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First impressions are essential. This is especially true for small businesses looking to grow and nurture loyal customers.
Countless brands try to distinguish themselves from the sea of competition, and your business must do the same.
How do you do this?
The first thing a customer sees when receiving your product is the packaging. What better way to make an excellent first impression and distinguish yourself from similar products than to have a custom rigid box?
Packaging tailored specifically for your product is excellent for smaller businesses to stand out from the rest of the competition and build the customer base they need to grow.
Tells Your Brand’s Story to its Fullest
A product without good branding will not get you very far.
You can have the best product on the market with great branding on the item itself, but how will the customer know this without having a custom box to go with it?
Let’s look at your brand story through the analogy of the typical three-act structure in movies where the customers become the viewers.
The packaging is your introductory act, the product is your rising action, and a customer’s final thoughts are the resolution.
Going back to first impressions, how else will you get the viewer to continue watching a movie without a great introduction? If your opening is dull, this will create a domino effect that will hurt the rest of the acts.
The same goes for packaging and products.
A great product deserves great packaging to go along with it. When you align both, this will create the best possible chance for customers to want your product and for you to retain the customers that you do gain.
Elevates Customer Experience
So aside from first impressions and telling a complete story of your brand, why else are custom boxes beneficial?
When the customer receives your product for the first time within an aesthetically pleasing branded box or gift box, their excitement will be at an all-time high to see what’s inside.
Again, we reiterate this as this is so important; your product might be great, but if you don’t respect it with equally great packaging, you will unlikely get return customers.
If you still don’t believe this, the following statistics might convince you otherwise:
- 60-80% of consumers would not return to a business without the “wow” factor in packaging, even if they were satisfied with the product.
- 61% say they are more likely to return to luxury brands in premium packaging.
- 50% of consumers would recommend your products to friends and family if they came in gift-like boxes or branded packaging.
- 40% reported that they would share an image of your packaging on social media if it were unique or branded
- 35% reported that they watch unboxing videos. Of this percentage, 55% stated they were convinced to buy the product based on these videos.
The above statistics speak for themselves. Consumers value packaging and the unboxing experience as much as the product itself.
Improves Perceived Value
Now that you know the value placed in unboxing a product, you should also understand the value placed on how a package looks.
Would you more likely buy a product in a standard box or one that is thoughtfully designed and presented to a customer? The above statistics already reveal that answer.
A custom box will always create a higher perceived value than simply using a bland, standardized box.
Putting your brand name and logo onto a meticulously customized box shows customers you value their business by providing them with the best possible unboxing experience and that you respect your product.
And judging by the statistics mentioned earlier, customers will notice this, leading to brand loyalty.
Creates Brand Loyalty
Customers notice the time spent presenting your product in the best light possible. Because of this, they will feel more confident returning to you for business and constantly receiving the best quality you can offer.
Continuing from the previous sections, taking the time to create a memorable experience for your customers will increase their perceived value of your product.
So adding a great customer experience with a high perceived value will naturally lead to creating brand loyalty among your customers.
Custom Rigid Boxes Pay for Themselves
And with brand loyalty comes the last benefit we will discuss: increased sales.
Yes, rigid boxes cost more than standard boxes, but that doesn’t mean small businesses shouldn’t consider investing in them. The previous benefits mentioned above should more than justify this.
However, if you are still on the fence, consider the high percentage of potential repeat customers and the solid brand you will build.
The cost will be higher, but the increased number of repeat customers will offset it.
We’ve already shown that customers value customized boxes equally — if not more — to the product itself.
So if you have great packaging and a great product, the increase in sales will offset the cost of using custom rigid boxes over standard boxes.
A Snowballing Effect
Custom rigid boxes benefit not only larger companies but also smaller businesses too.
Though they are more expensive, they are well worth the investment.
Returning to the three-act movie analogy, you can’t have a good story without a good beginning, middle and end.
Building a solid foundation for your brand and telling a complete story to potential customers will create a snowballing effect of benefits that will ultimately lead to increased sales, brand loyalty and a growing business.