The Importance of Great Package Design for Ebay Selling
When strolling around the supermarket, customers don’t have enough time to analyze every product they are interested in. That’s why they often take shortcuts when making decisions about their daily groceries. Did you know however just how much of a factor great package design is when it comes to influencing customer decisions?
We all know that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but judging the product by its packaging is still a very popular shopping shortcut, used by billions of consumers around the world. That’s why top brands always use stylish and beautiful packaging that perfectly fits the products they’re selling.
Great Package Design Improves Brand Awareness and Average Order Values
Packaging is a very powerful branding tool. It tells your consumers why your product is different and gives them the unique endorphin-fueled experience of unwrapping a perfect gift. Product packaging is very important for new startup companies. They are still building their brand image and they need a unique feature that will have a direct impact on its recognition.
Implementing great package design is one way to do this. Not only does it help build brand awareness particularly on sales channels such as eBay. Adopting great package design principles also increases average order value per customer. This can be no bad thing in the competitive world of retail sales and online shopping.
eBay is Not So Different From Regular Retail Businesses
Unfortunately, many eBay retailers aren’t interested in using product packaging for improving their brand recognition. They just wrap their products in the first piece of paper or cardboard they find. By doing this they are not using the acclaimed marketing benefits of product packaging.
If you list some of the eBay help pages that deal with product packaging, you’ll realize that they only teach you how to protect your products from damages that may occur during shipment. They tell you to use the boxes of appropriate size and to use enough packaging material and duct tape.
Yet what about the package design and its impact on your brand? In order to become successful eBay entrepreneur you need to create the same experience for your customers as if they were buying your products in branded stores.
Why is the Unboxing Experience so Important?
Have you ever been swayed to purchase an item because it has an awesome box? That perfume at the airport or a new electrical gadget for the kitchen? Remember vinyl records and what a big deal album covers used to be? The concept is that awesome packaging and artwork simply sells.
The moment your customer starts opening the package they’ve received, should be sacred for any eCommerce business (including the eBay sellers). It is the most direct touch point between the salesperson and the customer. It’s the first moment when the customer can check whether all the things you’ve said online are true, and we all know how important first impressions are in the retail industry.
How to Create a Unique Unboxing Experience?
The unique unboxing experience can only be initiated by the thoughtful selection of packaging materials and designs. Every well-branded package contains several elements that all add up to the thrill customers feel when opening it. These package design elements in most shipped products will include.
Designing The Retail Box
Main shipping box is the biggest and the most important element of every package. A box gives you a great opportunity to create the wow effect and you can do it by branding it with company colors or product photos and graphics. These printing services will drastically boost your brand recognition.
Ever wondered why shoppers get so excited by receiving items in awesome boxes? For example Apple goes to great lengths to ship their products in awesome and fairly expensive packaging designs. It works though as customers feel genuinely thrilled by the unboxing experience.
Tissue Paper and Decorative Interiors
When your customers open the product box, they will face additional dose of mystery and adrenalin rush if the product is wrapped in a colored or custom printed tissue paper.
Use Box Fillers for Fragile Products
More fragile products need to be sent together with large amounts of box fillers, to avoid breakage during the shipment. Bubble wrap is probably the most popular filler and many people like to hypnotically pop those small bubbles.
In spite of the bubble wrap’s popularity it is definitely not the most visually appealing filler, so we recommend you to use excelsior or crinkled paper, especially if you’re selling luxury products.
Other Great Package Design Techniques
Use Stickers and Labels
Using stickers and eye catching labels are versatile and affordable retail tactics. Shiny stickers also attract customer attention and looks great on cardboard and wooden boxes for instance.
Pack Additional Promotional Materials
Feel free to pack promotional material together with the product. You can use business cards, as well as colorful leaflets with top-quality images of other products from your offer.
Adding extra promotions in packaging designs can increase the average order value. This is because the customer might proceed to make a second order. Purely because their original product contained further relevant promotional materials that excited them.
Implement Branded Receipts
Most online stores send receipts with their products and although you’re not obliged to do that on eBay, you can use this opportunity for earning a few more points for your brand. Send receipts in a closed folder with a printed company logo.
Try Custom Bespoke Notes
Handwritten custom note gives a personal touch to the whole transaction and reminds your customers that they’re dealing with an honest and thoughtful person. These kind of retail experiences embody trust and respect in the brand that you are trying to build and grow.
Integrating Colored Tape
Using colored tape should complement the overall colors of the packaging and it should hold the package firmly together.
Shipping Extra Gifts
A small gift is a nice surprise that can drastically improve the overall unboxing experience. For example, you can send some durable candies together with your product, or promotional merchandize like key chains or bottle openers.
Using Product Samples
When you sell a product to your customer you already know a lot about them and their interests. Use this information and send your customers a sample of other products from your offer that might interest them. Both of the above package design techniques can enhance the customer experience and lead to significant increases in average order value.
Final Thought
Of course, when creating your product package you don’t need to use all of these elements. Several well-combined elements will make your package unforgettable and it’ll motivate your customers to order more products and spread the word about the goods you are selling.
Experienced digital and retail sales entrepreneurs know that making the current customers more loyal is much easier and more affordable than acquiring new leads and prospects. This holds true on auction sites such as eBay as well as on more conventional store fronts.
This recent survey determined that 4 out of 10 customers share the image of the delivered package on their social media profiles. The value of premium packaging and great package design extends beyond customer experience and serves as a powerful tool for initiating highly effective word-to-mouth marketing that cannot be understated in 2017.
