
Product packaging might be secondary to the item it encloses and protects, but the potential power of well-thought-out and executed promotional product packaging should never be underestimated. Unfortunately, it’s often a missed and overlooked marketing opportunity.
When you design creative packaging for promotional products and materials, it serves to enhance the unboxing experience, making your brand more memorable rather than merely being something to tear apart to get to the goods inside.
It’s not just about the container on the outside either, but also the way you use packing inside. Let’s take a closer look at designing creative packaging to enhance the unboxing experience and further promote your brand.
What is the unboxing experience?
Just about everyone gets excited when they make an in-store purchase or receive their order in the mail. Filled with anticipation, part of the fun of a new purchase is the unwrapping or unpacking of the item. The unboxing experience should be a little like opening a present or gift.
From a business and marketing perspective, unboxing provides another opportunity to please your customers while at the same time making your brand more memorable.
Increase brand identity with creative product packaging
Rather than having bland or basic packaging that does nothing more than ensure the item inside is protected and received by the consumer undamaged, creative marketers take packaging to the next level and use it to please customers. Ultimately, happy customers lead to increased profits.
The branded packing experience is a combination of shipping and packing materials and the way everything is presented will add value for the consumer. First impressions count and the more attractive and creative your packing is, the more your brand identity will be burned into peoples’ memories. If they remember you in a good way, they’ll recommend you to others.
Why focus solely on the functionality of packaging when you can use it to your advantage? Make the unboxing moment more memorable and rewarding for your customers.
How an enhanced unpacking experience can boost your business
Now that we understand that packaging is important and presents an opportunity to further promote your brand, let’s now look at some of the benefits this creates for your business:
- Perceived value is increased: Bland and basic packaging performs its function but doesn’t add any real value. When a purchase comes presented beautifully in creative and eye-catching packaging, the perceived value of the product is increased. This helps you gain a competitive advantage.
- Encourage user-generated content: User-generated content often happens organically these days but it should also be encouraged. For example, customers filming and uploading their unboxing videos is a fantastic way to rapidly spread the word about your brand. Therefore, encourage user-generated content such as video uploads by designing packaging that enhances the unboxing experience.
- Increased customer loyalty: As an extension of your branding, the higher the quality of the packaging, the more loyal your customer base is likely to become. Apple is a prime example of this. The company has cultivated an avid and loyal fan base largely due to always presenting its products in glossy, colourful and top quality packaging. You don’t have to do exactly what Apple does. There are many ways you can present your products to make the entire experience enjoyable and more memorable.
- Packaging can tell a story: Make your company stand out against your competitors by using packaging to tell a story of your brand. This can be achieved through words and visuals on the box, for example, or by including things like a booklet, card, sticker or message inside the box detailing more about your company’s history and unique journey.
- Increases the thrill of a new purchase: One of the main goals of enhanced product packaging and creating an enjoyable unboxing experience is to add that thrill factor. It’s about getting your customers excited about their purchases. Whether the item was bought directly from a store or your customer has been waiting patiently for it to be delivered following a purchase online, they want their anticipation and expectations to be met or even exceeded once they finally unbox your product.

Make unboxing memorable for your customers with these ideas
Product packaging and design become even more crucial when selling online. In a physical store, customers have the opportunity to see and touch the product and perhaps even be given a product demonstration.
Touch points like these are not available on eCommerce sites. Therefore, it’s necessary to wow your customers even more by offering packaging that’s creative, informative or both. The very first touch point for online customers will be the actual packaging.
We’ll now look at some common forms of packaging and fillers used by online sellers and some ideas you can incorporate to enhance the all-important unboxing adventure.
- Packaging: Products are generally shipped to customers in corrugated cardboard boxes, in padded bags, or in envelopes or flat bags. These all present opportunities for branding, including a corporate message, promoting other products and more. For example, if you’re shipping in boxes, the unboxing experience will be so much more enjoyable for the customer if you use customised boxes with some colour and branding.
- Tissue paper: Tissue paper is a very tactile method of wrapping items inside a box, bag or padded mailer. Unwrapping the tissue paper also adds a further layer of unboxing and suspense. Coloured tissue paper is best, and customised tissue paper with your company’s brand is even better.
- Fillers: Although bubble wrap is an effective filler, it’s not very environmentally friendly. Better alternatives are colourful crinkle paper and wood fibres (excelsior). Wrapping the item in tissue paper and surrounding it with crinkle paper will ensure everything is protected. Once again, the wrapping paper can be branded or even used as a medium to tell the story of your company.
- Promotional material: The inclusion of promotional material inside the package is yet another way to make the unboxing experience more memorable. Promotional material could simply be a business card, a colourful flyer or the next item on this list.
- Stickers: Branded stickers can be included within the parcel as promotional material, or they could be used to seal an envelope or act as a form of safety seal on the outside of a box. Stickers are a popular idea, and they never go out of fashion.
Find out more
Get in touch with Branded Products® today to learn more about how we can help you create packaging that will wow your customers and make the unboxing of your products enjoyable and memorable. Talk to our experienced and knowledgeable team and have all your questions answered.
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