You are probably a product manufacturer, designer, or marketer. And you want to make the most of your product’s packaging.
The packaging does a lot more than simply protecting or covering the product. It is rather an important tool for marketing and generating sales. How?
Product packaging, to a great extent, influences the noticeability of the product on the shelf. For example—say you go to a supermarket to buy aloe vera gel.
On the shelf, you see aloe vera gels from five different brands. Four of them have pretty ordinary packagings. But one of them is packed like the aloe vera leaf itself. Where will your eyes land first? On the one that looks like an aloe leaf, right?
That’s how product packaging influences customers. And if you want to maximize your sales, your packaging must be really noticeable. Yes, to attract customers, you must ensure that your product has a unique packaging design.
And there are many ways to do it. In this article, we have compiled nine unique product packaging ideas to help you maximize your sales.
1. Get a little self-explanatory
It’s great if your packaging conveys what product it contains, what it does, or even what it’s made of. How?
You can consider the example of aloe vera gel packaging stated above. It clearly conveys that the contents of the packaging contain aloe as the main constituent.
Or here’s another example:
Just a glance at the packaging is enough to convey that it contains chewing gums. And the smiles relay that it aims to protect your teeth and hence, the smile. So the designer didn’t need to mention the end-goal.
Such packagings do not only clearly convey volumes about the product but also attract a second glance from the customers.
2. Complementary packaging design
You know that packaging, besides protecting the content, can attract customers too. But there’s more to it.
Once you open a package, it mostly ends up in the trash, right? Let that not happen to your packaging design. How?
Well, you can make it complement the product. For example—
The packaging clearly conveys that it contains shoes. But what is also does is—use shoelace as a part of its own.
Hence, it provides something that buyers can actually use with the product (shoes) itself.
3. Make it interactive and hi-tech
People love technology that makes things better, easier, or fun for them. And to attract tech-lovers, adding technology that also interacts with them is one of the effective and unique packaging ideas.
But the question is—how to do it? Well, one way is by adding a QR Code to it.
Yes, a QR Code is an effective tool to make your product tech-savvy and interactive. Customers just need to pull out their smartphones to scan it and see the encoded content.
You might think—what will I encode in the QR Code? Well, anything! Yes, it could be detailed product information that could not be printed due to limited print space.
And since consumers are becoming increasingly conscious about what they’re buying, it’s important that you provide them everything that they must know. And nothing beats transparency in building customer trust and loyalty.
In fact, you can even encode a video or an infographic on how to use the product. Or you can also add your website link to show your entire product range.
We call it—a Product QR Code.
4. Keep it simple
While a creative design attracts people, so does a minimalist and simple design. You know, when it comes to design, less is often more.
You can create packaging with minimal design and neutral colors. Here you can let the colors and fonts take the center stage.
In fact, with such designs, you do not need to worry about the bleed area or improper cuts. You can rather be assured of getting a better print quality.
And on a shelf that has packagings loaded with designs, a simplistic design will surely grab buyer’s attention.
5. Convey your love for the environment
Due to increased awareness of environmental degradation, people are becoming increasingly eco-friendly. They prefer environment-friendly products wherever possible.
You can show your support of the same using your packaging. How?
Using eco-friendly packaging as one of your food packaging ideas, you can easily target your eco-conscious customers and show your commitment to being nature-friendly.
You can also use eco-friendly materials such as jute, seaweed, or cornstarch packets. They make durable material and are bio-degradable too.
And, mention the material used to make the packaging. It will clearly tell the buyers that you ‘care’ about the environment and will help build your brand image.
6. Get them to use their sense of touch
Packaging usually plays with only one of the five senses—visual. You can consider creating a packaging that goes a step ahead to trigger another sense. Maybe the sense of touch. How?
In this packaging, 3D pieces of alphabets have been inserted into the packaging material before sealing it.
It does two things—first, amongst the regular 2D designs, it stands out in itself. Second, besides pleasing buyers’ eyes, it also engages their sense of touch to get them to spend some time with it.
And it is a fact that the more time you spend with a product, the higher are your chances of buying it. And that’s just what you want.
7. Trigger their sense of smell
Why limit yourself to visuals and touch when you can also please the buyers’ sense of smell?
You can use scented packagings that relay the aroma of what your potential customers will spend their money on.
Fragrances help customers establish a connection with the brand.
Karl Show, the Marketing Manage at Addmaster says:
“The relationship between fragrances and our ability to retrieve memories is a great marketing tool.”
Hence, you can consider using scented packagings to relay what customers are going to buy. It will be a good alternative to the not-so-pleasant smell of plastic or paper.
8. Give them a good experience for their money
Say you are a shoe brand. Now think—when a customer buys shoes, what journey will she go through to open the pack?
You can add layers to this pack. Thinking—what will it do? Well, multiple layers add the aspect of luxury to the package. It’s again one of the best unique packaging ideas to impress your buyers.
In the above example, before you pack the shoes in a box, you can put them in a nice pouch. As a customer opens the box, they will see the pouch having shoes. And as they finally open it, the good luxury experience will feel worth spending their hard-earned money on.
9. Give them a sneak peek of what they’re buying
Yes, the customers know what they want to buy. And even the package tells (textually) what it contains. But allowing them to see what they will get is crucial. And this is especially true for food products.
After all, you don’t really know what is inside the packet when you can’t actually see it.
And to help your customers see the content, you can simply cut a shape within the package. And add a transparent piece of layer over it.
Once people see what’s inside, they will get a better idea of whether it is exactly what they want. Hence, you’ll help them make a better decision and the trustworthiness of your brand will increase.
These are nine unique ideas to make your packaging interesting and enthusing for the customers.
Once your package gets a second glance from the customers, their chances of making a purchase increase. To do it, you can make your packaging minimalist, maximalist, luxurious, or hi-tech.
So pick up an idea that you find the most interesting and get started on designing your packaging. Also—let us know what worked the best for you.