How great packaging can lead to greater sales

Your packaging can be the first point of contact a consumer has with your brand, and it can also have an impact on your sales performance.

Attractive and engaging packaging can drive sales even when the competition is strong!

We know from years of experience in the packaging industry that choosing a packaging design can be a daunting task and one that shouldn’t be rushed.

The first thing we recommend you do is to get to know your customers, their buying behaviour, how they interact, and how they engage with your packaging. Knowing how your customers behave, interact, and engage with your packaging is your strongest advantage point.

It is fundamental for you to be able to understand how your design can directly impact your consumer's buying behaviour and the importance of getting the design right. If you don’t understand your customer's likes and dislikes then you will find it extremely difficult to reach your target audience.

How does product packaging impact consumer buying behaviour?

Many people are not consciously aware of the degree to which their emotions drive purchases, especially impulse purchases. Business owners who use packaging as a strategic marketing tool are able to tap into buying behaviour and utilise this to their advantage within their packaging design.

In fact, the ways in which packaging influences positive and negative emotions have been studied by marketers for years.

Studies discovered that viewing attractive packaging caused more intense brain activity than neutral packaging.

Attractive packaging also caused activity in the brain areas associated with reward, while unattractive packaging caused activity in areas of the brain connected with negative emotions.

Therefore it is clear that product packaging has a real influence on how we feel about products, which directly connects to our choices about what to buy.

It is crucial that businesses take their packaging design seriously as when it is done wrong, it can have a huge negative impact on your brand image, sales performance, and consumer trust.

Many factors affect consumer buying behaviour, one of these being colour. The colour of the packaging is important because it is used to differentiate your products from other competitors and even provoke certain emotions in your customers.

Different colours also symbolise different meanings to consumers. For example, orange, yellow, and purple have different meanings according to consumer perception and culture.

Furthermore, recent studies have shown that the colour red is stimulating and increases our heart rates. The colour red can also increase appetite which is why so many food and drink companies use it in their logos and packaging.

Secondly, the shape of your packaging is another important factor that influences buying behaviour. If your packaging is difficult to hold, handle, move or stack on supermarket shelves this could have a negative impact on sales.

It is important to step into your customer's shoes and think about how they would handle this packaging and could we make it better in any way

How can product packaging impact sales?

More than 7 in 10 shoppers say that packaging influences their purchase decisions and companies need to consider the impact their packaging may be having on sales.

In fact, a majority of shoppers have tried a product because its packaging caught their attention on the store shelf, highlighting the importance of using your package design to help your product stand out from the competition.

Providing the relevant information

After consumers pull an item off the shelf, they will often read the label to ensure it’s the right product for them. In this way, the information you put on your packaging plays a critical role in customers’ decision-making processes. It’s essential that you provide sufficient information and do so in an easily readable and understandable way. If your customer fails to find the information they are looking for it is likely that they will opt for your competitor's brand, which may be right next to your product on the shelf.

High-quality packaging material.

Your packaging is often the first impression that someone gets of your company, and it’s crucial you make that first impression a good one. If your packaging is high-quality, customers are more likely to associate your brand and your products with quality. High-quality packaging enforces an element of trust which again can lead to greater sales.

It’s especially important that your packaging adequately protects your products. If it does not, it can appear to customers that you do not care enough about your products and your customers.

Strong brand image

As mentioned earlier, packaging is an excellent tool for increasing brand awareness. You can prominently display your logo and other brand elements on your packaging, and the package itself can also be an element of your brand.

When customers see your packaging in the store, they’ll become aware of your brand and will be more likely to think of your company the next time they need a product you provide.

Packaging can even be an effective online marketing tool. Customers may share images of aesthetically pleasing or unique packaging on social media, which helps to boost awareness of your brand and serves as something of a recommendation from the customer posting the image.

How to design great packaging that can lead to greater sales.

First things first, let’s take a look at how to design a package for your product.

To illustrate the product packaging design process we’ll go through the five steps we always take with our clients.

1. To start things off, you will need to send samples of the product that you want to design the package for. Alternatively, you can also send pictures of the product along with full measurements.
2. The packaging supplier will then send you a quote based on the number of boxes you require, including a breakdown of costs.
3. You can then either supply your own box design or some packaging companies like ourselves will have an in-house design team that can help you realise your vision. Assisting with the design of the box, creating imaginative and memorable packaging unique to your product.
4. You’ll then receive a plain sample of the packaging to approve, allowing you to make any changes.
5. Finally, we get to the most exciting bit which is getting your approved packaging manufactured and in your hands so you can start sending it out to customers.

Have a good idea of what your customers would like

This is the most important part of designing winning product packaging. Even if you follow all the other package design best practices it won’t matter if it’s not what your customers want.

When you're creating the product packaging, make sure you're designing it for them and not yourself. If you’re not sure, why not ask them? Getting feedback from your customers is a great way to design something you’ll both be happy with.