How to Make a Lasting Impression on Customers Through Product Packaging

Starting a product based business is stressful enough. You have to brainstorm ideas for a product to sell, figure out how to bring it to life, develop a marketing strategy, and basically leave the space left on your calendar wire thin.

More often than not, packaging is the last thing you’ll think about because, let’s face it, it’s simply just a way to deliver the product to the hands of your customers, right? Wrong.

In the world of online transactions, the packaging your product comes in may very well be the only physical interaction your customers have with your business, so it’s important to make it a great one.

The time may come as your business grows to invest in some branded packaging. We’re not talking about when you have your own warehouses across the country and are rolling out hundreds of orders per day. In this day and age, branded and unique packaging can be more affordable than you might think.

Keep reading as we dive into the effects of product packaging in today’s world and how to use it to communicate your brand messaging and impress your customers!

The Wave of Unboxing.. and Boxing?

On social media, the craze of unboxing has been a trend for a while, where the act of receiving, opening, and admiring a package is filmed for viewers to enjoy. But why?

Packaging isn’t just about keeping your products intact as they go from point A to point B. The emotion that they invoke is equally important, especially in a time where the excitement of buying things is less about countless shopping bags hanging from your arms and more about beautiful boxes being delivered to your doorstep.

Unboxing videos have turned packaging into a major marketing opportunity, but so have boxing videos! More and more small product-based businesses are showing how they package orders, and they can be just as fulfilling to watch. So before you start throwing out dollars for promotion from a big influencer in the form of an unboxing video, we’d totally recommend filming how you package orders as well.

Conveying Your Brand Through Package Design 

As a small business, you have no shortage of authentic voice, true story, and ethical standards. Sometimes, though, an opportunity is missed to use packaging to its fullest to reinforce these points and continue to connect with your customers at the point of delivery.

For example, if you’re a luxury brand, that could be conveyed through weighty materials, gloss coatings, metallic foils, etc. If your brand is more flamboyant, bright colors, patterns, and designs can show your personality. For a brand that’s dedicated to environmental causes, try using tightly-sized boxes, natural paper products, and recyclable padding.

INEXPENSIVE BRANDED PACKAGE ITEMS

There are many websites out there that allow you to brand packaging material for your products without costing an arm and a leg, especially for a small startup business that isn’t averaging too many orders per month at the moment. For example, Brandable Box has– you guessed it– custom standard boxes, Packlane has more custom box style options but are slightly more expensive, UpakNship has custom poly mailers, tape, and protective packaging, and Sticker You has custom labels, stickers, decals, and more, 

The Other Element of Packaging: Shipping Strategy

We know it’s tempting offload shipping to the standard third-party that works with your e-commerce platform, but it could be very worth it to work closely on this part so that you can ensure it aligns with the way you want to conduct business.

Making sure your (gorgeous) boxes arrive on time in good condition is the very first thing a customer is going to take note of, so you might want to try your best to find the most cost-effective solution to get their items delivered on time.

On that same note, if you can afford a generous return policy, that will help convert first-time shoppers into repeat customers, plus reduce the risk in their minds of trying something new.

It’s What’s Inside That Counts

Don’t forget that the product doesn’t have to be the only thing that arrives. Too often, the opportunity is missed to brand the inside of your packaging with extra gifts, fun messages, small incentives, etc.

Inserts are an amazing way to send additional messaging to your customers in physical form. You could send a nice thank you note with a discount code for their next purchase, or give them a VIP heads-up about upcoming sales or new product designs. Samples, miniature products, and coupons are all opportunities to up-sell and incentivize re-purchasing.

As a matter of fact, we’ve created Thank You Card Templates that are customizable in Canva, so you can easily change colors, fonts, and text to whatever you please! You’ll get instant downloadable access to 6 different designs both front and back that can be printed or kept digitally.

If you become a member of The Creative Template Shop, you’ll also get downloadable access to every other template inside, and there are hundreds of them for almost every aspect of marketing for your business.

And there you have it! These days, packaging is much more than simply a functional piece of the process. It’s now a way to communicate who you are and build relationships with your customers in a special way for product-based businesses. The most important lesson here: Never underestimate the power of your packaging!