promote their program to reduce packaging waste. Tips for top packaging design on Amazon and other eCommerce sites For selling online, you need to make certain that your package doesn’t just look good in person. A full-sized and thumbnail photo also has to entice clicks. For that, you need clean, clear, and uncluttered graphics and fonts. Even so, it helps to give your packaging a unique, distinctive look to attract attention. You might even use your packaging to solve a problem and make your product more functional. For instance, what could be a better example of a common packaged good than ketchup? Heinz got a lot of press for coming up with the genius idea of giving their bottles a wide top, so they could be packaged and stored upside-down. For years, customers had complained that they had to struggle to get the last bit of ketchup out of the bottle, and the new design used gravity to solve a 150-year-old problem. According to CNN, they increased sales by six percent in a year when their overall industry only rose by two percent. Businesses can profit by making their customer’s lives easier, and sometimes, packaging can help. How to start designing outstanding packages As with any aspect of marketing, you should understand your target market. For instance, CBD packaging might reflect health and nature, but boxes for luxury goods should communicate a sense of indulgence and style. Experienced product packaging companies can make certain your packaging reflects well on your company in both appearance and function.
How packaging design services can transform your brand
95% of new products fail every year according to Forbes. And we want to help change that statistic through our revolutionary packaging design services. Aside from keeping your products safe for shipping and distribution, packaging is the calling card of your brand. Packaging helps customers decide whether they want to buy your product before they try it, which is why we don’t recommend skimping on this important extension of your brand. When partnering with a creative agency to help bring your vision to life, make sure they have a deep understanding of the following four packing success indicators: function, cost, scalability, and brand alignment. Function: Your packaging should keep your products fresh, safe, and clean — based on the goods you’re selling, how fragile they are, and whether or not they have a shelf life. Packaging design services agencies should have unbeatable, niche insight into the types of materials best suited to protect your product, whether there are any government restrictions or guidelines for shipping and packing, and how to mitigate any risks your products may be exposed to while reaching their final destination. Cost: The quality of your packaging is a direct reflection of the quality of your brand. With that in mind, high-quality packaging does not always need to be expensive. Your creative agency can help you identify areas to cut cost, without sacrificing quality. They will work with you to understand what trends and design techniques will give you the look you want for less, and how shipping costs might factor into your total budget. Scalability: While sending a personalized note with every shipment may seem like a charming, high-quality touch, this is not scalable as your business grows. New businesses dazzle customers early with unique, memorable packaging, but lose an edge when cost and time forces them to cut back on the experience. Packaging design services experts will help you create packaging that is personal, on-brand, and scalable by volume. Brand Alignment: Tiffany’s & Co signature blue boxes and Apple’s sleek, streamlined containers are almost as recognizable as their products themselves. This level of brand alignment helps potential customers understand your products more deeply and determine whether your brand values are aligned with their lifestyle. Signature packaging, like Tiffany’s, can also become a draw for your customers when leveraged properly across channels to tell a unique story about your brand. Nailing these four guidelines doesn’t guarantee your packaging won’t need some fine tuning, or that you won’t want to update your look as your brand evolves. Your agency partner will work alongside your brand to ensure your packaging stays current through testing with small focus groups, experimenting with cheap-chic materials, and gathering customer feedback about how durable and sustainable your packaging really is. This process is a foundational part of the product lifestyle for CPG and luxury brands. Learn more about how something as simple as a box can transform your brand by contacting our team for a free consultation about your packaging design.
Encouraging discovery through subscription commerce
As busy people with busy lives, we don’t always have the time to sift through a glut of new products and services to decide, for example, what new shampoo to try, or what type of headphones pack the best sound for the cheapest price. That’s why many of the team members here at our Florida advertising agency stick to our trusted Head and Shoulders brand, and grab whatever headphones we can find on sale at Target. But, some marketers have picked up on the fact that many of us are, in fact, interested in being the first in town to try something new. Be it something strange, like rearview mirrors for your sunglasses, or something practical, like an eco-friendly razor, there’s something inherently cool about being the first person to be in the know. Subscription boxes are gaining in popularity as ways for people to experiment with new products. Curating companies tailor such boxes to their target demographic, and a typical box might include products for a young, hip mother or a dog-loving city dweller. For a fee, the person has a box of goodies delivered each month, and often receives all of the items in the box for a fraction of the price that he or she would have to pay to purchase the items individually from retailers. Come delivery day, it’s like Christmas — every month! Besides the obvious financial benefit to the companies that create these boxes and sell them online through subscription services, these boxes can also be a great way for marketers to get their products into the hands of potential customers. Some subscription services even encourage their subscribers to engage in influencer behavior, which ultimately also helps to market the products to a broader audience. Plus, many marketers know that hand-to-hand marketing is one of the most successful forms of marketing, so when you can put a product in a consumer’s hand, your business has the opportunity to generate a high return on investment. What motivates people to trust strangers to curate subscription commerce? In many instances, the keyword is trust. Once a company is able to establish itself as a leader, it can then take initiative to offer its loyal subscribers access to goodies that they never knew existed. Cravebox leads the way in curating boxes and solidifying the trend known as subscription commerce. Cravebox’s researchers scout thousands of products to bring its subscribers only the best in health, skincare, hobbies, parenting and more. Cravebox chooses its members out of a lottery, which provides an air of exclusivity for those selected. Other companies like 12Society reach out to a targeted demographic. 12Scoetry purports to offer products from celebrity endorsers, and caters to the young, professional male. (It kind of makes you wonder why a company like GQ didn’t catch on to this type of trend sooner.) Birchbox offers a similar subscription box service, but sets itself apart by also offering links to products you can purchase on the website. It also offers different boxes for men and women, and offers grooming and style tips with each box. Similarly, lifestyle box company BabbaCo offers the kinds of goods only a mother could love – because they’re tailored to mothers. The magic of the boxes is that no two are the same. Each offers a different set of goodies and, if you don’t like it month after month, you can cancel your subscription. Our Florida advertising agency understands that consumers are spending less time with beauty magazines and print content, and believes that subscription commerce may be just the type of marketing you need to help introduce a new product, and reap impressive results. Contact us today to see how we can help you generate impressive marketing results.
