Packaging is more than just a pretty face for your products.
Is your social media presence as distinct and branded as Fairytale Brownies? The answer is probably not – and that’s okay. They’ve spent a lot of time focused on incorporating their very specific branding into every aspect of their customer experience, including through both their social media and their packaging. It makes sense that in some cases they’d even merge the two, highlighting their custom packages, like shipping boxes, giftboxes, and food wrappers. What they’ve managed to create is a brand that is immediately recognizable to anyone who’s ever seen their product, through a combination of style, brand voice, and yes, that unforgettable violet packaging.
Maybe you’re just thinking about updating your packaging, or else you’re a smaller or newer brand looking to upgrade yours (ahem) to something a little more bespoke for the first time. Maybe you’ve even just made that jump – in which case, congratulations, that’s a huge step. Making the switch to custom packaging can feel tough on your wallet because it’s harder to tie a direct ROI to it than it is to just say “yeah, this enhances my customer’s experience with my product.” But what if I told you that using that luxe, upscale packaging in your ad can actually drive conversion? (It’s a real two-birds-one-stone scenario.)
Grab views and engagement with content unboxing videos.
You’ve probably seen an unboxing or two since they’ve become essentially ubiquitous on the internet for a variety of products from technology to skincare. Tint mentions that user-generated content produces almost seven times the engagement than content created by brands, which is why brands leverage content like user-submitted (or user-solicited, if they’re paid-for) unboxing videos to excite their audiences.
Take a look at the unboxing video Youtube content creator Delayza Naylia created for Sephora. It’s a cost-effective video to make – nothing more than a room and a webcam needed. The first thing you notice when watching this video is how casual and down-to-earth it feels. This could be a friend talking about a recent purchase she made. That tone is a great one to set when trying to gain the trust of customers who haven’t interacted with your brand before.
User-generated content is great for:
- Authentic, low-key ads that are more sincere than direct marketing
- Showing off the size, scale, and key features of your product
- Providing context for why a real person might want to purchase your stuff
Show off your custom packaging in a content unboxing video, and let potential customers see in real-time what a real person’s excited about after their purchase.
Keep them on the hook with product teases
Leaking a few items from your monthly subscription box, beauty box drop, or new product line is a great way to get customers excited about your brand. As opposed to an unboxing, which is generally third party-generated, product teases can be created directly by your team. Look no further than Birchbox (a curated monthly box that provides skincare, beauty, and fragrance samples based on a personalized survey their customers take) for how a brand can use their packaging to generate buzz.
Birchbox releases a few of the items in their otherwise very secretive monthly boxes over Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter stories. These always show off their packaging (and their partner products) in a creative and exciting way.
Birchbox clearly puts a lot of effort and money into their packaging, since it’s a good portion of their entire product. By showing it off on social media, they’re recouping some of that spend by reinvesting it in their ads. Though product teases don’t offer the same user-generated feel, drip campaigns that release one or two items before the item ships out help customers make decisions about whether or not your product feels relevant to them.
How does packaging in ads help ROI?
Every company that properly utilizes their branded packaging in ads helps contextualize and provide real-world glimpses at their product before a customer has decided to purchase it. It makes the brand more trustworthy by showing real people handling the product, which is especially important for e-commerce businesses with no physical location where a customer would otherwise be able to check out your merch first-hand.
Unboxing videos are a huge part of the internet today – you can’t get on YouTube or TikTok without running into one – so letting your brand utilize them to create sincere, authentic content for your customers (both returning and new) is a great way to boost conversion and brand recognition with a part of your business that you may have previously considered simply aesthetic.
If you’re shopping around for packaging to boost your customer experience (and maybe even for your next big marketing campaign), we hope you’ll consider Morgan Chaney for your needs. Our team of designers and packaging specialists will work with you one-on-one to provide professional, high-quality, bespoke packaging for your products – and if you’re not quite sure where to start, we’ll be with you every step of the way to ensure your product gets the love it deserves.
