Thinking inside the box: how to nail the unboxing experience
Discover the power of memorable unboxing experiences for eCommerce and 5 tips on how to nail yours.
The art of gifting is in the details. Creating an enticing unboxing experience for your customers can help you tap into that and get more eyes on your product than ever before.
Discover what unboxing is, what it means for eCommerce brands like yours and five top tips on how to make yours memorable.
What is unboxing?
Unboxing videos have been around for over a decade. They gained popularity on YouTube as people became invested in what other people were buying.
Creating an unboxing strategy means packaging and presenting products to make the experience more exciting for customers. It taps into that childlike "Christmas morning" feeling of receiving a well-presented gift and feeling excited about what could be inside.
Whether it's beauty products, gadgets, clothes or crafts, people film unboxing videos before reviewing the product inside, meaning that both the product and packaging are put front and centre to social media followers.
Some savvy brands make sure their unboxing experience is up to par and send out products to influencers. Smaller brands could also benefit from offering personalised and unique unboxing experiences to their customers who then also feel good about shopping from a smaller business.
Do unboxing strategies work?
It depends – an unboxing strategy will yield different results for different brands. But look at it from a customer's point of view: would you prefer bespoke gift wrapping or your average cardboard box?
Why unboxing experiences matter for online retail
Here are some of the most important reasons why eCommerce brands need to consider their product unboxing experiences.
They strengthen connections with customers
Standard packaging may have been OK in the past but now your customers are probably used to premium unboxing experiences. Bringing this into your brand and product gives your customers what they want and forges connection.
They foster organic, unique and effective marketing
Customers and influencers alike are more likely to share positive experiences on social media – so it's potentially not just your customers who will be unboxing their gift.
Consumers trust traditional advertising less and less. Nowadays, there's no better marketing than unique and genuine user-generated content.
Even if it's influencers unboxing your products, these influencers – for the most part – build their followers because they're considered trustworthy. This means their followers are more likely to believe the unboxing and review to be trustworthy.
And who knows? You may even tap into a new market or go viral.
They increase your perceived value
It's amazing what high-quality, thoughtful, and well-designed packaging and unboxing strategies can do to your brand's and product's perceived value. People tend to think if you've put in the effort to package products beautifully that they're inherently worthy of that extra care.
They make you memorable
When you turn the experience of opening a product from "meh" to memorable, your customers will forever tie your product to the memory of how good it made them feel.
And when they want to feel good again or brighten someone else's day, your brand might just come to mind.
5 tips for creating positive unboxing experiences
Feeling inspired and ready to perfect your unboxing experience? Here are five tips to get you started.
1. Use branded shipping packaging
First impressions count, so make sure you nail yours with branded shipping packaging.
This helps build excitement as soon as your customer gets their hands on their box or spies the delivery person through the window. It certainly won't be one of those packages that gets left on the porch for days!
2. Present your products well
Picture your customer lifting the corner of the box in excitement. They grin into their camera, carefully open the lid and find your product is smooshed up in a corner of a too-big box.
Doesn't sound great, does it?
Compare this to opening the lid to find a perfectly placed product, brand-label up, in a correctly sized box. We know which we'd rather post on socials.
3. Choose unique, sustainable packing materials
If your product requires packing material, ditch unsustainable materials and opt for eco-friendly options. Have fun with it and see if you can turn a change of packing material into part of your unboxing experience.
4. Always say "thank you"
Everybody wants to feel special and appreciated, so brighten your customer's day and show them how much you value their business by including a "thank you" note in their packaging.
If you can personalise it with their name, even better.
5. Don't forget important inserts
Take advantage of this beautiful unboxing experience you've created and slip in a little something extra for your customers to enjoy – like a juicy discount, a cute badge, some stickers or anything else that will keep you on their minds for longer.
How Stowsafe can help
A big reason why many brands stay away from unboxing is all the hassle it takes to set it up. At the end of the day, it's another thing to add to the ever-growing list of things to do.
We get it – it's a lot of pressure. That's why our team here at Stowsafe wants to help make your unboxing better.
We offer a completely bespoke
fulfilment service that involves storing, picking, packing and dispatching orders on behalf of eCommerce retailers like you. To help make your unboxing experience go down a treat, we can also help you with:
- Custom packaging
- Kitting
- Inclusion of inserts, flyers, and "thank you" notes
- Many more custom services
Ready to provide your customers with an unforgettable unboxing experience? Speak to one of our experts today to see how we can help give your product more pizazz with a unique unboxing strategy.
