What was once just opening a plain cardboard box is now a shareworthy experience.
If you are selling items online, the unboxing experience should be a huge consideration when it comes to packaging your products. Having a standout unboxing experience can elevate your products, generate positive customer reviews, and increase the chances of your products being shown on social media or YouTube. It’s worth spending a little extra on creating unique custom ecommerce packaging that will upgrade the unboxing of your products.
Why is the unboxing experience so important?
For new customers, the unboxing of their ecommerce package is the first hands-on impression of your brand. It’s important that this experience matches or exceeds their expectations based on your website, branding, and prices. This experience can have a huge influence on whether or not your customer will repurchase from your business, leave a review on your website, or share about you on social media.
Let’s look at some statistics that prove how important your packaging and unboxing experience really is.
According to Dotcom Distribution, 40% of consumers will share an image of your packaging on social media if it is unique or branded. 61% say they are much more likely to repeat a purchase of a luxury product if it comes in premium packaging. And 35% of consumers report that they watch unboxing videos.
This makes it clear that having unique, premium packaging and a memorable unboxing experience are directly related to sales and social sharing.
Here are some ideas to help you create shareworthy packaging for your online purchases:
An Opening Surprise
Keeping the exterior of your packages plain might be an advantage, as you don’t want to display anything that might encourage porch pirates or mail theft. Shipping boxes often get dirty and tumbled around in transit which might make the outside of your boxes look less than fab.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t customize the inside of your boxes. The inside of your shipping boxes can be custom printed with colors, designs, and words that express your brand and your products. You can be creative and unique with the interior of your packaging as it gives your customers a nice surprise upon opening.
If you choose not to custom print your shipping boxes, you can customize your packaging interior in other ways. Custom printed tissue paper is an inexpensive way to add branding inside your deliveries. You can also use custom labels or cards inside your boxes to add a personal branded finishing touch. For some products, an interior layer of packaging like a box or pouch might be helpful in enhancing your presentation and keeping your items protected.
Freebies and Treats
No one is ever upset to receive a free gift. Seriously, think about it.
You don’t have to give away free product to make your customers a little happier. Try including small, simple free gifts in your packages like candy, stickers, keychains, pens, etc. Whatever type of item you think your customers might like. For the holiday season you can include a small ornament, holiday themed candy, or hot cocoa packets. For other holidays like Valentine’s Day, maybe a nice gourmet candy or Valentine card.
If your business has sample sizes of your products, those are also a great option to include in your shipments. Not only does it make customers happy, but it allows them to try a product that they might later buy the full-sized version of. Consumers don’t always want to commit to buying a new item without trying it first, especially online. Offering free samples can be a valuable way to increase your sales of a variety of items.
However you choose to include freebies in your packages, it is a welcome display of your gratitude for every customer’s purchase.
A Personal Thank You
Thank your customers with every purchase by including a thank you card inside your packaging. If you are a small business, take the time to handwrite a thank you note on your cards. Or you can print out a card with your brand’s information, a note of gratitude, and then hand sign the card or draw a fun picture.
Whether you choose to handwrite a thank you note, or include a pre-printed message card with your orders, it’s a gesture that shows your customers that you care about every single order that is placed.
Unwrapping With Care
Creating a multi-layered unboxing experience can start, literally, with layers of packaging. Instead of packing your items in a plain cardboard shipping box with bubble wrap inside, think about how you can create a longer and more unique unwrapping experience.
When someone opens their shipping box and finds their newly purchased items tumbling around inside, they might be disappointed at the lack of care for their purchase. Instead, keep products safely wrapped in protective packaging, tissue paper, or a nice box or pouch bag. Then add paper shred or tissue paper inside your box as another layer. Or you can create custom boxes with inserts to hold your products inside their shipping packaging.
Wrapping each item in a shipment individually also makes for a more fun unboxing experience. When your customer gets to take the time to unwrap every product they ordered individually, it creates a higher appreciation of their purchase. It feels more “gift-like” and special when they get to literally unwrap their products.
Post-Purchase Follow Up
One of the most important ways to impress your customers and keep them coming back to shop with your business is to not ignore them after they make a purchase! Be sure to get your customer’s email address, phone number, or address with every purchase so you will have the opportunity to send them marketing and promotions later on.
Keeping in touch with your customers also gives you the opportunity to ask them to post a product review, leave feedback, or even ask them to share photos of your products and tag your profile on social media. Many customers won’t leave a review or share a photo unless they are prompted to do so, and it doesn’t hurt to ask!
Don’t forget to keep your brand active on social media to encourage engagement with your customers which in turn can increase your social shares and referrals. There are many ways to use social media to increase your marketing efforts and having shareworthy packaging is one of the best ways to get featured on YouTube or social media.
Contact the Professionals
The first step to creating custom packaging for a shareworthy unboxing experience is to give your ideas to a company that can bring them to life. Contact Morgan Chaney to connect with an experienced packaging consultant and get started on your custom branded packaging!
