Selling a Product Through its Packaging

Most people think of packaging simply as a way to get something from A to B in tact. But what those people are missing is that it provides an incredible opportunity to catch a customer’s eye and draw them to your product.

While people shop, they walk by the majority of products without giving them a second glance. With so much crowding the shelf space in retail settings, businesses can hardly afford to pass up the opportunity to stand out.  If you’re in an industry with a lot of similar products, your branding may be the only thing that sets you a part.

Get the Most Out of You’re Packaging

Going through any large retail store or supermarket, you will find most boxes use a very similar formula.  The front of the box tells you exactly what your getting, or shows you through its graphics.  The sides of the box usually get the least amount attention.  They might have a solid color or logo but usually nothing important.  However, just because it doesn’t draw as much attention doesn’t mean it should be ignored.  Space is limited, so all of it should be taken advantage of! Finally, the back has important information that the customer needs to know.

The front is obviously the most visible and draws peoples focus.  It tells your brand story and makes people interested in your product.  It needs to be more unique than complex.  You should try and make this your own and set yourself apart from the competition.

The back of the box is the place to put any technical information like instructions or nutritional facts.  These don’t need to be displayed front and center.  However, once a customer has already taken an interest they may want more information before they make their purchase.

Where You’re Selling Matters too!

The Difference Between Retail and eCommerce

When you sell in a retail environment, you don’t have the benefit of a salesperson to praise all the benefits your product offers. This puts the pressure on the packaging to both draw in consumers and show off the value of the product. So when you begin to design your packaging you should ask yourself a few questions:  Is my packaging doing enough to sell my product?

When you sell in an eCommerce environment the circumstances are different.  By the time the customer sees the product they have already purchased your product.  So you aren’t trying as much get peoples attention.  You are making sure they remember opening your product fondly.  The box a customer receives will help imprint your branding in their memory. When the customer opens their package, the first impression they have will either frustrate and bore them or wow them and further excite them about the purchase they made.

Because you know the customer has already purchased your product and will open the box, you can focus more on the inside of the box. A lot of eCommerce companies are shying away from bright and colorful outside print to avoid theft by porch pirates.  But the inside of the box is an empty canvas.  You can create beautiful inside print for the consumer to experience the first time they open their package.

Added Bonus: With the growing trend of customers recording their “Unboxing experiences”, it pays to have a pretty package. You can advertise throughout the entire video if your design covers both the inside and outside of the box. After all, the best kind of advertising is free advertising!

Helpful Tips for Designing your Packaging:

1.)Consider Your Customer: Not everyone has the same taste. It’s important to differentiate between who you are trying to sell to. There is a difference in taste between the rugged outdoorsman and an artistic teenager.  As such, you need to adjust color schemes, text and graphics based on this.  Doing so can make your customer feel like the product was made for them.

2.)Keep It Simple: Just because space is limited doesn’t mean you should try and cram every little thing about your product on the box. A trend in packaging has been clean simple graphics and text, which often stand out more than packaging that has every inch covered.

3.)The Text is Important too! Don’t forget to give the wording some thought when you’re designing your package.  The text is the unsung hero of the packaging.  People tend to spend loads of time on the graphics and the shape of the box and neglect the text.  The typography you use can have a huge impact on how you are perceived. A bold, rigid font will convey a serious, utilitarian product. While a light, curvy font will portray something that is whimsical and fun.

4.)Make it easy: Be sure to keep any information on the packaging easy to find and understand. Don’t make your details to complex. People aren’t going to stand in a store and read paragraphs of detailed information. Get to the point and provide your customer with relevant and interesting details.

5.)Stay Consistent: By staying consistent in your design you create brand recognition. Use the same logo, typography, and colors across different platforms to allow customers to easily pick out your brand wherever it may be. Companies like Apple did not create classic and recognizable brands by going through redesigns every couple of years.