In the modern world, business practices and processes keep evolving because of the sheer number of businesses that are available especially online, offering different products and services.
Taking the United States as a case study, according to a statistic found online, there are over 30 million businesses (small) in America as of 2019. What does this number mean to a business owner like you? It means that whether you own an online brand or a small brick-and-mortar business, you have to adapt to the changes in your industry and find better ways to do business to stay ahead of the competition.
How you package your products before delivery is one factor you have to take into consideration and could be a game-changer for you in the unforgiving and treacherous universe of modern business.
Is Packaging Really That Relevant?
You might know what packaging means but if you haven’t fully appreciated the meaning of the word, you might struggle to understand how it can help improve the fortunes of your business particularly as an e-commerce business.
That’s why in this post we shall be looking at how packaging matters and 4 ways to improve your product packaging before delivery.
Asides from packing your products before delivery, there are other factors customers consider before choosing a brand. On the Collected.Reviews site you can find out more about what today’s shoppers think about other businesses like yours.
4 Ways to Pack Better for Deliveries
1. Choosing The Right Packaging Materials
A successful delivery goes beyond finding out about delivery services that offer what your business needs, it also extends to making sure when the customers get their orders they are intact. Did you know that up to 30{3bb0c771cf962bf73a669022e162603e14263c828a29360a215cc2a8ff0e7fba} of online orders are returned and out of this number 20{3bb0c771cf962bf73a669022e162603e14263c828a29360a215cc2a8ff0e7fba} are returned because of damaged products?
This is why investing/choosing the right packaging materials that will protect the products makes sense. Packaging materials range from layered boxes to packaging tubes, padded envelopes, Styrofoam, bubble wrap, cardboard wrap, packaging tissue paper, and sealing tapes, etc. These materials listed above include outer and inner packaging materials but the goal here is to choose the right packaging for each unique product that will minimize the chances of damage as it goes through the delivery chain. The right package is right for what it packs, think about that.
For bonus points, you should also choose eco-friendly packaging materials because research shows that more people are choosing to do business with eco-conscious brands.
2. Make Your Packaging Stand Out
Again the question comes, do you truly understand what packaging means? Have you ever received an order or wrapped gift under the Christmas tree that got you very excited even before seeing what was in it? Well, put your customers in your shoes. Yes! you might be so confident about the quality of the actual product and so the aesthetics of the package doesn’t matter right? What if another brand offers a product that is as good but comes in a more attractive package, who would they choose?
Resisting the temptation to send a generic-looking package could keep your customer’s interest with you. You can try ordering for colored packaging (preferably your company’s signature color), printing or hand-painting graphics, images, or even catchy phrases on the package. The point is to just be creative with it.
3. Customized Packaging
We all like to be treated specially and this is why even some mega businesses are giving their customers the option of customizing their orders whether it is a shirt, sneakers, kitchenware, or even electronic devices. The modern customer wants a brand that relates to them on a personal level.
You can do this by designing card inserts with the customer name or a unique inspirational quote, some brands even allow their customers to indicate their star signs or spirit animal and design their package with a symbol of that. Again the idea here is to be creative.
4. Put Your Packaging to The Test
To have a better idea of your customer’s experience when they receive the package you should test it out yourself. This should help you understand what you can do better. You can test how easy or difficult it is to open a package, how durable the packaging, or you can even send a package to yourself or a friend/family member living in another country to assist you to know the condition of the package when it gets to the hand of the customer.
All these 4 steps should help you pack better and improve the customer’s impression of your brand and as a result, grow your business.