Packaging plays an essential role in your products. It’s a practical way to protect the integrity of the items. Packaging also ensures that they don’t incur damage while in transit. Aside from that, it directly influences the purchasing decision of the shoppers. But how do you evaluate the effectiveness of your packaging?
Most companies are still using plastics, which have a terrible environmental impact. Meanwhile, some food businesses use frail boxes for delicate products like baked bread, crushing the items inside. If you’re into manufacturing equipment, adding instructions on proper handling is essential. It ensures the item reaches the consumer in good condition.
What Is Effective Product Packaging?
Adequate packaging prioritizes the safety of the products inside it. It’s about making the package stand out so that when shoppers browse the shelves, they’ll notice it. Effective packaging also includes an easy-to-read font for consumers to check the ingredients or any safety information.
Staying true to your branding is also a factor, as it evokes trustworthiness. Most companies partner with reputable packaging manufacturers like dwinc.com or similar ones. They can customize packages to reflect the brand and make them more appealing. So, how do you ensure all your product packaging is effective?
Check out these nine strategies:
- Review Your Existing Product Packaging
Before modifying your packages, assessing the existing design is an excellent place to start.
Here are some questions to consider:
- What is the purpose of your product packaging?
- What do customers need to know about the products?
- What tone do you intend to set for your brand? Which colors best represent that tone?
- What font style can you use to convey these messages?
- Is your current design functioning correctly? If it isn’t, what makes it ineffective?
By answering these questions, you can discover which areas need improvement. For instance, suppose you’re selling body lotion, and the package doesn’t contain the product’s ingredients. Is there a way for your consumers to know whether the lotion suits their skin?
This scenario affects the effectiveness of the packages, and you need to address the concern immediately. Failing to do so leads to costly legal claims if the product causes serious health conditions.
- Study The End Users
Learning about the end users is necessary. This step will help you understand what they want out of their packaging. These questions can help you learn about your end users:
- Who are they?
- What do they expect from their products?
- Will they have difficulty maintaining the item’s integrity as they travel home?
You can get the answers to these questions by conducting market research. You can use social media, e-mails, or in-store surveys. Make sure to indicate the goals of your initiative. Doing so encourages the consumers to answer with accurate details.
You can tell your consumers that you value the confidentiality of their data by being transparent in how you use their information. This process lets you learn about their experiences with your product packages. It also helps you understand their common pain points and how to solve them best.
- Highlight Your Brand
Your product packages should reflect your brand’s identity. If they don’t have your brand logo or colors, your loyal customers might not be able to recognize them. It may lead to confusion, leading to a potential loss of sales. Hence, highlighting your brand on your packages is a must.
Here are the elements to add:
- Colors: They have a psychological impact on shoppers. However, many companies opt for a color palette that doesn’t align with their branding. As a result, they make it easy for consumers to take a product from a different yet familiar brand.
- Logos: They must be clear enough. Consumers can associate them with your business.
- Textures: They can complement the colors and make your branding pop out more. They bring personality to the packaging design.
By considering your brand on product packages, you can boost brand recall.
- Include Warnings
Harmful products require warnings on their packages. They ensure the safety of the consumers and anyone who buys your products. Adding clear warnings to your product packaging saves your company from lawsuits. You can add signs through safety labels, stickers, or even text on the box.
The following are some tips to help you:
- You can use orientation labels for packages that contain liquids. They can include instructions on how to handle your products.
- Choking hazard warnings are found on the toys of young children. Examples include marbles, tiny plastic balls, tiny board games, and any product with small parts.
- You can put side effects on products like prescription or over-the-counter medicines.
Adding warnings on your product packaging can keep legal claims away.
- Avoid Misleading The Consumers
An over-the-top packaging advertisement leads to disappointment. Indicating in your packages that your product contains organic ingredients can attract sales. But if the content has fewer organic ingredients, your consumers may soon find out.
Making false claims will create a negative impression of your brand and damage its reputation. Be honest by ensuring the details mentioned in the package are true. It translates to repeat sales since shoppers will more likely trust your brand.
- Stir Emotions
Effective packaging doesn’t only protect the product, but it must also be memorable. Consumers should feel emotions as they come across your packaging on the shelf.
Here are ways you can do it:
- Give the shoppers a chance to see what’s inside. Many customers prefer to see what they’ll get with their actual purchase.
- Tell a story by making enough space for a statement that makes the shoppers think. You can say something humorous to make them laugh as they look at the product. Or you could inspire them by indicating the proceeds of the item help farmers.
- Elicit feelings of security by assuring the consumers that the packaging is tamper-proof. It’ll be evident if the bottle or container has been unsealed or opened. It promotes safety and makes the product more trustworthy.
When shoppers can connect through your packaging, they’ll likely purchase your products.
- Check The Freshness
Packaging can affect the freshness of the products, especially perishable goods. If you’re selling food, you wouldn’t want it to expire on its way to the grocery stores due to improper seals. At the same time, you don’t want it to be prone to bacteria that could harm the consumers’ health.
Use packaging to preserve and protect your product from damage or spoilage. Pack the products in airtight or leak-proof boxes to remain sealed during transportation. Check whether the packaging emits odors or chemicals, which can harm human health.
Assess your packaging and how well it would hold up under certain conditions. This way, you can prevent your products from getting exposed to extreme temperatures, which might cause them to rot faster.
- Choose Sustainable Options
Most packages come from plastic, like polyethylene. Manufacturing companies use it to create beverage bottles, motor oil, laundry detergent, and hair products. This type of plastic isn’t recycle-friendly, which means it goes to the trash after one use. These packages will harm the environment, especially the animals.
Cardboard and paper are both sustainable options. But if people are cutting down trees to produce these types of raw materials, it results in the loss of acres of forest. So, what is considered eco-friendly packaging?
It should be recyclable and isn’t toxic, like mushrooms, cornstarch, peanuts, and seaweed. You can check for other options with your local suppliers. It’s better than searching for better alternatives from overseas producers, as they consume energy for production and transportation.
On the other hand, ensure the packages don’t affect the integrity of the products. Look for a packaging manufacturer to help you customize them using sustainable resources.
- Consider The Unboxing Experience
Once the product gets into the hands of the consumers, it would be best if your packaging leaves them with a memorable unboxing experience. When you focus on this element, it may encourage the shoppers to share their unboxing videos on social media. They may even do an in-depth tutorial on how to open your package, which means free advertising for you!
Here’s how you can do it:
- Add handwritten notes to thank them for their support of your products. You can make it even more exciting by adding their name to it, making the experience more personal.
- Encourage consumers to tag your social media handles once they share their unboxing posts online. Add this user-generated content (UGC) to your Facebook or Instagram stories. Creating a designated feature for these testimonials could help you gain the trust of other users.
- Attach a discount code for their next purchase and a reward for a successful referral.
- Ask them if they’re willing to subscribe to your e-mail list.
- Include promotional merchandise like stickers or free samples of your latest product before its launch.
- Use a quick response (QR) code to prompt customers to communicate with you after the purchase. They might have concerns about using the product, or you may want to collect their feedback. It helps you figure out some possible issues with your packaging while encouraging engagement.
You can do many things with your packages to make the unboxing experience worth sharing online. Being creative and prioritizing the satisfaction of your consumers can increase repeat purchases.
Summing It Up
Product packaging plays an essential role in the experience of the shoppers. Ensure the packages are effective if you want consumers to notice your products. It would be best if the containers were appealing and protected the items’ integrity. So, consider these tips, as they could help you sell more products. That way, you can boost your sales and gain a higher market share.
