You should not judge a book by its cover, right? Which means you shouldn’t attach value to something based on outward appearance. Well, that saying doesn’t sit well with most customers, as they attach a lot of value to products based on its outward appearance, i.e. product packaging. If your product is great and your packaging is poor, you would have a tough time gaining new customers and you stand the risk of losing existing ones to brands that offer a good enough product with better packaging.
How Products Are Packaged to Pass the 7 Seconds Impression Judgment
Read on to learn strategic packaging tips used to catch the attention of new customers and to maintain the emotional attachment built with existing users.
Images are Powerful
The human brain is more attracted to a visual representation of information and it processes images 60,000 times faster than texts. When the right image is properly placed on the product it attracts the target audience and sales can be initiated.
Product designers use these three image strategies to convince you into making a purchase. They attract you, trigger your emotions and then speak to your desires. For instance, when you walk into a store to buy underwear and you don’t have a specific brand you’re looking for, even when you do, you can fall for this. If competing brands are hung side by side, you are likely to get drawn to the one that has the right visual appeal and at this point, your interest is captured, the packaging has succeeded in attracting you.
When you move closer to that product and you see a printed image of someone wearing that underwear, the perfectly photoshopped studio image triggers your emotions, you begin to imagine yourself looking cool in the underwear, just like the model. Now what happens when you realize it is not just some unknown model, but your favourite actor or actress adorning the underwear, you are likely to purchase it. This is because the package could speak to your desires and establish a connection between you and the product by exploring your emotional attachment.
Using Appropriate Colors
Previously I talked about attraction as the first thing that initiates sales. Your choice of colors might be what makes your target audience say no to your products. Colors are known to evoke certain emotions in people and you need to spark just the right kind of emotions to draw your audience towards your product. For example, green is the color of the environment, if you have an eco-friendly product, you might want to add that color to your design. Orange and yellow evoke happy moments and are often used for fun activities such as in vacation ads. Invest your resources into getting a product designer with a knowledge of color psychology.
Package Shape and Material
The package design should be creative and unique. It must not be the usual rectangular shape. Be creative, add some innovation that does not affect the product usability. Car manufacturers invest a lot of resources in exquisite car exterior designs that you don’t get to see while inside your car. This design attracts customers before they begin to explore how nice the interior and other functionalities are. So, get your packaging right, how your beverage-can sits and looks on the shelf is just as important as the liquid content in it.
More consumers are paying attention to environmentally friendly products, so if you can, you should design for reusability and recyclability. Imagine your target audience using your product in their natural environment and design for their comfort. Adding features such as a solid base to your paper bag so it sits uprightly and adding a pre torn “tear here” would make a first-time user a returning customer.
Adding some transparency in your product package also helps to attract customers. People like to see what they want to buy, building that anticipation by offering them a glimpse can prove useful.
Conclusion
Product packaging is a vital form of your business marketing strategy and if you don’t get it right, you would miss out on some ROI. You could have a great product that is exactly what customers want, but your poor packaging sends negative feedback to them, making them attach the wrong value to your product even without using it. What’s most challenging is that this judgment is passed in about 7 seconds, which according to Business Insider is the average time it takes for manufacturers to make a good first impression on their target audience. So, you need to create a quick value proposition through your product packaging.
We know that getting this right is challenging, but it is not impossible. At Moe's group we apply all the above strategies and many other tips in packaging our client’s products for better sales. For more tips on how you can improve your product package, feel free to reach out to us HERE. Your product success is our full-time commitment.