Imagine you’re at the grocery store, trying to buy a bottle of shampoo. There are literally dozens of options in front of you, in all sorts of colors, sizes, and shapes.
How do you decide which one to purchase?
This is the ultimate marketing dilemma—how to sell products to customers. The secret is that it all comes down to product packaging, since this is what attracts us instantly to a new product.
If you’re trying to launch a new product, or update an older one, you’ll want to focus on product package design. To learn more, keep reading to find seven helpful product design tips that can make your product more desirable to shoppers, even if there’s plenty of competition on the shelf.
1. Keep Your Box Design On Brand
When it comes to product package design ideas, it often pays to stick to what you know. If your brand is instantly recognizable, but your new packaging looks completely different, how will customers know that your company is the one behind it?
As s general rule, it pays to keep your design on brand, using the colors, fonts, and logos that your customers know and love. Sure, trying something completely new could pay off and help you attract a new audience—but it could also alienate your current customers.
Take care when deciding and spend plenty of time brainstorming, researching, and planning before making any drastic changes.
2. Think About Your Target Demographic
Next, think about your ideal customer. What sort of person buys your product most often—think about their age, location, gender, average income, and even their hobbies and interests.
Then, tailor your product design to appeal to them. For example, a product designed to appeal to young men is going to go for a very different look and feel than something aimed at kids, older women, or families.
If your design doesn’t line up with the interests of your target demographic, then you might find it hard to sell products.
3. Work With a Product Package Design Company
For small businesses, coming up with the perfect packaging can be a challenge. Large companies have entire marketing departments devoted to product packaging, so how can a family-owned company compete with that?
One of the best things you can do is hire a product package design service to assist with brand packaging. There are plenty of skilled marketing agencies out there that specialize in packaging design and can come up with amazing ideas for your new product.
While hiring an agency might seem like an additional expense, it’s likely to pay for itself over time, since the right packaging will help you sell more products.
4. Consider Your Materials
Have you thought about what materials you’ll use for your packaging? If not, you should!
Not only will materials play a big role in your packaging cost per product, but packaging also matters to customers. Shoppers prefer products and packaging made from sustainable materials—in a recent survey, 80% of consumers said it was “important or extremely important” that companies make their products more sustainable.
We know single-use plastics are wasteful and bad for the environment, so consider limiting their use. If you can use more eco-friendly packaging, you’ll help the planet—and also attract more customers.
5. Make Your Product Jump Off the Shelf
Customers have a huge array of choices when shopping, so marketing 101 says that your product needs to stand out above all others. Make it jump off the shelf and into their cart!
How can you do this? First, it helps to research your competition—what does their packaging look like?
Then, think of ways your new product can stand out. This could be bright, bold packaging, an innovative design format, or a catchy, short phrase that will draw in customers and make them want to learn more.
It’s not easy, but once you start thinking, you’re sure to come up with a clever way to get your product noticed first.
6. Your Packaging Needs to Protect Your Product
Packaging isn’t just about marketing–at its core, it needs to keep your product safe!
The worst thing is when a customer purchases a product and comes home to find it damaged, so do plenty of testing before launch to be sure your packaging can get the job done.
If you’re going to be doing lots of shipping, it needs to be able to withstand a few drops and bumps by the postman too.
7. Conduct Market Testing Before Launch
Once you’re close to launching a new design, it helps to host a few market research sessions with customers within your demographic. Show them several design options and ask them which one they prefer.
Would they buy this product? What do they like and dislike about the way it looks? This is very valuable feedback that you can use to refine your design, making improvements before it hits the store shelves.
You can arrange this on your own, but there are also lots of market research companies who can facilitate this for you.
Increase Sales With This Product Package Design Advice
Since product package design can make or break your company profits, it’s worth taking some time to consider. Use the tips above to get started, spending plenty of time planning and considering your choices.
Then, it’s time to launch your new product! To get maximal exposure, consider running a marketing and promotional campaign at the same time, helping as many people as possible learn about your new product.
With the right packaging design and some savvy marketing, your launch is sure to be a success!
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