How To Delight Your Customers With Memorable Unboxing Experiences

Why is an unboxing experience important?

For eCommerce businesses, you need to make the most of physical touchpoints when you can. So many of your interactions with online customers take place in the digital world until they receive their order. This is your chance to shine through well crafted, on-brand and memorable packaging! It’s especially important for new customers by making a lasting impression and making them want to shop with you again.

Beautiful, branded packaging is a really understated part of your marketing and effectively helps with customer loyalty and retention, brand awareness, recommendations and social sharing (people love to take pictures and share with the world on social media!) It also contributes to the buying process and can influence buying decisions.

So, if you’re wanting to get creative with your packaging, let’s have a look at some of the ways you can delight your customers with memorable unboxing experiences.

Branded packaging options

Is your current packaging branded? Is it creating memorable unboxing experiences for your customers? If not, you might want to rethink your approach. According to a survey by Dotcom Distribution, a third of shoppers find branded packaging impacts their perception of a retailer.

The basics are really simple to implement and you may want to consider branded shipping boxes, branded tape and tissue paper for packaging. To create a more personalised shopping experience, include thank you notes addressing them directly, which will make them feel valued as a customer.

Sustainable packaging

With the rise of the eco-shopper, you’re going to want to consider more sustainable packaging. This means eliminating plastic waste where possible and opting for biodegradable materials, paper or card where you can. This is a great selling point too, and you have the flexibility to still make this your own with branded prints and designs.

You can even look at creating packaging with repurposing in mind. Beautifully designed boxes are a good example of reusable packaging that the customer can repurpose as a gift or storage box.

Recycling schemes are also a great idea. ASOS are rolling out reusable packaging this year, with a view to reaching 100% recycled materials in their plastic packaging by 2025. They also encourage customers to return packaging to them so they can recycle it.

How it feeds into your marketing strategy

Creating memorable unboxing experiences is a really great marketing tool and can feed into your marketing strategy in a number of ways:

• On product pages: Add images of your box presentation and packaging to your product image carousel on the product page. This is a great selling point as users can see exactly how it will arrive. This is especially effective for items they’ll be gifting.
• Social media: People just can’t help themselves when it comes to taking pictures of nice-looking things. Whether that’s a sunset, a meal, or a new product – anything can be Instagrammable these days! Unboxing experiences are in a league of their own when it comes to sharable Instagram content.  Encourage social media sharing with a unique hashtag for sharing and re-sharing user-generated content as an incentive. This is brilliant for brand awareness, gaining new followers and driving traffic!
• Tell your story: Branding your packaging doesn’t stop with your logo and brand colours; it’s an extension of your brand narrative too. If you’re an ethical company, using sustainable materials feeds into this, showing your brand values. You may also want to actually include written content on your brand story, where you source the materials for your products, and any other stand out information like this.
• Unboxing videos: These are insanely popular right now. From kids unboxing new toys to bloggers receiving mystery boxes to open, people are absolutely loving these. It’s a great trend to take part in for retailers. Consider reaching out to relevant influencers to host unboxing videos of your products. Keep in mind to make sure they’re a natural fit and their audience base are relevant to you.
• Interactive elements: Consider using QR codes to link your customers back to social media, how-to videos and tutorials or a product information page to provide extra post-purchase support.