Are you an e-commerce business looking for ways to increase organic traffic to your online store, grow your customer base, and ultimately boost sales and revenue? If so, your top priority in 2023 should be revamping your packaging designs and aesthetics. Eye-catching packaging helps your products and brand stand out in the constantly growing and evolving online marketplace. Here are 5 ways good packaging can turn your fortunes in the eCommerce space:
1. Creating an impression of good quality and care
First impressions are everything in any relationship, including brand-customer relationships. Good packaging:
- Makes it easy for customers to take the product out of the box.
- Gives users essential product information (e.g. user manuals and expiration information) that guides the customer through the installation and/or use of the product.
- Keeps the customer safe by outlining a product’s ingredients and taking precautions where necessary.
- Builds anticipation, meets expectations and gets the customer excited to see the actual product. This provides the customer with an unforgettable unboxing experience.
- Keeps the products safe during shipping, minimizing damage, return rates and bad reviews.
In short, a well-thought-out packaging design gives the customer the impression that your brand is meticulous, values quality, and cares about its customers.
2. Building a strong brand identity
Does your e-commerce business have a well-known brand identity? A brand identity includes everything that customers associate with your brand and products, including the name, images, labels, colors, font, logo, motto, etc. Your brand identity shapes a customer’s opinion of your product and helps differentiate your products from your competitors. Good packaging showcases every little detail that defines your brand identity, making it clear to the buyer/user.
3. It’s a form of marketing
Your packaging serves as a small, targeted, low-cost billboard that you can use to communicate promotional information to the world. It gives you a chance to convert some people who interact with the package, from the shippers to the end user’s family/friends. You can also share marketing messages through inserts, such as thank-you notes, samples, gifts, and coupons. Leaflets are a pleasant surprise that make the customer feel seen, valued and valued.
4. Creates an ideal opportunity for cross-selling
If you understand the pain points and challenges that your ideal customers struggle with, then you already know what other products (besides what you currently offer) would interest them. You can create an additional revenue stream by offering them additional products. Your packaging gives you a good platform to introduce and promote other complementary products to existing customers. You can also use the platform to promote stagnant or slow-moving stock.
5. Good packaging helps you leverage influencer marketing and UGC
Social media users trust User Generated Content (UGC) more than any promotional content you can think of. UGC gives your ecommerce business the social proof and authenticity on which to build your social media marketing strategy. Influencer marketing, on the other hand, is when your online brand partnered with a more popular online brand (usually celebrities) to promote your products. Good packaging helps optimize your influencer and UGC marketing by enhancing the visual appeal of their unboxing photos and videos.
Trending packaging ideas 2023
Before we highlight the key packaging trends and ideas for 2023, we should first mention that working with professional packaging companies will increase your chances of marketing success. For instance, packaging solutions from OriginPac are brought to you by world-class engineers, designers and brand managers who help online businesses thrive through the right packaging. The professionals work with you from the moment you come up with an idea, develop your product and deliver it to the end user. That way, packaging becomes an integral part of your product development process, rather than an afterthought.
That said, here are 5 ideas that will improve your packaging in 2022:
I. Personalized Baskets: This trend taps into customers’ hunger for gift baskets. Instead of wrapping individual products, this trend allows you to pack a complete gift basket that contains a little bit of everything your ideal customer needs. Think of a basket with cuddly toys, mugs and dried fruit, among other things.
II. Personalized Thank You Cards: Add these cards as a way to express gratitude.
III. Cross-selling brochures and coupons: You insert brochures or coupons that promote other products in your catalog as a way to try to make a purchase.
- Trial Packs: E-commerce sellers are now adding slow-moving and new product trial packs to the packaging of fast-moving products, creating awareness and increasing interest in the new/staggered product.
- Cartoons on packaging: Cartoons have a special charm that gives shoppers a cocktail of good feelings – fun, nostalgia, fantasy, etc. This charm can enhance your brand’s personality.
- Bright and fun decorations: Instead of outlining the ingredients in a boring, traditional way, illustrate them in playful, bright, fun, and eye-catching colors, images, and fonts.
VII. Consumer self-affirmation: Make sure your packaging makes customers proud of their purchase. Give them a chance for self-affirmation by letting them reuse the packaging and grab people’s attention (in a good way) in the process.
VIII. Smart, sustainable packaging: Customers are now environmentally conscious. Make sure your packaging is recyclable or reusable.
A thriving e-commerce business in 2023 needs the best packaging solutions in terms of quality, design and usability. You need to delight consumers with excellent packaging for optimal customer satisfaction, customer retention and business returns.
