Custom Branded Packaging
For a lot of ecommerce brands boxes aren’t sexy and as a result people forget about custom branded packaging and the role it plays until they see their competitor do it or until the last minute. It’s important to utilize the benefits of scalable solutions that are out there that will allow the small business and the larger ecommerce business to benefit from economies of scale to realize cost savings that are available when looking at custom packaging. With this in mind, I interviewed Phil Forbes from Packhelp to discuss custom packaging.
Let’s explore custom branded packaging a little further and ascertain why you would want to consider your box, and custom packaging in general. We have all been taught not to judge a book by its cover, and when you think about custom packaging and shipping boxes in general, on the surface you may not think you judge it. But facts are that people do. If you order the same product, pay the same price and all other parts being equal, the one that arrives in a nice looking box is going to be the one that you open first, appeals to you more, and it’s going to be the company that you order from again in the future.
So that all said, let’s talk about the box.
Box up your Feelings
Boxes can recreate that same feeling of excitement that you had when you were a 7 year old on christmas day looking at the presents under the tree. The difference is that you know now what the item is that you are picking up, but when you go to pick it up at the post office and you see this nicely custom branded box, whether it be simple in the fact that it just has the brand name of the company you ordered from or is colorfully done, the truth holds true that your excitement level grows when you see this item. Of course if it’s in a plastic bag you’re still going to be excited because your package has arrived, however, the excitement is that much greater when the packaging you first see is more than a plain box with shipping labels or a plastic bag.
It’s a feeling, it’s an emotion that ecommerce brands that value their customers that these brands tap into.
Custom packaging is the stage that presents your product to the world.
Your product is what makes your customers say, “Wow this is great” but it’s the packaging which is the way that it is presented to the end user that makes that customer go “Wow, I really got a lot more than I bargained for here.” That’s how you want to leave a customer, whether it’s with customer service or superior product you want to exceed the customers expectations and when you play to that feeling of excitement you do that!
Two products can be the same, made in china, budget conscious, but when it’s packaged a certain way it evokes that emotion, the way that it feels when you have it in your hands for the first time. You feel as though you have something different, at the end of the day it may not be something different but it felt different, it’s the perception created within the experience by way of the packaging which added so intangible value to the entire process, from shopping to unboxing.
UnBoxing & Web Customization
The unboxing experience is a very very powerful marketing tool that works hand in hand with social media marketing, influencer marketing and all those other facets of marketing that you rely on so heavily these days.
eCommerce is such a humanless experience in so many ways, and as much as this will change and the customized nature of eCommerce will grow more towards experience. You do not want that feeling you created on your site in order to generate the sales to be lost. You want this experience to be felt from the time they place the order to the time they unbox the product. This also leads back to the social experience where you unbox your order online and share with your friends simply because you are excited. Consider the example where Nike.com generated over 40% of its sales from its custom shoe function, or jeffalpaugh.com where you can custom design your own dress shirts. This experience is so exciting and involved that not only do you never abandon your cart because of the excitement of this personal and customized product you have created, but you cannot wait for it to arrive. When it does arrive, it needs to be in a box that also showcases the product. If this is as simple as well constructed box with company brand that is fine, but this custom branded packaging needs to be there. Why? Simple, if you unbox this online for all the social media friends and followers to see that label on the box becomes a means of product placement. As much as the unboxer may or maynot mention the name of your brand the box will do it for you. The subtle messaging that a nice box with well positioned branding can deliver to those watching is in itself an added sales tool. Don’t miss this opportunity.
Let’s get Physical
In the physical world of retail, we all know what it feels like to go into an Ikea or Walmart. In the world of ecommerce regardless of the functionality of the site, no matter how well you have built trust, created the various sales functions or overall feel of the site, to generate enough persuasive power to have the customer purchase the given product. Your packaging is the very first physical touchpoint you have with the person who has paid for the product. We only get one chance at a good first impression and first impressions last. If you deliver your product in a cheap bag or plain box it’s a missing part of the feeling puzzle, there is one sense that is not being stimulated.
You have worked very hard to drive that sale through the site, with all your conversion optimization efforts, your establishment of trust all the factors that go into good persuasive website design and it has paid off, don’t drop the ball when your customer touches your product for the first time, that will create a huge void that may be difficult to fill.
To Sumize..
If you have enjoyed what you have read thus far, there is another 6 minutes of amazing insights and thoughts you can garner by clicking the play button and jumping to the 16:00 minute mark. Not to mention, it’s always a lot more entertaining when you hear my voice and the voice of the Aussie I am interviewing in this show.
But to summarize, give your product the opportunity to shine at the very least considering custom branded packaging and the sheer power this will play with your brand and customers overall experience.
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