How Product Packaging Affects Consumers’ Buying Decision?
With more choices being available to the customer, the focus on packaging is shifting from just a means to protect the product to a way of creating product differentiation. The fact that there is a direct correlation between product packaging and sales have been corroborated by multiple studies focusing on the effect of packaging on customer buying behaviour.
Consumers often make snap judgements when making purchases.
As per a business insider study, first impressions generally take 7 seconds to formulate a judgement based on quick information. Another study conducted by Paper and Packaging Board and IPSOS shows that 7 in 10 consumers agree that packaging influences their buying decisions. In this case, Packaging becomes the deciding factor of whether a consumer makes a purchase or not.
Packaging influence is Subconscious. Packaging as the silent salesman is the only communication between a product and the final consumer at the point of sales.
Factors that make your brand stand out:
- Icons
Packaging that includes brand icons taps into the hearts and minds of consumers. Icons on packaging make it instantly recognizable. Emotions are often connected to brand icons as memories and feeling can be brought on sight, leading to long-term relationships between the brand and the consumer
- Aesthetics
Effective packaging design can help drive the attention of a consumer resulting in more time looking at attractive packaging when making purchase decisions. There are many ways to unify your brand across all communications with consumers. You can do this by focusing on:
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- Typography
- Colour
- Image
- Packaging Style
- Packaging Material
Ways in which product packaging can affect your sales:
- Protects product:
Protection is the basic metric that a packaging should stand up to. Companies spend your valuable time and money on research and development. No one would want to risk damaging their product in transit or in-store.
- Creates Ripple effect:
With the increasing accessibility of the Internet, the effects of word of mouth have increased tremendously. A study focused on young consumer behaviour suggested that 74% of young adults are more likely to share a photo of product packaging through social media. This helps a company increase its reach to different areas.
- Reflects quality:
When the packaging is attractive and conveys an appealing and convincing value proposition to the prospective buyer, the product it represents usually sells more often.
Another research highlighted that 52% of online consumers are more turn to a company for another purchase if the product is received in a premium packaging. 1 in 3 consumers would share photos of packaging on social media if the packaging is interesting or gift like.
- Informs prospective buyers
Consumers generally appreciate companies who place messages on product packaging to inform them of facts and other valuable information about products they are thinking about buying. Transparency in regards to product information helps build confidence amongst the consumers about their choices.
- Offsets price
Consumers tend to spend a little more money to buy products from companies that present good looks and favourable values on product packaging.
This shows that no matter how good your product is, if the packaging does not reflect the high-quality product in it, the product won’t be able to appeal to the buyer.
Route to an Outstanding Packaging:
- Go Green
Sustainable packaging is popular among today’s consumers. Packaging that fits well in the circular economy, such as using recycled or recyclable material, will not only be a bonus for the environment but also for the business.
- Provide an unboxing experience to your audience
You don’t just sell a customer a product but also experience. This experience should start right from delivery of a parcel. Better unboxing experience you provide to your customer, the better their feedback would be to the overall product experience.
- Keep your packaging relevant
It is important to make sure that the design you use on your packaging speaks to the demographic you are targeting. The clearer and more specific a design is, the more likely it will catch the eye of the consumer. A design that is used for soft drinks would look completely out of place on toothpaste. This will create a conflict potentially confusing the customer into thinking that what is in the packaging is not what they really want.
- Keep it simple
A customer looks for a product packaged with a clearer, more concise message that’s easier to decipher. If the product details are not clear or easily readable, it is highly likely that the customer won’t make that purchase.
- Think out of the box
Creative packaging ideas make it more likely that consumers will share their experiences with others.
This necessitates a company to revisit its packaging strategy and not just look at it from a functionality standpoint but also from that of marketing and sales.