How to Create an Amazing Unboxing Experience
As online ordering takes over traditional in-store shopping, the unboxing of products has become more important to brands who want to truly create an experience for their customers. In fact, there are YouTube channels that are devoted specifically to unboxing products on camera for both the pleasure and review of the item. How a product is unboxed can increase marketing, engagement, and customer connection.
While shopping used to be a hands-on experience that included meandering through shops and touching items, online shopping has offered extreme efficiency. With this efficiency comes the loss of the physical connection between the customer and the product, and businesses need to create new ways to make those connections.
Unboxing
By definition, unboxing is the action of removing something from a box.
However, unboxing is so much more than just that simple action. On YouTube, there are more than 1.6 million videos about unboxing, and some channels collect more than 2.4 billion views. One company reported that more than 100,000 unboxing videos are uploaded every week.
Unboxing videos offer a social aspect to the online experience that is often lacking in the digital world, which also includes verbal proclamations about the feel of the product and packaging. Unboxing videos provide transparency that brand commercials won’t offer. It’s an opportunity for potential and future customers to connect with a new-to-them brand and product.
The Unboxing Experience
Connecting with your customers through the unboxing experience can be as simple or luxurious as you want, but ideally, the process should wholly reflect your brand’s style and goals. To create a memorable unboxing experience for your customers, you should first read our other post about packaging psychology, which dives into four areas of packaging design that can create an emotional response for customers.
Once you’ve done that, it’s time to decide how to box your product.
Consider the Product
You want to be sure that you choose the right type of packaging for your product. Some products may not need a lot of protective wrapping while others may require substantial care. Along those lines, you also want to have a box that fits the style of your customers and the brand.
Outline the Packaging Layout
The most memorable unboxing experiences are well-thought-out processes with the customer in mind. For example, Apple is known for a minimalist and clean unboxing experience, where within moments of unboxing, the customer sees the product. After the product, the instructions become visible with the peripherals being the final step. The layout and packing of your product is a part of the presentation.
Thank Your Customers
A quick thank you, whether handwritten or printed, is a nice way to acknowledge the people who support your business. You can also choose to offer a longer note, depending on your brand goals. However, too long and you may lose your customers’ interest.
Make Unboxing Easy
Guide your customer through the process of unboxing. Instead of leaving a customer turning the box in their hands, trying to find the right way to open, make the process intuitive or offer a brand-appropriate roadmap. You can use pull-tabs or obvious tape across edges. From the moment the box is in your customer’s hands, the user experience is beginning. Make it easy to navigate.
Be Considerate of Extras
The complimentary peppermint after a restaurant dinner or chocolate on a hotel pillow heightens the experience for the customer, adding an extra touch of pampering. This element can be incorporated into the unboxing experience, whether it’s a note, coupons, samples, or an accessory for the product.
Choosing Box Fillers
While traditional fillers include Styrofoam, air pillows, bubble wrap, and crinkle paper, these aren’t visually appealing. Depending on your product, you could choose to wrap it in tissue paper or velvet fabric. These types of fillers send a message about a product’s quality, color, and texture.
It’s All in the Details
Stickers, stamped boxes, inserts—so many choices to personalize your unboxing experience! A sticker with a logo on it can be a nice way to seal tissue paper around the product, or a sweet little extra. With an insert or a note, you can also ask for a review of the product. Or include a cute postcard that the customer could send to someone else or stick to their office wall.
Box Statement
The box is more than just the simple protection of your product, it’s the first visual and tactile representation of your brand. The package should make a statement for your company and offer the customer an enjoyable experience that goes past the practical elements of product protection.
Slide the Bill Over
A receipt or packing slip tends to be standard for a package. Timing is everything for this piece of paper. It should be offered at the right time with the right sense of style. When a customer is unboxing their product, they want to see the product first. Therefore, place the receipt or packing slip behind the product in a place that makes sense for your brand.
The unboxing experience is one that brands and companies should take very seriously, especially as more shopping is done online. Creating a journey with your packaging can establish your brand relationship with your target customer, bringing them back again and again. Some customers may even share their unboxing experience on their social accounts, which will expand your brand’s reach to potential customers.
At Golden Arrow, we prioritize beautiful packaging that is responsibly sourced and made. Our packaging solutions ensure that your unboxing experience is not only appealing to the eye, but it’s also better for the environment.