I know what you’re thinking…why should I bother spending precious budget and time on something that is going to be thrown away 95% of the time?! In short, your packaging is the first thing a customer sees when buying your product or searching for your product in the shop, so not only does it need to make a good first impression, but it also needs to stand out from the countless other brands sitting on that shelf!
First impressions are everything!
Grabbing the attention of your potential buyer to pick up your product instead of a competitor is the main reason you need your packaging to make a great first impression! Initially this is done by having packaging that is graphically well designed, but also designed well from a construction of the box point of view. For example, there is no point having a box that looks great visually but it’s construction is not fit for purpose…like having a liquid in a paper bottle(!)
Design is KING
The visual design of your packaging needs to obviously be on brand but also make a potential buyer want to pick it up, so needs to be eye-catching, easy to read and obvious at a glance what the product is and why they should be buying yours over someone elses! Sometimes this is done with bright, vivid graphics or photos, sometimes this is done with the ‘less is more’ approach, utilising strong contrasting colours or large typefaces.
The visual design isn’t everything!
As important as the visual design of your packaging is, it isn’t the only thing you should be thinking about! The material your packaging is made from plays a huge part in its appeal to your client, as once the client has picked your product up it needs to feel good quality and built for purpose. For example, do you want the box to be very smooth to match the sleek bottle of gin enclosed or does the packaging want to have a very rough, earthy, tactile feel to accentuate the environmentally friendly, homemade soap product inside.
Don’t forget about the functionality!
So, you have caught their attention, they have picked up the box and they love the feel of it so are buying it…yay! Now you need to make sure the packaging functions properly once when they get it home, choice of material is a huge part of this as need to make sure that the product inside is nice snug and has not smashed to pieces because the thickness of the fluted box was wrong. Also, there are hundreds of different standard fluted box styles and endless possibilities shapes, sizes and combinations of materials which can all affect the client’s unboxing experience.
To conclude, yes, it is very likely your packaging will be thrown away withing minutes of being opened. However, before that happens your packaging needs to go through a huge journey before it gets there…so it is most certainly worth spending your precious budget and time on it! You never know, if you really get your packaging right your client may end up keeping the box and reusing it for something else around the house which then it becomes free advertising for you. Read more about our packaging services.
