29 August 2023
We’ve already mentioned on this blog how the COVID pandemic has changed the way that businesses sell to customers. Along with changes in the landscape of political and sociological factors following the pandemic, there were also huge changes in the technological landscape.
These changes have all affected the way that customers now want to receive their products, it cannot just be that a customer buys the product on the high street and feels satisfied with the experience. To maintain return sales, businesses must now create an unboxing experience. And one that is not only good enough for the customer but also good enough for the viewers the customer is showing the unboxing to. Theoretically this would increase the need for luxury packaging, although this type of packaging is on the rise it has been severely affected by the pandemic creating a general decline in the luxury sector; ‘the high capital investment, along with several environmental concerns, hampers the growth of the global luxury packaging market.’
Unboxing is not a recent phenomenon. For decades the way that a business sold their products either made them get more or less sales from a certain type of audience. However, only recently has it become an observer sport. Now, influencers get thousands of views and hundreds of products sent to them, just to unbox them. From this experience a brand might come off really well, or they might come off really badly; so why do unboxing videos get so much attention and why do the people who make them have so much influence?
Unboxing opens a whole range of chemicals in the brain, it’s the reason why we feel so much anticipation waiting for the package to arrive from the moment we purchase it online to the moment we hear the knock on the door from the courier. There is a whole experience that brands can tap into if they’re clever enough to know how to. The unboxing video is just one way of doing this.
The top unboxing channels on Youtube are currently:
So why is unboxing still such an underrated part of a brand’s strategy? We know that brands use influencers to get a good gauge of what their customers are going to think of the product…but 50% of e-commerce consumers have found their unboxing experience underwhelming which either points to the expectations of consumers being too high, the brands they are buying from not trying hard enough to create a high quality unboxing experience, or it’s not a high enough priority for the brand to invest in.
Whichever one it is, the unboxing experience is integral to getting repeat customers. Your product could be the best in the market, but if the packaging doesn’t reflect this, your customer will choose a competitor who does give them that next-level experience. In our article It’s The Little Things: Unboxing we give you our top 3 tips for creating a high quality unboxing experience for your customers; remember that it’s not only the box you put them in but also what you put in the box that the customer wasn’t expecting.
No matter what your bottom line is, the priority should always be the customer experience because it is that which will do your sales, marketing and advertising for you. Without satisfied customers and customers who feel that they’ve got what they paid for; you’re a lost cause.
In Unbox ’til You Drop: How To Harness The Power Of Unboxing Videos we gave you our top three ways to use unboxing videos to grow your business. Because your packaging is not just a shipping device, it’s the best element that you have in your business toolkit to make sure your customers feel connected to you.
The reason that unboxing videos are so popular is not just because they harness the chemicals that buzz around our brains, it’s also because unboxing videos show us how a brand views themselves. And if that image isn’t close to how we view them? Well, that’s usually when as a consumer we realize that maybe that brand doesn’t have our best interests at heart. As a brand you might look at your product packaging and wonder why you’re not getting return customers from your e-commerce sales…stop viewing it like a business owner and start looking at it as a customer. There are logical parts of the unboxing video phenomenon, but a lot of it is just about emotions; creating enough nostalgia or desire that the viewers go out and purchase something from said brand just to experience it. Remember, unboxing videos also tap into the experience economy, something that has and will continue to shape consumerism.
To get in touch with the BPAK team and find out how we can help you to up your unboxing game, just email info@bpak.com or go to the Contact page and fill out the form.
