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With increasing growth in the eCommerce sector, many businesses are now looking at ways to improve their packaging and their packaging process for maximum efficiency.
With more orders coming in and changing customer expectations around deliveries, businesses must have the best packaging process possible.
But how does that actually happen?
Improving your packaging process can positively impact your customers in various ways.
We’ll explore how to improve your packaging quality and thereby improve the customer experience in this article.
Focus on Ergonomic Packaging
Ideally, your product packaging needs to be easy for your staff to handle and for customers to unbox.
You’ll want to create packaging that’s easy to sort, store, and pack for staff and employees. Having packaging that is time consuming to pack your products could lead to delays, damaged products and in turn a negative customer experience.
For customers, the packaging needs to be designed to ensure they can effectively open and use the product without taking up too much time.
Nothing is worse than being excited to use a product, but having to battle the packaging to get to it.
It’s like purchasing scissors and needing scissors to get into the packaging.
Keep it reasonable and functional.
Some other factors that come into play for ergonomic packaging include how to hold and grip the package, the size, the exterior of the packaging, and product access.
Think about visual design and cues you can add to aid in each of these factors.
This could include instructions for unboxing or grooves for easy handling.
Test and Optimize your Packaging
Ergonomic packaging is only as successful as the way it’s used.
If you’re not sure your packaging is accomplishing what it needs to, get feedback!
Try to get a diverse sample of customers and staff and have them test out different functions of the packaging.
Ask for examples of suitable packaging for similar products to better understand how to improve your own.
For example, you could have them test out packaging weight, how easy it is to access the product, and whether they can quickly and efficiently unbox the packaging.
The more testing you can do regularly, the more you can optimize your packaging and improve the overall experience.
Create the Right Packing Area for Efficiency
Once you’ve gotten the packaging itself right, that’s when you have to consider the actual packaging process.
How are orders packed, at what speed, and what does the packing area look like?
Ideally, you’re able to create a packing ‘flow’ where it’s easy and intuitive to pack all items together.
There are many packaging station ideas that you can take inspiration from to design your flow.
So, for example, if your packaging process includes putting the product in a box, adding branded tissue paper, and a thank you note, how does that flow in your packing area?
If the boxes are in one corner and the thank you notes are in the opposite corner, it probably means that employees are spending a long time getting all the materials together.
That ultimately means packing is inefficient, and order fulfillment rates should be improved.
Try to keep a good stock going of essential supplies and set up auto-ordering or other measures to keep your packaging area fully stocked and ready for your packaging process.
Opt for Sustainable Materials Where Possible
As we become more aware of our impact on the environment, businesses and customers are responsible for incorporating sustainability into their lives.
As a business, introducing recycled and reusable packaging where possible is one step in that direction.
Another way to accomplish packaging efficiency is to reduce the amount of packaging, particularly plastic and other materials.
This makes a difference in order fulfillment and considerably impacts customers perception of your brand.
Businesses that can bring these sustainable elements to their packaging and pass it on to customers see more benefits.
Doing so is an easy step to show customers that you honor their values and what’s important to them.
It’s also a way to take a deeper look at your own business, and bring in measures that are more eco-friendly to reduce your environmental impact.
Bring in Automation
For businesses looking to evolve and grow, automation is a critical path to consider for packaging efficiency solutions.
Over the last few years, we’ve seen automation solutions grow exponentially, and there are more solutions than ever to solve major logistical issues.
Automation solutions can take over warehouse processes for larger businesses, but small-scale solutions are also available for small businesses.
Packaging, labeling, and other processes can be automated to an extent to reduce time-consuming tasks for employees.
Automation is also being used for complex warehouse processes and can be customized as needed.
Opting for custom packaging solutions to complement your packaging process is the easiest way to ensure your staff and customers are getting the experience they want!
