There is one innovative idea marketing professionals around the globe have been keeping a secret—until now.
According to a study conducted by the Paper and Packaging Board in conjunction with IPSOS, 72% of consumers agree packaging can influence their purchasing decision. This study and others have highlighted the importance of having a packaging design that can grab consumer’s attention.
Would you like to connect to your consumers while growing your market share? If so, keep reading this guide on how custom cardboard boxes can help your company today.
How Custom Cardboard Boxes Can Help Your Company
Gerald Zaltman, a professor at Harvard, says that 95% of purchasing decisions are made subconsciously. If the decision to buy isn’t a conscious one, how can we connect to consumers’ subconscious to sway their decision?
By making your products speak for themselves with custom retail packaging boxes.
Custom packaging opens up an array of possibilities for you as a company. By selecting specific color schemes and other designs, you can connect to customers on an emotional level. The result of this is an increased perception of your brand name.
Be careful, though—this is something you need to get right. Bad package design can do a lot more harm than good.
A great example of a packaging design flaw was in 2009 with Tropicana. The company spent $35 million on a new advertising campaign that changed its packaging. Within two months of the new packaging release, sales dropped by 20%, resulting in a $30 million loss.
To avoid costly mistakes like Tropicana, follow along with this guide on how custom gift boxes can help your business.
Increased Exposure
An increase in brand exposure can be expected when releasing new custom packaging. This can come from customers talking about it via word of mouth due to spiked interest in the product. If your custom packaging is a hit, you can also gain exposure to social media where consumers will be talking about it.
Currently, there are 3.2 billion social media users worldwide, meaning you could have up to a 45% global penetration rate. According to a study, 78% of salespeople who use social media outsell their competition who don’t.
There are a few ways to increase your exposure on social media. One idea is to create a game your consumers can play online. You can potentially offer prizes for specific achievements completed within the game.
Another way would be creating custom printed stickers. Many companies have had success with sticker marketing campaigns, a form of guerilla marketing. Reddit, which has 35 million users and 2.8 billion page views per month right now, started with $500 worth of stickers.
Brand Recognition
Brand recognition comes along with increased exposure to your product. Consumers will be talking about your brand more due to the custom gift boxes.
Studies have shown children as young as three years of age remember the brand name of a company when they were shown the brand logo, packaging, or brand character. This is an astonishing result—imagine them being exposed to the brand their whole childhood or even into adulthood.
Make sure to post images of your new packaging on your social media pages as well to further increase brand recognition. As social media use steadily increases, the use of social media as a selling tool is also increasing. It is crucial to stand out online and separate your product from the competition.
Sustainability
According to the 2018 Sustainable Packaging Study conducted by Packaging Digest, 64% of respondents are taking measures to reduce packaging weight or material use.
Another study concluded 80% of respondents said they felt companies designing environmentally conscious products was important to extremely important.
These studies and others are showing an increasing trend among consumers. People want more sustainable products and packaging that will help the future of society, not destroy it.
With consumers going green, companies need to capitalize on this and market their product as “green” or “sustainable.” This will lead to an increase in subconscious recognition that will most likely lead to higher sales. If you print your custom designs on recycled cardboard boxes, your customers just may thank you with a purchase.
Quality
The quality of the custom gift box will also have a dramatic impact on the consumer.
Studies have shown packaging serves a critical role in marketing, especially when it comes to quality. Consumers view the quality of the package of a product directly links to the quality of the product that is being sold.
The packaging is the first thing the consumer sees, and it is vital to display your product as being of high quality. You have probably heard the saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” When it comes to custom packaging, consumers will most definitely judge the product by its package.
Be careful not to go overboard, or consumers may look over it with the assumption the product is too expensive. You need to find a good balance of quality and meeting consumer expectations.
Functionality
Custom packaging can also benefit your business by protecting and securing your product.
A good custom gift box will also be functional, protecting the product while also putting it on display for the world to see. This is a tough task for any company, how can you protect the product while displaying it?
Think about Apple, the company known for making high-end technology products. The iPhone packaging is a carefully crafted piece of art that Apple has put a lot of time and resources into. They have created an experience for users to open the product, giving them sensory stimulation.
Apple is a company that posted a $22.2 billion profit, the highest of any company ever. If they put that much effort into their packaging, the value of the investment speaks for itself.
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You can see why companies are putting so much time and resources into making custom cardboard boxes. The results are undeniable. Most consumers are subconsciously choosing brands based on the packaging of the product.
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