Mistakes that will Damage your Packaging Box
If you have a meeting with a new client. You have to dress up yourself. Looking very untidy with torned shirt and scruffy hair will leave a very bad impression to your client.
The same goes for product packaging. No matter how good is your product, the first thing that customers will notice is your packaging box. It will determine whether customers will pick up your packaging box and have a look or totally ignore your brand.
Customer will look at all the details on your packaging box. if anything is not right or make them feel uncomfortable. They will feel hesitant to buy your product.
Don’t let poor packaging box damage your brand and your business. Here are some mistakes you should avoid:
Packaging box design
Is packaging box design important? Does it really influence the customers to buy your product?
In South East Asia (SEA), the top selling car is Honda. Although many know that Toyota might be a better quality car. But Honda is selling like hot cake, not only in Malaysia, but in Thailand and other SEA countries. Why? Because Honda design is sporty, innovative and aspire customer to own a Honda.
In Malaysia, they make you wait months before you can get your Honda. The reason is marketing, make you feel that the car is in great demand. So the resell value will be enhanced by this reputation.
Similar with packaging box design. Attractive packaging box will make customers feel confident about what is inside, psychologically make them feel that they are buying a superior product compare to others.
So, do engaged a packaging design expert and get your packaging box look good. These will definitely help in your business and brand reputation.
Used the right materials
Meeting a new client withot dressing up properly, the client will feel that you are not professional. To put it simple, If you can’t even look after your own appearance, how can the client trust you.
Similar with Packaging, you want customer to feel that your packaging box quality is good, the first thing that you should consider is using the right material.
Make sure that the material used can protect your product. Easily damaged packaging box will make customers feel hesitant to buy your product and wonder about the quality of the product inside.
Especially if you are doing e-Commerce business. Your packaging box will likely endure knocking and dropping. Customers will feel very frustrated if they received a damage packaging box and this can make you lose customer.
Excess packaging
In Malaysia, the car dealer will add in this, put in that accessories to make you feel that you are getting more value for your money when you buy a car.
On the contrary, having all those unnecessary accessories will only complicate matters. Eventually you might have more things to fix because nothing can last forever.
Always remember, the objective of the packaging is to safe guard the product inside. Don’t be like the car dealers try to sell you more things. More materials will only end up in the landfill and this is not environmental friendly.
Avoid excess packaging, only use what is required. Make your packaging box protect your product is the main objective.
Hard to read labels
Normal readable point size for fonts are 9 points, captions are normally in 6 points. But due to Internet design influence, many designers have the tendency to use smaller font sizes. They say that it is cleaner and more trendy to have smaller fonts.
Just make sure that fonts are not too small on the label that the customer need a magnifying glass to read. Sometimes we reduced the font sizes to 5 points in order to fit all the product informations in the packaging box, but anything smaller we believe will be very difficult to read. Small text can make the customer feel frustrating.
The front label make sure everything is clearly visible. Make your selling point stand out, that will help customers identify want they want.
Make sure that the cashier can scan the bar code without difficulty. Compare the size of the bar code with a similar size packaging and avoid making it too small.
Typo mistakes
A lot of times your will find spelling and grammar mistakes in packaging box. Part of the reason is our English standard is not good. Especially there are many products being launched by small companies, some will ignore this issue.
Moreover in Malaysia, we sometimes have to feature three languages – English, Malay and Chinese in a packaging box. The convenience of using Google translate, some designers just do translation. When it’s wrong, it will be very damaging to your brand.
It is very important to check all the languages and spellings on the packaging before final printing. Get multiple departments to examine every words and sentences. Ensure your packaging box is error free will leave a good impression to customers.
Unclear Messaging
What are you selling? Is it a detergent or a candy? They both used many colours for packaging box design.
Although the packaging box clearly states it is a detergent and not for consumption, the colourful appearance can caused some confusion, especially to young children.
Customer will judge your product based on what they see on the packaging box. Keep the product brand and features clear and simple so customer will not be mislead.
A picture is worth a thousand words. If you use images, make sure that it is relevant to your product and customers will know exactly what they are buying.
Misrepresentation
Malaysian like to make their product features elaborating in order to tempt the customer to buy their product. When customers realised that your claims are misleading, they will remember your brand and never trust your brand again.
Over-promising your customers is a great way to eliminate their trust in your business. With the trust broken, they’re unlikely to buy your brand again.
User friendly packaging
Today you used remote control to switch on the television, air-conditions. You opened car door and house gate with a press of button and you only need to press start your car. Everything in this world is about making our life very convenient.
You must make sure that your packaging box is not difficult to open. Box that required too much effort to open, got to twist and turn, cut and use scissor will make the customers very frustrating.
No matter how beautiful is your packaging box, how good is your product, you must make sure that the packaging is user friendly. Complication will make customer avoid your product and choose another product that make their life easier.
Environmentally friendly
Due to the clearing of plantations and forests in Indonesia by burning. Every year in June to August, haze will appear in South East Asia (SEA), especially Malaysia and Singapore. The Air Pollution Index (API) can go up to 301, which is consider hazardous.
More Malaysian are now aware that discarded packaging box will end up in the landfill and it is not environmental friendly. The waste will be burned and smokes will create more haze.
Customers will appreciate companies that put in effort to use recyclable and biodegradable materials for their packaging. These will not only help your business but protect our planet.
Wrapping up
Some customer will go on social media such as Facebook and Tik Tok to make fun of misspelling, used of wrong image or difficult to open packaging box. These will not be good for your brand reputation.
Avoid all these unnecessary mistakes and give your customer the right impression. Make them feel good about your packaging box. They will remember your brand and your sales will improved.