Importance of Packaging and its Influence on Customer Buying Habits

Throughout the day, you face several decisions as a consumer. Your buying choices, like dinner meals or toiletries, can dictate how your day goes.

If you look deeper, you don’t usually give too much thought to most of your purchases. However, these seemingly mundane decisions are what business owners and marketers strive to understand.

Entrepreneurs and marketers must decode the thought process behind consumers’ buying decisions. They can use this data to fine-tune their marketing strategies.

Furthermore, human psychology has a crucial role in influencing vital customer habits. A person’s response to a marketing campaign depends on their general life view, attitudes, and perceptions of the things around them.

Marketers leverage the meaning people attach to specific colors. For example, some ad campaigns use colors to evoke emotions from their audience. Food brands commonly use red since it’s associated with ripe fruits or fresh meat. People perceive this vibrant color as something good to eat.

Understanding consumer behavior is crucial in choosing the best packaging design and material, and knowing what makes your audience tick can lead you in the right direction.

Remember that packaging is a business’ chance at a good first impression. If you align your customer’s buying habits with the suitable packaging option, you’ll be on your way to a successful venture.

5 Reasons Why Packaging is Important

1. It effectively contains your products

Packaging allows powder, granules, or liquid products to be contained in one vessel. These containers make storage easier for stores and consumers. It’ll enable manufacturers to group small items for efficient handling, monitoring, and inventory. It also keeps the contents secure until the end of the production line and during delivery.

2. It protects your products from damage

A product goes through storage, handling, and transport before it reaches a customer. Packaging aims to protect products from any form of damage during these stages.

It helps keep the product in good condition as it travels through the logistics chain. Good packaging can protect its contents from external factors such as light, heat, and humidity.

3. It provides essential information to your buyers

Packaging provides essential information to buyers, including ingredients, features, content weight, manufacturer information, and expiry dates.

Sometimes, the packaging’s color conveys a message like a flavor or variant. Food products also have serving suggestions, serving sizes, and preparation instructions. Meanwhile, medicines are required by law to include cautionary information and warning messages.

4. It serves as a promotional and marketing tool

Packaging plays a vital role in a brand’s promotion and marketing. It makes the product stand out among hundreds of others on the shelf or on a website.

It also tells a story about the product and the company’s social and environmental responsibility efforts. Furthermore, it can be a great tool to convey the brand identity and the company’s values.

5. It makes your products more convenient to use, consume, and store

Packaging makes it easy for consumers to use a product. For example, lotions and shampoo come in squeezable or pump bottles to make dispensing more convenient.

Packaging also allows buyers to consume the products most conveniently. Beverage bottles for personal consumption should fit in one’s hand and be opened without tools.

Can’t Think What Packaging to Use? Do Market Research First

Packaging plays a vital role in product development. However, choosing the best one for your brand can be daunting. It would help to perform extensive market research before deciding on the packaging design and materials.

Market research can help you identify what your audience wants. It can familiarize you with your customer’s pain points so you can provide viable solutions. Would your customers appreciate resealable packaging? Do they want containers nice enough to display? Identifying what makes them happy can lead you to the proper packaging.

Knowing your audience’s values and interests can help create packaging that speaks to them.

Discovering and understanding trends can also help you craft the best packaging solutions. For instance, consumers nowadays gravitate towards sustainability and mindfulness. Providing eco-friendly packaging and health information can help give you the edge your brand needs.

Market research also provides insights into what your competitors are doing. This information can allow you to improve your packaging based on their weaknesses or innovate using their strengths.

Packaging Elements That Can Influence the Consumer’s Buying Decisions

● Color

Your packaging’s colors can trigger various emotions from your customers. These feelings can influence their perception of your brand or product. Research reveals that people decide within 90 seconds of their initial interaction with a product whether to buy it or not. Interestingly, color influences 62 to 90% of that decision.

Using colors to convey your product’s identity and benefits would be best. It must express the mood or tone that aligns with your goals. For example, red is commonly associated with excitement and stimulation. Companies use it for products related to food, action, and movement.

● Design

A study shows that 40% of consumers have shared photos or videos of a product they find interesting on social media.

The respondents shared that branded packaging plays a vital role in their decisions. The survey also reveals that 54% have turned to social media to find photos of items they plan to buy. It shows that eye-catching design can organically spread the word about your products.

Consumers will most likely gravitate toward a product design that resonates with their values and beliefs. For instance, if you’re marketing to people living a minimalist lifestyle, it’s best to choose simple packaging.

● Printed information

Aside from being a product container, the packaging also serves as a communication tool. It’s a means to directly and quickly convey your message to your customers. The information on the packaging must be concise enough to preempt any questions from your target market.

A transparent and honest label allows you to build trust between you and the customer. Including essential product specifications, relevant dates, and other details can influence your target consumer’s purchasing habits. They can also impact your brand’s reputation, so it’s best to be truthful in your claims.

● Quality

The packaging’s size, sturdiness, protective features, and overall quality are key factors that can influence consumer behavior. It’s also best to consider how easy it would be for the customers to open, reseal, or store the packaging. These thoughtful details can persuade your target audience to choose your products.

A study shows that 55% of shoppers who view unboxing videos reveal that these videos convinced them to buy the product. It shows that it pays to invest in the look and feel of your packaging. It would help to provide the customer with an overall pleasant experience starting from the moment they open your package.

● Brand image

It’s crucial to make a striking first impression through your packaging. Your packaging’s look and feel reflect the product quality and your brand’s integrity.

First-time users of your product can get a preview of what’s inside through its container. If they aren’t impressed by your product’s appearance on the shelf, they would likely choose another item.

High-quality packaging can persuade customers to trust the product even if they haven’t tried it yet. People who plan to buy luxury items consider premium packaging in deciding whether to purchase the product or not.

● Company values and advocacy

The new generation of consumers is more mindful of their buying choices. Research shows that environmental impact, social responsibility, and inclusiveness influence the buying habits of 80% of consumers. It’s crucial to align your brand with these values by expressing them through your choice of product packaging.

Consumers trust brands that support ethical sourcing, environmental sustainability, and product transparency. The same research reveals that 77% of consumers are likely to spend on brands that pledge corporate social responsibility. You can showcase this commitment on your packaging and labels.

Create a Good First Impression Through Your Packaging

Every day, thousands of products vie for consumers’ valuable attention. Standing out from the crowd keeps business owners and marketers on their toes.

One way to get noticed is by making an excellent first impression through product packaging. While its core purpose is to keep items contained and safe, product packaging also plays a crucial role in marketing.

Several creative branding ideas can strengthen your product image. Good packaging is one of them. Aligning your brand’s values and advocacies with your target market can help you craft the best packaging designs. It would also help if your packaging could communicate what your product is about through colors, layouts, and design.

Another way of influencing consumers to choose your product is to offer sturdy packaging.

Your customers would appreciate the small details that can make their lives easier. A few examples are resealable pouches, containers that are pretty enough to put on a shelf, and biodegradable boxes. These features answer a consumer’s need for convenience and sustainability.

It’s great to remember that your packaging reflects what’s inside. There’s a big chance that your product will go from the shelf to the shopping cart. If your box, tin, or pouch exudes quality, your customers will be more confident about its contents.