In today’s competitive commerce landscape, marketers often ignore the power of custom packaging. Brand recognition is huge for growing a loyal customer base. You want people to recognize your products immediately due to the high quality packaging and creative labeling.
The successful companies know that attractive and innovative packaging is an excellent way to grub consumers’ attention, develop a connection with their customer, and increase brand loyalty. Your brand’s custom packaging can build an instant connection with the customer at the point of sale, creating an experience from the moment they put your product into their cart.
If this feels like a major undertaking, that’s because it is! But the professionals at M&R Label are here to help…
The Proof is in Custom Packaging
Customers look forward to innovative packaging and desire a fun unpackaging experience that feels more personalized and exciting.
80% of consumers have stated that their purchase intent increases for businesses offering personalized experiences. It can easily be done through custom packaging that is thoughtful and exclusive to your brand.
The world of custom labeling and premium packaging has undergone a massive transformation thanks to digital and technological innovations. These days, there are more sustainable materials to choose from, new holographic colors to get creative with, and fun recyclable alternatives.
With so many choices to make when designing your custom product packaging, it is also easy to go wrong or make mistakes. The label design experts at M&R Label are here to bring you some foolproof tips to make your product packaging look exciting, yet professional. Let’s get started!
Pro Tips for Custom Packaging Design
Understand Your Competitors
Before you start working on your packaging, conduct an audit of your industry and what your competitors are currently doing. What images, shapes, colors, or brand assets are they using? Find out what’s trending. Identify which marketing tactics have worked for them and which ones have not.
This intel will allow you to create a comprehensive strategy for your brand. You’ll want the final design will be unique and something that your target audience has never seen before.
Know Your Customers
While having your finger on the pulse of your competitors is important, knowing your customers is also critical. Who are your customers? What do they want? How do they use the product? These are all important considerations when designing custom labels and packaging geared toward your target market. Also consider the consumer’s values and speak to those if they’re relevant to your brand.
Often, packaging is repurposed for storage or organization around the house. Apple’s product packaging is seldom thrown away because it is aesthetically pleasing. Knowing how customers treat your package post usage can help you design packaging that will stay with the customer long-term!
Consider The Entire Experience
From the unboxing to product use, packaging is important across the customer’s entire journey with your product. You need to think about typography, color schemes, necessary information, and graphics. It’s important to understand and anticipate how it will look on a shelf or online on a screen.
Perfect packaging and label design will only come with a deep understanding of your company’s values. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and determine what purpose the packaging should seek to fulfill. The answer to that question will help guide you throughout the design process.
Catch The Customer’s Attention
With many products to choose from, on-shelf or via e-commerce, your brand needs to stand apart from the rest. Choosing bold colors, bright, big, and contrasting typography, as well as the shape of the package, will influence the customer’s attention and purchase decision.
72% of customers claim they have picked up products because they liked the packaging. Also, remember in the social media age, whatever grabs attention gets shared and talked about!
Don’t Go Overboard
Labels and packaging both have limited real estate which means content should be appropriate, well-planned, and to the point. Cluttered labels and packaging confuse customers, they may miss out on your products benefits or feel overwhelmed. Design can feel exciting, having so many options in front of you like a kid in a candy store; it can be tempting to want to do everything. But they can actually negatively affect your goals.
Any relevant information needs to be written clearly so it can be spotted easily from a distance. Use clear visuals but not too many. Overdoing the colors or the appearance can adversely impact the customer’s intent to buy. This is why it’s helpful to have a product marketing and label design professional guide you to keep it tasteful.
Match Labeling to Your Brand Identity
Custom labeling is a winning idea because it allows you to differentiate your brand identity at the point of purchase. The general goal of packaging is to feature your brand’s ideas, benefits, and values. As well as protecting the product and representing it accurately. The design should also maintain a level of consistency across the different products you sell so your brand is recognizable.
A carefully designed product with catchy fonts, quality materials, and exciting visuals will help you make a great impression! While it stands on its own, it should be reflective of all the elements of your product marketing strategy. As you can see, there are a lot of elements to consider when achieving smart design.
Do a Test Print
Nobody likes typos or faded words, they make your brand look unprofessional. With packaging being so integral to product sales, you cannot afford to make any mistakes. Once you have finalized the packaging design, conduct a test print. This way your company can experience the entire product journey; see the package, how it looks and feels, and view it from the eyes of the customer. Any changes required can be made at this stage without having incurred significant costs.
You can also schedule a small experiment to see the customers’ experience with the packaging and how it can be improved by conducting a focus group. Testing with a small number of customers could give you valuable insights regarding what they like best and what they would want different.
Partner With an Expert
Has your company aligned your packaging with your brand identity? And what about catering to the consumer’s interests? Achieving all this can be daunting and overwhelming, but it isn’t impossible when you have the right partners on your side! Smart label design and premium packaging are sure to increase your brand’s value and improve your sales numbers.
Professional custom label designers and printers can help make this job much easier. Working with a professional team like M&R Label will help you identify the best practices in the industry as we have 30+ years of experience across many industries all over the United States.
Let us help you create premium packaging that puts your products ahead of your competition!
