Excess packaging in your packages can damage your image

Introduction

For e-commerce, the customer experience is no longer limited to the online experience and includes delivery and product discovery. The unboxing phenomenon - sharing photos and videos of opening packages seen by millions of consumers - has also prompted merchants to review their packaging strategy—3 key points to avoid being "massacred" on the Internet.

 

So how can you improve your packaging policy in a few points without reading immediately? Our complete guide on the subject? Contents of this article (click directly on the part that interests you the most):

Unpacking

Customer experience and unboxing: what are we talking about?

This is the moment when your customer opens their macaron boxes and discovers the product. Unfortunately, when you do not master your packaging policy, you can end up on social networks and get - for example - stamped #excessive packaging. E-merchants are regularly pointed out on the Internet for their poor control of their packaging. Some Anglo-Saxon examples are below:

If you are Amazon, the consumer may still come back to you. But for sites with less audience, this is the kind of negative publicity that can distract customers … and their connections on social networks.  

The size of your packaging

Too much wedging and oversized packaging for size will create a terrible impression on the customer. Our advice: adapt the product as much as possible to the packaging! Use our search engine to find the most suitable packaging format for your product. If you have a lot of product references and designs, try to find intermediate packaging sizes so as not to multiply the packaging references. The ideal is to obtain an acceptable compromise between the amount of packing and the size of the carton.

The choice of wedging

Did you know that tonnage particles irritate 18% of customers who open their packages? The choice of wedging will therefore affect the general impression when opening.

Our advice: carefully choose your type of wedges

Take into account the theoretical level of frustrations (see diagram above) and conduct a qualitative survey with a sample of customers. Perhaps it is necessary to change the wedging? For example, some customers use air cushions as much for weight savings as transparency instead of paper backing.

Other e-merchants use packaging with integrated wedging to eliminate any excess wedging. This is particularly effective if you have a significant number of single-product or recurring orders.

Warning: a terrible choice of wedging can also lead to more breakage. But what if the merchandise is broken? 73% of customers say they will not recommend you! It is indeed the demonstration that you did not take care of your customers. It is all a question of dosage. To validate a new packaging or packing, never forget to send test packages via different carriers.

Disposal and sorting

Plastic packaging and wedges could soon be the target of consumers in custom packaging for small business. The media success of the last number Plastic Day and the latest studies shows a growing awareness. Consumers are more demanding in terms of ecology. According to opinion way, 90% believe that a company can be both economically and environmentally successful. And 65% of them pay more for products with a positive environmental impact.

Our advice:

Do an audit of your current packaging and consult the list of eco-responsible alternatives on the SM Custom Packaging website. Alternative to plastic, recycled plastic, and biodegradable alternative… a wide choice exists. Do not hesitate to contact our teams if you want to save time. Reduce the weight and volume of your packaging to reduce your environmental impact. Communicate intelligently on all your initiatives on your communication channels (online; and offline for retailers).

"Play it like Sesame."

Some brands have complete control over the phenomenon of unboxing and create profitable enthusiasm for the brand. The leading brand in this area at the moment is Sesame. Its customers take great care to share beautiful photos of their magnificent packages on social networks, contributing to the brand's influence and the generation of new customer's free and measurable marketing.