With fierce competition in e-commerce, it’s important to be unique. Your website is your brand identity. Your brand identity is reinforced each time a customer interacts with it. One of the best ways to ensure your brand resonates is with meaningful, strategic packaging design in e-commerce.
Packaging design has always been linked with physical products, yet it is just as critical in the digital space. Judged by a customer, the packaging can be anything ranging from your website structure, products organized online, how you display products online, and all the logistics associated with your e-commerce store’s packaging that affect how customers will perceive your business as a brand. Great design will improve a user’s experience (and trust) and allow your brand to create an emotional bond with customers.
Packaging Design Leaves a Lasting Impact
One of the best things you can do to cultivate a memorable impression for customers is through meaningful, strategic packaging design. It cultivates trust, elevates the user experience, and builds emotional connection for your audience.
So, why is it so important for brand identity in e-commerce? Let’s discuss.
- The Customer’s First Impression – Packaging Represents the Customer’s First Contact with Your Brand In the world of e-commerce (or online shopping), packages can be much more than how a product is wrapped. It is about how customers are being exposed to your brand. Think about your website and the entire online experience as being the “package” that contains all of the information about your products, services, and values. In fact, when a customer visits your e-commerce site, it is often his/her first encounter with your brand.
Research reveals that customers take only a few seconds to develop their opinion about your website. If the website looks modern, clean, and easy to navigate, then customers will feel more comfortable trusting your brand while exploring your products. Conversely, if a website is outdated, contains clutter, and is awkward/difficult to navigate, then the customer will tend to find another e-commerce shop of interest, leaving you with no purchase.
Good e-commerce package design allows your website to leave a first impression and reinforces the visitor’s sense of confidence and comfort in exploring it. - Packaging Conveys the Personality of Your Brand
In e-commerce, the design elements of your website — the logo, colors, typography, and imagery — reflect your personal brand personality. Packaging is your company’s identity, as it is a part of each product they sell. There will always be a connection between the product and how the company represents itself.
If you are an eco-friendly brand selling sustainable products, the design elements of your product packaging should reflect that you are environmentally conscious. You would want to use earthy colors, a restrained design, and clear communication regarding sustainability.
If you are selling luxury products, you want the design elements of your website to have high-end visuals and typography that reflect elegance, wealth, and luxury.
The content that you offer is your own digital packaging that should promote the brand’s identity. If the brand is recognized as environmentally conscious, all digital packaging should be consistent. This way, customers get an honest representation of your brand. It also offers a packaging experience that differs from the competition. It strives to achieve a consistent branding experience. - User Experience – Packaging That Makes Shopping Easy
When we think about packaging in e-commerce, we often think of it in terms of appearance. However, packaging is fundamentally about how well something works. User experience (UX) is a very important detail in the packaging you design for your website. An easy-to-use and intuitive website, in combination with simple and clear navigation, helps to harmonize and connect all of the moving parts on the e-commerce site and allows customers to research products, order, pay, and check out without complication.
When designing the layout and navigation for your e-commerce site, consider it a packaging system. You want to be sure that you offer clear categories, visible and well-structured search bars, filters available and accessible, and navigable menus to make it possible for your customers to discover, research, review, and purchase your products quickly and conveniently. The quicker, clearer, and more conveniently a customer can navigate through your e-commerce site, the greater chance you have of them completing the order.
But the user experience can be a lot more than just navigation. The purpose of the packaging can also include other performance measurements such as load times, mobile responsiveness, and usability. Perhaps the most alarming statistic to ever hit the e-commerce world is that over 50% of all e-commerce traffic now comes from mobile devices. The user experience must be consistent and seamless across all devices. We know that customer experiences can deteriorate quickly — consider what happens when your customers experience slow uploads or a confused or complicated checkout experience. - Packaging Builds Trust and Credibility
Trust is critical in the e-commerce world. Packaging design is a major contributor to trust with your customers. If your site looks professional, polished, and trustworthy, customers will buy from you.
More than just the face of package design, there is the security of your website. Trust signals such as SSL certificates, secure payment gateways, and customer reviews are all indicators of trustworthiness with your audience.
Trust is also created with presentation. If you present your product in a way that communicates value (high-quality product images, detailed product descriptions, and a simple, clear pricing structure), it shows professionalism and reliability. When customers feel they can trust you and your e-commerce website, they will be more confident purchasing from you. - Branding Packaging – Making the Most of Your Branding
The e-commerce market is very competitive, with thousands of online stores selling the same products. According to Greetings and Gifts, packaging design is one of the best ways to differentiate your brand.
Unique packaging design on the digital side could include interactive elements, eye-catching designs, and new ways to help customers visualize their products. Learning about and utilizing lifestyle photography, 360-degree product views, or AR (augmented reality) features that help customers envision the product in their space, can set your e-commerce store apart from competitors.
Furthermore, having consistent branded elements on the site, such as logos, colors, unique icons, creative animations, etc., will improve the visitor experience, and help keep your brand fresh in their mind. If you can create a memorable experience that attracts visitors back to your brand, you have achieved your goal! - Packaging Is an Expression of Your Products’ Quality
Just as packaging a product in the physical world begets the customer’s perception of quality, the packaging of your online store is the only evidence a customer will have to evaluate the quality of your products. If your store is clean, well organized and visually appealing your visitors assume you cared enough to engage in every aspect of your business and that includes your products.
If a site is cluttered, hard to navigate or looks unprofessional, customers will assume the products are of low quality. When a site is designed beautifully, customers think they are buying something special and of value.
Packaging design also applies to product pages. Images, descriptions and call-to-actions (CTAs) become part of the user interface and experience to make it feel like they are making an informed, quality purchase. - Mobile-First Design – Packaging for Every Device
As mobile commerce continues to grow, it’s vital that your packaging is created with mobile users in mind. Mobile-first design means that your webpage is not just a smaller version of your desktop website, but an optimized experience for smartphone users.
With over 50% of e-commerce traffic being via mobile devices, it’s essential that your website is responsive, if not mobile-friendly. Packaging in the digital space must consider that people on desktop, tablet, and mobile all need to be able to search, browse, shop, and check out.
Mobile e-commerce enhances the online shopping experience for users, while avoiding issues of endless scrolling, zooming, broken links, and broken images. Putting mobile first, will allow for optimization and conversion to be maximized and increase YOUR brands success in the online marketplace. - Making Packaging Profitable – Increasing Sales and Engagement
In addition to the many forms that packaging takes, it can also be an important means for you to market your products. This can include product pages and promotional banners appearing on the page in front of your customers. Overall packaging should make it easy for your customers to discover new products, sales, and promotional offers.
Packaging offers value to your customers in the form of personalized recommendations, discounts, or exclusive offers. You should consider utilizing on-screen pop-ups, cross-sell or upsell opportunities, or limited-time promotional offers to help keep your customers engaged and purchasing.
It is also essential to deliver opportunities to engage your customers after they make a purchase. For example, post-purchase packaging, such as order confirmation emails that contain personalized offers, will help you drive retention and repeat purchases. - Packaging Design As Part Of Your Overall E-Commerce Strategy
In the end, packaging design is part of your overall e-commerce strategy. Your site design, product presentation, user experience, customer experience, and security together form a cohesive, compelling brand presence online. Designing with elements that effectively express the personality and values of your brand and the quality of your product allows you to create a strong digital identity that resonates with your intended audience.
E-commerce packaging design is performance, not just a look — performance that builds trust, generates sales, and scales brand identity. Literally, from the time a customer visits your site to checkout, each aspect of the design has to speak to the quality of your brand and the value of the purchase.
Conclusion:
For e-commerce businesses that have the goal of seriously upping their digital presentation, harnessing the power of website design and packaging design is one of the best ways to capitalize on your efforts to ensure long-term success. Good design builds trust, it generates conversions, and provides for sustained brand conditioning that keeps customers forever engaged with your brand.
By concentrating on packaging design in all aspects of your e-commerce business, you are designing an environment that attracts customers, builds trust, and sells more products. Whether you are launching your website or looking for a refresh, the value of clever packaging design is underestimated. For businesses that require expertise in design and development, Qlinkon Technology offers professional services to take your e-commerce store to the next level. Visit qlinkon.com to learn more.