You have a marketable product you are proud to sell and it serves the needs of your target audience. So what more can you do to market this product to the right people and increase their satisfaction after choosing you? In this article, we will look at the difference you can make for your customers’ experience of your product by the way it is packaged.

You can compare the effect of a product’s package to the way you are served a meal. Your experience of what you eat is not only in taking a bite, but also in the visual presentation. If you receive a meal that appears carefully prepared with fresh high-quality ingredients on a nice plate, you are likely to feel differently about what you are eating than if you are served a meal that is lazily slapped together and looks questionably like leftovers.

Your product’s packaging choice is how you serve your product to your customer. Many of today’s favorite brands and products take the design of their packaging very seriously. One example is Apple, famous not only for their innovative, user-friendly tech gadgets, but also for their sleek, minimalist package design encasing each product they offer.

The “unboxing” phase when bringing home a new product is increasingly becoming a point of interest and contributes to excitement about the product itself. It is important to take advantage of the opportunity to “wow” your customers and to engage and connect with them through the thought and creativity you put into the packaging of your product

Here are 4 ways you can increase your customers’ satisfaction through your product’s packaging.

1. The Design of Your Packaging

Your customer’s first experience of your product is often the packaging. If you have an ecommerce business, the packaging is a major opportunity to communicate and connect with your customer once they have your product in their hands. If your product is available on shelves next to those of competing companies, the design of your packaging can make the difference between a customer who chooses your product over another. Regardless, putting energy into the design of your packaging makes a significant difference for your customer’s experience and ultimately your sales.

Here are some design elements to consider:

Brand Consistency

Ensure that the packaging design is consistent with your branding. The type of language used, your brand’s colors, any logo variations, and overall messaging should be consistent everywhere on your website from social media platforms to product packaging.

Standing Out

You want your product to stand out in a crowded market, but be careful. There is a fine line between uniqueness and trying too hard. Your customers will be able to tell the difference between a thoughtfully designed package and a distracting gimmick.

The best way for boldness in your packaging design to be successful is to know exactly who you are trying to sell to and create your packaging with them in mind. Take the art design for example. If your target market is children, then something like comic book art could work well as a bold choice. However, if you are marketing to a luxury demographic, choose another unique idea for this group that would translate to them better.

Colors for the Mind

Your choice of color is important in two ways. First, if your brand has specific colors, make sure your packaging is consistent in these colors. This will help your customers to associate the package and product with your website, social media, and your company. Strong associations will help your company stand out in their memory.

If you have room to play with colors in your package design, then consider the effect different colors can have on the viewer’s mind. People tend to associate certain colors with specific feelings, so to a certain degree, you can influence the reaction your customer will have to your product simply by your choice of package color.

Here are some common associations specific to each color:

• White: Sophistication, class, purity.
• Black: Elegance, sophistication, or to contrast or coordinate with another color.
• Yellow: Happiness, brightness, cleanliness, energetic.
• Green: Environment, sustainability, health, natural/organic, peace, positivity.
• Blue: Trustworthy, playful, emotional, communication. Blue specifically has many attractive shades to choose from, which creates an array of possible
• reactions. Blue is one of the most commonly used colors in marketing.
• Purple: High-class, royalty, silk, luxury.
• Red: Romance, energetic, urgency, violence. Red is very good at catching attention.

2. Personalization

Another opportunity to make your product’s packaging work for your business is to personalize it with something that will engage your customers in meaningful and perhaps unexpected ways. This could take the form of:

Inserts

Inserts could include freebies such as a sticker or sample of another product. It could be a nice print of your company’s mission or back story. Or it could be another engaging gesture such as a tactful request for a review, or invitation to follow your company on social media.

Handwritten Notes

A handwritten note can go a long way with your customers. This may not be feasible for operations of a certain size, but if you can manage to send a note of appreciation to your customers, they will get a sense that you care about your relationship with them and that you are grateful for their business. The opportunity to form meaningful connections to your customer through a hand-written note is enormous.

If your production is too large to handwrite a note for each order or unit, you can still benefit from designing a handwritten note that can be attractively reproduced and still send a genuine message of thanks to each of your customers.

Discount Codes

A great way to express thanks for the customers who bought your product is to include a discount code for future purchases. This helps your customer feel valued while encouraging their increased loyalty and support for your brand.

3. Sustainable Practices

More and more, companies are choosing sustainable business practices. Of course, this directly applies to choices in product packaging. As the world becomes more focused on transitioning to using renewable resources, the options for packaging materials are rapidly expanding.

Your customers are also likely to take note if you make it a point to be more sustainable. According to a CGS survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, nearly 70% of those surveyed considered sustainability at least “somewhat important,” while nearly half (47%) responded that they would be willing to pay 25% more for products they know are more sustainable.

Here are some ideas for making your packaging more sustainable:

Use Smaller Packages

Even a difference of only a couple inches can add up to make a big difference in the amount of material used as well as shipping costs.

Share Disposal Best Practices

If your packaging is compostable or recyclable, be sure to indicate this somewhere on your packaging for your customers to see. Help them know how to avoid your package ending up in a landfill if there is a more appropriate method of disposal. For example, not everyone knows that some newer types of styrofoam can be recycled. If your package uses recyclable styrofoam, make sure to indicate this on the package somewhere to let your customers know.

Compostable and Plastic Alternatives

There are many options for moving away from single-use plastics. Consider finding packaging materials that are compostable or plant-based. Your company and your customers can feel proud about the lower carbon footprint of your product.

Sustainable Supply Chain/Manufacturing

Keep in mind that the carbon footprint of your product begins to form at the start of its supply chain and manufacturing. Take a look at the practices used by your suppliers and any efforts to be environmentally friendly. What alternatives can you find in the chain to make your product more sustainable? If you take the time and effort to tighten up the eco-friendliness of your product’s entire supply chain, take pride in this and use this information in your marketing.

Recycled Packaging Materials

It is pretty easy these days to find recycled packaging materials that are still great quality. Using renewed resources tells your customers that your company cares about doing its part and is making thoughtful choices to be responsible for its impact.

4. Simplicity

After all this discussion about how to “wow” your customers with stand-out design and features, remember this one simple rule: less is more.

Let the design of your packaging be sleek and thoughtful versus exaggerating and over-doing it. You do not want all your design effort to have a negative effect by losing its functionality or being obnoxious. Make sure that every element of your package serves a purpose and is necessary. Consider how to make it easy to transport, where to include applicable warnings, and whether it sufficiently protects the product inside. Avoid wasting your marketing budget by creating packaging with extra bells and whistles that will do nothing to serve your customer or your company, and may cost you business.

Outsource Your Product Packaging

Have fun creating the best design for your product’s package and sourcing your materials! Hopefully this article has provided you with ideas and inspiration to help your product stand out, meaningfully engage with your customers, and demonstrate ecological responsibility through your packaging choices.

Once you have everything prepared to sell, consider outsourcing the packaging process. This can be a convenient way to efficiently handle this important task while saving your company time, labor, and space required to do it in-house. DWI is your ideal partner in taking care of your packaging needs as well as product assembly.