Shipping a parcel to a customer is a great way to show off a lot about your business, from your efficiency to your branding, to your ability to provide an excellent and reliable service. Proper packaging is essential, but businesses continue to make common mistakes which irritate their customers.
Here are the top three packaging mistakes to avoid to encourage your customers' loyalty.
Too much packaging
Safety and security when you're shipping is essential, that's a given, but you cannot substitute a properly packaged parcel simply by drowning it in cardboard, paper, and bubble wrap. If your customer has to spend ten minutes opening it, you've done something wrong.
Customers also place value on being able to recycle packaging as much as possible. If you've covered your cardboard packaging with tape everywhere it will fit, it means it can't be recycled. If you add this onto a clearly over-packaged parcel it gives the recipient the impression you don't really know, or care, what you're doing.
Skimping on quality
The quality of your packaging should be in line with the quality of the parcel itself. If, for example, you're shipping an expensive piece of jewellery and it arrives to the customer in a cheap, flimsy cardboard box, it doesn't take a marketing expert to know they won't buy from you again.
Invest in the quality of your packaging. Unwrapping a parcel is at its best a tactile experience and you should use this opportunity to spoil your customer a little by giving them high quality packaging. It's a worthy investment.
Unbranded packaging
As a business, you should be taking every opportunity to promote your brand, and if you're sending out parcels in plain packaging you're missing out. A well branded, quality box is memorable and may be used to repackage other items, giving you wider brand recognition.
Don't go overboard, but your name and brand logo should be clearly visible to make sure nobody forgets you're the one who has provided such great service.