Product Packaging Essentials: What Brands Should Know

While some businesses fail to see or ignore the strong connection between product packaging and branding, packaging plays a pivotal role in your sales, customers’ experience, and more.

The way brands market their goods has changed drastically over the last few years. Most businesses have turned to e-commerce to sell their products.

Additionally, there is an increase in demand for product packaging solutions due to logistic and shipping processes and the drive to create a unique customer touchpoint.

According to a Mordor Intelligence report, the packaging market will grow to a whopping $61.55 billion by 2025.

Product Packaging is More Than the Container

Packaging isn’t only used to protect products during shipping, but it’s also used as a marketing opportunity. Product packaging is a huge aspect of your brand that can impact your customers’ experience and loyalty.

However, many businesses fail to see the strong connection between product packaging and branding. If your product packaging design isn’t done well, it won’t reach its full potential no matter how great your product is.

While it’s important that packaging protects the product, businesses can also create branded packaging to improve brand awareness, increase sales and profitability, and delight and or impress customers.

The product packaging process includes thoughtful selection of packaging materials and how you’ll present your product to consumers in the best possible way.

Packaging encapsulates your brand’s first impression to customers. It should stand out and be memorable.

Product Packaging – The Silent Salesman in Retail

Product packaging is important for both physical and online retailers. There can be a thousand brands in your industry that have the same offers as your business, but you can still stand out from the crowd through packaging.

With online retailers, customers have a limited hands-on experience with products before purchasing. Packaging can help online retailers captivate their audience, win over customers, and build strong buyer loyalty.

Studies show that when online merchants invest in top-tier packaging, nearly half (40%) of their consumers will usually come back and make repeat purchases. With clever and eye-catching packaging, you are showcasing that your brand is serious about its business. Customers will also become more excited to receive your product.

Moreover, people today love to share their experiences on social media. If your packaging is attractive, high quality and manages to excite or impress customers, they’ll share it on their social media channels, which is great for your brand/product visibility and sales.

People may also document themselves “unboxing” your product. This type of user generated content fuels immense growth, sales and advertising success as your brand and products are shared widely among different audiences.

What to Consider When Choosing a Product Packaging Design

To catch your customers’ attention and increase the chances of getting repeat customers, you must create a product packaging design that stands out. Here are some elements you should consider when designing your packaging to create an effective design that really appeals to customers:

Stability – Choose the right materials that can safely hold and transport your product. You can choose from materials like paper, aluminum, glass, flexible packaging, or rigid packaging.
Branding – Use bespoke color combinations, imagery, and typography to make your brand easily identifiable.
Legalities – Make sure your product packaging follows your jurisdiction’s regulations. If your product is edible, add the best before dates. If your product is electrical, state the voltage and usage warnings.
Sustainability – Switch to eco-friendly packaging wherever possible. The market today has tons of sustainable packaging options, from recycled plastics to biodegradable packing peanuts.
Information – Feature compelling and informative packaging copy in your products. You can add catchy slogans, allergy information, product instructions, and even QR codes.

To dive deeper into creating and designing the best packaging for your brand, check out the infographic below by Meyers. It’ll serve as your product packaging guide, featuring the various types of product packaging, notable product packaging features, types of print for packaging, and how to put your product packaging idea together.