The packaging of your product can ruin your business in several different ways. Here are four packaging mistakes and the reasons why these mistakes can swamp you in unplanned costs. We’ll also provide recommendations on how to avoid making these mistakes.
Beautiful Branded Packages that Fail to Deliver Protection
One of the worst mistakes you could make is order branded boxes that look great, carry your branded logo and tag line, and fail to protect products during delivery. The beaten-up box and broken products end up burned in the customer’s mind. And the pictures they take that are posted on social media create the worst first impression possible with everyone who sees it. It is more important that your packaging protects the product during storage and delivery that acts as an extension of your marketing effort. Marketing via the box is secondary. Focus on coupons and thank you cards for the customer’s business instead.
Failing to Consider Unpacking
Amazon has many categories consumers can search by, such as free shipping through Amazon and price. You know that poor packaging design is a problem when certified frustration free packaging is one of those sort criteria. Design packaging that protects the product during delivery but doesn’t require extensive excavations is essential if you want customers to be happy with your product. This is a complex matter of trial and error when your product packaging is designed to prevent theft but doesn’t want to keep legitimate owners out.
Neglecting Return Logistics
Businesses are making a major mistake in neglecting a process for streamlining returns. And yes, you will have returns. You want to design a process for handling product returns and this process should include steps to protect you from fraud like setting time frames in which someone can return the item, requiring pictures of the item or product, and having an automated process for printing return labels so that people can return products to you. If they don’t want an unopened item, you want to give them a way to return it so you can restock it and packaging that handles that return trip. The ideal case is a pre-paid return label in the package so that someone can return it more easily. The PDCA cycle to improve your ordering process and shipping process allows you to reduce this issue from both ends.
Packaging Waste
The magazine Consumer Reports has a section every month on products that were excessively packaged. The small item shipped in a very large box is a commonly reported issue. Small items wrapped in a protected package hanging on a shelf, comprising less than a third of the volume, is another.
Another form of packaging waste is the oddly shaped packages that are eye-catching on the shelf but result in empty space or extra weight when shipped, resulting in excessive shipping fees. Reserve your creativity for the product design and marketing campaign, not the product packaging shape unless it uses less space, less material, or less effort to open.
Simple packaging mistakes could cost your business thousands. The only way to prevent them is to conduct thorough testing.
