Tag Archives: secrets of great packaging
Is your packaging attracting the consumer or confusing them?
Recently a friend did the following selective attention test on me. Some of you may know it already – if not give it a go! You may be surprised at the results.
If like me you were so focused on what you had been asked to do that you missed the obvious – don’t worry, you are certainly not alone.
Whilst it’s just a bit of fun it does actually demonstrate that people can’t actually take in that many messages at once.
So think carefully about your packaging – are you making the messaging clear to the shopper – or are you trying to put down on the pack all the benefits of your product (and more!) – because you want them to know just how good it is!
Sometimes less is more. Think of your packaging like a newspaper – you need a headline message to jump out from the pack to grab the shopper’s attention so that they pick it up.
Once the product is in their hand, they can then look for the messages that are pertinent to them i.e. is it gluten free? is it 100% natural? is it low in sugar? But your aim in crowded stores is to have packaging that stands out from the crowd – and often that is having a clear message on an uncluttered pack. Remember – shoppers don’t spend that long – a mere few seconds – browsing the fixture.
If you are currently looking at developing packaging or re-developing current packaging and would like an independent review and recommendations do drop me a line at [email protected]
Jo
@foodmktgclub
0772 3351884
www.relish-marketing.co.uk
How to make your packaging sell your product
We’re frequently asked about what to include on packaging, both in terms of the legal compliance stuff, but also the all important ‘how can I make my packaging sell my product better?’ question.
Here’s what we see as the 3 most important things to get right to make your packaging do just that…
1. Which face stands out?
It may sound obvious but think about which face of your pack is most important – depending on the size and shape, where it’s likely to sit on shelf and whether it sits in shelf-ready packaging (trays that display the product without the store staff having to unpack them one by one from a case) the front may not be the first part of the pack that shoppers see. Whichever side will be seen first and most MUST be where your key messages are.
2. Which words comes first?
In ‘marketing-speak’, this is known as the ‘hierarchy of messages’ (we still find it hard not to role our eyes at the old corporate marketing lingo…) In simpler terms, it’s about ordering what your pack says so that a consumer can, with only a cursory glance, pick up what’s most important first.
The key things will usually be: a) what is it? b) what brand? c) what’s in it?
The order those 3 things come in will depend on the strength of your brand, how easy to recognise your product is and whether what’s in it really makes it stand out.
3. Don’t overcrowd…
It’s very tempting to want to pack everything there is to know about your brand onto the back or inside of your packaging; after all, you want your consumers to absorb the passion you have for it and this may be your only chance!
However, in reality, that can often be counter-productive. Overloading the pack with information will just leave the consumer confused and even sometimes a little irritated that there’s so much to wade through just to find the cooking instructions, for example.
As well as the essentials like ingredient declarations, use by dates and so on (we’ve got a full list of what’s required on the Relish members website), the back, bottom or inside of your packaging is the perfect place to kick off a relationship with your consumer. Keeping it clean and simple with links to your Twitter and Facebook pages, where to find recipes on your website, a little quirky or interesting info and not much else is by far the best way to go.
Here are a couple of examples of packs we think are doing a great job of achieving all of this…
Bendylegs Granola – beautifully simple and clean, ‘does what it says on the tin’, letting the window on the product or the quirky choice of language tell you exactly what to expect from this brand.
Clive’s dips – no question what’s inside, the flavours are clearly signposted, backed up by the different colours. Clean, fresh and simple.
We’d love to know how you’ve gone about using your packaging to sell your product – or any questions you may have about how to achieve this with your pack. As always, do post a comment below or drop us a line on [email protected]…