Three Proven Ways to Increase Sales with Custom Packaging

Primary packaging has emerged as a cornerstone for protecting, containing, and informing consumers of the product on sale. For some companies, branding and logistics have also led to the creation of secondary packaging that help distributors ship products safely. Beyond swinging purchase decisions, did you know that the way you package your products can also increase your sales?

Custom packaging helps businesses to get personal by capturing the buyers’ attention even before deciding to purchase the product. We believe that your business needs to include custom packaging as a sales strategy, with labels, custom shipping tape, promotional stickers on boxes, and tissue paper serving to make a prospective customer buy your product.

The aim is to gain brand loyalty, create awareness of the brand and facilitate customer retention. One of the merits of sending your products in beautiful custom packaging is increased customer engagement, which, in most cases, will even prompt the recipients of your package to go to your primary storefront and/or website to look at other products.

Packaging has evolved from the traditional “shop window” approach to the modern and customer-centric custom packaging where the focus is on brand communication, customer service, and sales promotion. If you want your brand to influence buying decisions and meet customer-specific needs such as packaging design and adaptability, your custom packaging must be unique, true to your brand identity, and work hard to both protect AND sell your product.

Providing your customers with unique custom packaging will create a marked, first-hand impression before they even decide to purchase the product. Imagery or illustrations, textures, and new print technology embellishments on labels, boxes, bags, tissue, and tape certainly improves your company’s value chain. 

You may own the product and the brand, but it is the print innovations, materials, and techniques to develop custom packaging that engage with your market and create trust between your customer and your brand. Apart from creating a cohesive brand experience, custom packaging must serve to influence customers’ buying decisions. Without branded custom packaging, there is no way to shore up your efforts at gaining brand recognition, and you stand to lose customers to competitors who have gained trust through consistent, familiar, strong branding.

Here are three ways to increase your sales with custom packaging, boosting your brand’s professional image, and promoting customer loyalty.

Embrace that Killer First Impression

Change is inevitable; so goes the philosophical saying. No matter who you are, what you do, or where you are, at one point in time, technology will catch up with your business, and your everyday, store-visiting customers will ‘disappear’. The customer will go online and you will no longer have the impetus of face-to-face communication at the store explaining the details of your product and brand.

Your custom printed label is a powerful venue that directly communicates to your customers. Custom packaging is where you tell your brand’s story. Colors, patterns and design must be clearly reflected to delight the customer. It’s important to make your customers feel special and custom packaging allows you to include a personalized experience that creates an instant emotional connection.

75% of the Gen Z consumers prefer shopping online. Currently, online shopping constitutes 40% of sales standing at an annual $150 billion. Using custom packaging will help create a personal connection with this group and others tired of the daily walks to the stores.

For example, think of that consistent eye contact from a friend, a neighbor, a colleague, your spouse. You’ll take this as a sign of confidence and trust and this is what happens with customers. When selling a product, the first physical contact that the customer has with your brand is its external packaging. Get it wrong and it is highly likely that you lose the customer. Who knows, you might end up losing 100 customers following negative reviews from an initial purchase, just because the design and quality of the tape, the tissue paper, or the label just wasn’t right.

A custom printed bag that is built with materials that preserve the freshness of your product versus something that is less protective not only makes your product degrade faster—negative experiences that stem from spoiled products will damage your reputation and hurt future sales. The addition of custom printed tissue to make packages appear as gifts makes customers feel special, creating a connection between the brand and the customer. This also adds a personal touch as the custom packaging will create a unique and tactile experience.

Tap Into Emerging Packaging Trends

Packaging should lead to the establishment of a personal relationship between your company and brand, and the consumers. The current surge in e-commerce means that packaging should not be based on emerging design trends. This also means that primary and secondary packaging must rely on changing consumer and technological needs to help evolve your brand. When analyzing emerging technological trends, you should first consider the following questions:

• Are the new design trends creating any strategic leverage for sales and marketing?
• Are new packaging technologies improving or affecting supply chain and value?
• Will the new packaging paradigm eliminate constraints in delivering products to customers?
• Are the new design approaches creating an immersive experience between the product and the customer?

With these questions in mind, you are better positioned to analyse how custom packaging enables your clients to gain information about the product. Always look at custom packaging as a valuable asset that is not merely a static brand collateral. Leverage new packaging technologies that amplify all your marketing and sales efforts. For example, advances in augmented reality can help aggrandize the unboxing experience, making memorable touchpoints that increase social shares and word-of-mouth.

Brand loyalty also goes hand-in-hand with the use of sustainable, branded packaging as more people consider changing their packaging options in line with growing environmental concerns.

And finally….

Keep It Simple!

Oftentimes, wanting the “best” results complicates things. This means stretching timelines, countless revisions on artwork and mockups, many designer’s hours clocked and swinging from branding concept to the next. Remember, that more is not more. Save your budget by going back to basics, taking away the bells and whistles that may muddle your brand’s true self, alienating your target customers and losing prospective sales. By keeping it simple, your true identity shines, and when you are authentic, you are able to resonate more with your prospects.

Nothing puts off customers more than the lack of authenticity in the products you are selling or the packaging materials you are using. When establishing measures for custom packaging, always consider the following questions;

1. Does the custom printed label design boost my brand image?
2. Do my custom packaging initiatives drive my brand’s mission and speak to my target audience?
3. Does the way my product is packaged improve interactions between my brand and my customers?

It is important to first identify your target audience, know your competitors and identify your sales points. Also note that where your product will be placed or appear is critical in ensuring you use the right materials to make your packaging stand out as well as keep your product in the condition that you want your customers to receive it in. For primary branding, it is crucial that you present your brand as professional and authentic by making sure to use premium, high quality sheet and roll label materials.

If using custom printed labels, make certain they command a visual premium by combining stunning stocks and lamination options.