Product Packaging Design: Why You Should Invest

We’ve seen it across every industry: Great custom packaging pays off. In fact, unboxing videos are a YouTube phenomenon with a cast of influencers and millions of views. Remember, your customer links your product to its packaging, so your unboxing experience is a crucial point of interaction. With that in mind, here are four reasons why you should invest in your product’s packaging.

4 Reasons You Should Invest in Product Packaging

1. Product Packaging is a brand statement
2. First impressions are important
3. Brilliant product packaging is collectible
4. Thoughtful packaging enhances the customer experience

Product Packaging is a Brand Statement

Your brand identity is inextricably linked to the aesthetics of its marketing and box design, which gives you the ability to steer the way customers think of your products.

So keep in mind that packaging design influences how your company is perceived long after the first impression is made. Knowing what buyers like about your packaging can strengthen the relationship between a product and its faithful fans.

If your company is starting a new ad campaign or your product is going through changes, redesigning your packaging is a great way to invite buyers into your new era. A packaging reboot draws new eyes and refreshes your product for long-time fans when done tactfully.

The changes themselves hold meaning and serve as reflections of the changes in your company, such as a switch in materials or a new typography. As the first point of physical contact, your new design conveys any new direction your brand takes — with or without words.

First Impressions Are Important

When your product is right up against the competition — physically or not — the design of your packaging provides a massive head start. You must set your packaging apart from your competitors.

Color, shape, and size might be some of the most noticeable features, but something less obvious like a satisfying weight, the inside design, or an appealing texture is often the perfect touch that plays to a buyer’s taste.

Say the store is out of your client’s usual razors. Maybe it’s their favorite candle. Whether they like it or not, they’ll have to try something new. One of the options on the bottom row stands out, so they check the price and read the package for details.

What was it that made them pick it up? The product packaging.

Of course, these first impressions can be tailored extensively to your field and your brand. Maybe the hypothetical box of razors that caught your eye had an especially sharp and smooth minimalist design, subconsciously playing into what you’d value in a razor. Maybe the candle box drew you in with an illustration of a fragrant garden. Whatever drew you in was likely a conscious choice by a competent designer whose work is paying off.

Eye-catching Product Packaging is Collectible

It’s hard to throw out a package that’s a quality product in itself. When a package design truly combines convenience and appeal, it might be held on for years — either for keeping the product itself or anything that needs storage. A package might feature artwork and care in a unique area or higher quality materials to endear itself.

You can even construct a cardboard box with reuse in mind. Additions like inserts to secure and uniquely present your product can seem like afterthoughts, but thoughtfulness goes a long way toward the design. Perhaps where your contemporary’s package degrades or grows unwieldy after a product is removed, yours stays sturdy and re-usable to store your product and re-insert the product for gifting after the gift giver has inspected the product.

Sometimes a simple innovation makes it impossible to go back to the way things were before, like Box Genie’s unique triangular document mailers that can store a rolled-up poster without rolling away themselves.

Whatever design choices allow it to stick around, good packaging will be able to represent your product, your brand, and your values in perpetuity.

Thoughtful Packaging Enhances the Customer Experience

On the other side of the coin, when enough focus is placed on design elements to enhance the customer experience, the unpacking process is a highlight of the purchase. You have an opportunity to make your custom packaging design inviting with a series of intuitive steps that welcome a buyer inside, especially when your competitors’ packaging is obtuse and unclear.

Some packages protect their contents so well it seems hostile, requiring an obscure tool or a show of unflattering force. Others produce a baffling amount of material without actually freeing their cargo; it may even damage a product that’s not extracted the right way.

There’s a reason unboxing videos rack up so many views: Unpacking a purchase is an inseparable part of the purchasing experience. Potential customers often view these videos, curious about what they’ll be greeted with after parting with their money.

If they can observe secondhand that every step of the process is painless and thoughtfully customized, it’ll usually seal the deal.

Invest in the Best Packaging for Your Products

Just as a barebones or boilerplate design can ruin your product research and innovation, investing in appealing and effective designs from Box Genie gives your products a chance to stand for themselves. When you design with Box Genie, it unites your aesthetic and values, and your product speaks for itself.

Sources:

Most Americans Say That the Design of a Product's Packaging Often Influences Their Purchase Decisions | Ipsos

Unboxing the Unboxing Experience: Why Are Unboxing Videos So Popular? | Better Marketing

Franke+Fiorella The Role of Packaging in Brand Identity—Not Just for Consumer Brands | frankefiorella.com