UX: Packaging Design

When the user experience is the most important factor in your packaging design, where do you go from there?

The packaging design is and always has been a huge part of a brand’s sale. We’ve said this since the beginning and we’ll keep saying it. Your packaging is your silent salesman, it is where the intention to purchase comes head to head with the desire to purchase. Without packaging there is nothing, there is no advertising, there is no marketing, there are definitely no sales. That is why if you haven’t already – prioritizing the user experience is necessary if you want to ensure the future of your brand.

A brand’s packaging does for the brand in-person what the website does online, it instantly gives the user an impression and an experience. Whether that experience is good or bad depends mainly on how the platform is presented and the user’s own personal style. However there are good and bad packaging experiences, just as there are good and bad website experiences. 94% of users will use a competitor if the brand’s user experience is poor, apply that to packaging. The packaging that you choose will change how your customers perceive your brand, doing this means that you have a better chance of increasing first-time sales and returning customers.

There is a reason why brands now include packaging in the user experience part of their marketing. As well as the website and social media presence of a brand, their packaging is a key part of the experience economy, (which you can read more about in the article Unforgettable: The Experience Economy available on the BPAK blog) which creates not only a great memory for the customer but will also drive the creation of community within the brand. However bear in mind that compared to 2020, price is an even more important criteria – up by 11%. Companies have to give a high quality experience for a product that doesn’t bankrupt their target market, offering a competitive advantage to others in the sector, retaining current customers while inciting new ones to purchase from them. 

Sustainability is also a huge factor in the experience economy, although consumers who will actually pay more for sustainable products are higher in developing nations. Considering that community is becoming a more important factor in which brand individuals will align themselves with, it’s important that brands are able to offer a community with ethics that reflect the ways that the markets are moving. From a marketing perspective, creating an effective user experience for individuals that reflect that brand’s community and core values, is a great way to retain business.

So, why is the user experience so important? Here are some facts that do all the showing, not telling:

• 61% of consumers get more excited about a parcel arriving if it is branded
• 52% of consumers are likely to purchase again from a retailer if their parcel arrives in premium packaging
• 27% of consumers won’t purchase from a retailer if their packaging is unsustainable
• Customer loyalty can increase by 40% if there is personalization on the packaging
• 65% of consumers said that they would use connected packaging

When it comes to the user experience in your packaging, it is vital to understand that the user comes first. And as the saying from Mr Selfridge goes: in terms of style, the customer is always right. If your customer doesn’t like how something looks, they will go somewhere else to find what they want. In this way, packaging is more than ever the key to return business for your brand.

If you would like packaging that makes the user experience something consumers will remember and come back to you for more, get in touch with our team of packaging experts on info@bpak.com