For e-commerce businesses, the packaging of products is crucial and more than just cardboard wrapping.
Product packaging makes a good sense of communication with your customers to build a better and long-lasting relationship with them.
It represents brands’ value to your customers and is crucial for products’ marketing and promotions.
If not yet, you should consider your brands’ product packaging more seriously.
Role of product packaging in eCommerce
The wrapping of any product which is appealing through design, secure the product, and identifiable through its whole transport journey is called design product packaging.
There could be indefinite interactions of the product from the time it is manufactured till it is delivered to the end customers.
So, the packaging of the product needs to be designed in such a way that it fulfills all the major roles of packaging i.e., protection & storage, efficient transportation, sales & promotion, assurance of quality, and disposal.
Importance of product packaging for branding
Packaging is what customers receive as the first introduction of your product.
As an eCommerce business there exist multiple ways, how you can grab importance of product packaging – from securing a better impression to building a long-lasting loyalty for your D2C brand.
Let’s dig in.
– Ensuring customer satisfaction
Customers often receive their orders in visually disfigured and odd-looking packaging, where the product was also damaged.
Many customers get really annoyed when their excitement is smashed by the ignored packaging of the product. With this, brands not actually break their excitement but their trust over you, your products, and services.
To keep customers happy and satisfied product packaging is also one of the primary goals for an eCommerce brand.
How can it be taken lightly? How can brands put their brand value at stake?
Brands need to start improving their product packaging as it directly impacts customers’ decisions of placing the order for repeat purchases, as they got a wrong first impression, about the product.
– Packaging is equal to branding
According to a study, customers have described product packaging as important as brands they purchase from.
Packaging is considered equally important because it creates an extension for the branding. It passes on your intention and focus to acquire customers.
– Enhancing customer lifetime value
By spending quality more on product packaging, brands have noticed an increase in the interest of customers in purchase intent by 30%.
Some brands have never failed to impress their customers with their products and their packaging, never delivered a damaged or distorted package.
The brand value to which their customers were 1st attracted they have kept that intact and upgraded their scale to grow more.
Successful packaging with a wow factor involved is an effective marketing technique to spread good word-of-mouth.
– Custom packaging drives loyalty
Custom packaging is a new trend in eCommerce but it is a good deal to drive customers’ loyalty.
It is a myth that custom packaging is expensive, but the truth is that it’s cheaper as a custom size will reduce the volume and hence shipping charges.
Other benefits of custom packaging can be:
- Provide an optimized level of protection during transit
- To reflect your brand identity and target effective market
- Easy supply – either flat-packed or fully assembled (stacked)
- Wide range of dividers, integral fittings, foam protection, and more
– Accurate cardboard shipping
That standard, brown-colored cardboard unbranded box is a boring way of packaging. No customer likes it.
The brands have to create a point of difference from their competition to grow and sustain in the market.
Product packaging must be of accurate size with sufficient stuffing (to avoid breakage/damage of product), branding, vibrant colors to attract the eyes.
Few examples of brands that have achieved good business, popularity, and customer loyalty from their product packaging.
Example 1 –
Apple, a world-renown brand, provides fiber packaging using the least plastic. Their packaging is very artistic that allows them to visually appeal to the device inside. The color of the box is elegant, minimalist white, and every part of the packaging is designed to be clean and direct.
They are continuously promoting their brand through their product quality and its simple yet elegant product packaging design.
Example 2 –
Brands need to be individualistic in terms of packaging and make their product stand out. Another brand example who achieved this is Nutella.
In summer 2017, they started a new packaging campaign under the slogan “Nutella Unique – As Unique as You”.
This campaign raised the sales upto purchase of 7 million Nutella jars in a month.
Example 3 –
Mamaearth started in 2016 provides toxin-free, natural baby care, skincare, and hair care products.
In order to enhance their customer lifetime value, they created their product packaging innovatively such as the range of Mamaearth’s face washes.
They designed the package bottle with a silicone cleanser brush attached to it, this eases the face cleansing and attracts the customers for the long term.
What are packaging inserts? Which type of packaging inserts can be useful in branding?
Packaging inserts are the additional items that an eCommerce seller provides in shipments to their customers along with the product.
The packaging inserts have become a successful trend, followed by various brands as an upgrade to their shipping and fulfillment strategy.
The little inserts are sent to build goodwill with new customers, to spread awareness about campaigns and promotions, and provide extra value.
These extra additions to the packaging help you stand out and increase your customers’ expectations. The packaging inserts can be as simple as a flyer or a coupon inside every packaging box.
There exist many other options that you can put as packaging inserts, such as:
– Discount offers
Discount codes are the most straightforward type of packaging inserts.
Now some of you will argue that these discount codes can be sent through email. Then, what’s the need of sending it as additional inserts?
The answer is simple, a packaging insert ensures that the discount code will land directly in the hands of your customer and receive the desired notice. Unlike emails which get unnoticed or unread many of the times.
A most cost-effective way to include these discount codes is to print them in a business card size.
– Product samples
Another type of packaging insert that can be effectively involved in your strategy is product samples.
Product samples are a great way to inspire your customers for cross-selling, introduce them to your new products in the line (that your customers might be unaware of).
– Small gifts
The small and inexpensive gifts can work like magic for you and make your customers feel special.
It can be used as a powerful psychological trigger that will leave your customers in your favor and thereby help you in repeat business automatically.
– Thank-you cards and personal notes
The least expensive and most personalized gifts in the list of packaging inserts are “Thank You Card and Personal Notes”.
A little note can be very generous to increase the customers’ loyalty towards you.
– Product review or a “share on social” request
You can also use these additional inserts to increase your social media presence.
The reviews, ask your customers to post the product review and share their experience with you on their social media handle.
Conclusion
If looked at as a marketing strategy, product packaging has a lot of real potentials to increase sales, repeat purchases, customer loyalty, and your brand position in the market.
Packaging has definitely a direct impact on business success and its profits. Change the way you consider product packaging, look at it as your security. As it delivers:
- product protection
- product display and promotion
- attract customers
- separate the product from the competition
After deciding your packaging design and dimensions, you can consider automated eCommerce fulfillment services that can help you with auto-assigning of packaging size to fasten fulfillment procedures and reduce your operational costs.