What is your package doing for your brand?

Businesses today put time, effort and money into creating and polishing their brand. Consultants are hired, focus groups are tested and marketers are put through the wringer to establish the perfect personality. Despite all of this thoughtful consideration and careful planning, there seems to be something the branding consultants missed: the physical packaging itself! It doesn’t have to remain in the plain brown box; it can be transformed to be consistent with your brand. However, many companies miss the opportunity to have a truly end-to-end experience for their customers.

For example I recently purchased a pair of boots. The website was very well laid out. I found the boots I wanted with ease. Upon checkout I realized I had a few other things in my cart per the companies “you might also like these” suggestions. (They get me every time). Once I had purchased them, I immediately got an email with the same branding as the website. I thought, ‘Ok cool, this company is really with it.’

A few days later, there was a shipping confirmation and bonus offers in the email. YAY! The boots are coming and this company loves me.

Imagine my excitement when I came home and saw a brown box on my porch. I opened it up and the boots were there, but it got me thinking. This package had no discernible branding from the company that sent it to me. What a missed opportunity! They had the website, the emails and the product, but the customer wasn’t left with a lasting impression at the time of delivery.

Consider a few reasons why branding your package with a dynamic DuplexPackSlip® Laser Form might be the cherry on top of your branding strategy.

• It is a physical representation of your brand; a mobile billboard that travels far and wide to find its final destination. Ultimately, it isn’t just the customer that sees it: studies show that “40% of online shoppers feel branded packing makes them more likely to recommend a product.”

• You are guaranteed an audience. With all the online marketing these days, it is tough to guarantee your customers or prospective customers will see your marketing. This is one of those moments that people don’t miss. I would say that if you were going to spend marketing dollars, make it something with 100% chance of being seen.

• It is an end-to-end experience. I know it sounds like marketing jargon to ‘complete your product lifecycle’ but consider this: after a great website and customer support experience, receiving a plain box and a label that looks like ‘black bar bleh’ and a packing slip with the wrong information, it just ruins the grand finale.

• Last, but certainly not least, is the opportunity to upsell your customers. Imagine being able to dynamically create shipping labels to recommend items based on a customer’s past purchases? How about a two-in-one label for easier returns? Are you using the whitespace on the label to add offers, gifts and specials? Sell more by taking advantage of every package, every time.

With the holidays upon us, it makes sense to stand out from the crowd of retailers. Are you making every interaction with your customer a branded experience? If you are interested in taking your shipping operations to the next level, contact us.

Now you have a friend in the shipping business: DuplexPackSlip Laser Forms, powered by eFORMz.