Unboxing & Customer Experience: Best Practices for Ecommerce Packaging

The unboxing experience is a critical moment for your brand. The quality of the packaging, the visual language of your brand, and the excitement of unveiling the product within converge for a memorable customer experience.

A high-quality unboxing experience promotes positive word-of-mouth for your brand, opening up new channels of viral marketing online and beyond.

Delivering high-end products to customers through ecommerce fulfillment? Consider these best practices for ecommerce packaging to earn customer loyalty through high-quality unboxing experiences.

Unboxing best practice: memorable packaging and branding

A high-quality unboxing experience lies in the details. Small decisions, like whether to include box inserts or branded crinkle paper, can elevate a box into something your customer wants to share with family and friends online.

Adding value to the unboxing experience doesn’t have to break your budget, either. Including these low-cost value-adds can help your business earn positive word-of-mouth and customer loyalty.

Branded packaging

Transform the box into an effective marketing tool that customers want to share. Getting creative with your choice of branded packaging materials puts your brand front-and-center during the unboxing experience.

Branded packing tape

Packing tape doesn’t have to be merely an obstacle between your customer and the product. When handsomely designed to suit your brand, packing tape can help build anticipation and leave a lasting impression.

Print inside the box

Rarely will a marketing professional tell you to “think inside the box,” but this is one of those times. Printing on the inside of the box encourages the customer to explore every inch of it—enriching the brand experience. It’s also a great way to deliver a high-value unboxing experience when shipping items discreetly.

Packaging infill

Packaging infill has the potential to turn off customers. It can quickly become messy or feel wasteful. Make creative choices with branded tissue paper, branded crinkle paper, or other custom infill materials to earn repeat business through high-quality unboxing experiences.

Need a more robust infill solution? Consider eco-friendly infill materials to align your brand with environmentally conscious customers.

Marketing inserts

Inserts allow your business to add a touch of personalization and convenience to the unboxing experience. Thank-you notes, product offers, and return shipping labels help deepen the relationship between your brand and the customer.

Ecommerce subscription services and direct sellers benefit immensely from inserts. The kitting and bundling process offers an opportunity to provide a highly personalized array of products and inserts as well as earn the trust of long-term customers. Emulate the success of ecommerce subscription brands by including these high-value inserts in the box.

Return shipping label

This simple addition is actually one of the most important. Customers are searching for companies with reliable returns policies. A return label in the box ensures that your customer knows you’re a brand they can trust.

Free samples or promotional offers

If you extend free samples or promotional prices to your customers during the unboxing experience, they’re more likely to purchase from you again.

Low-pressure marketing materials

Not everything has to be a hard sell. Brands can benefit from including simple value-adds that tie into their industry or product. Consider including a small publication to support your brand’s value in the box and beyond.

Personalized messages

Let your customers know exactly what their purchase means to you. A personalized thank-you note is an opportunity to delve deeper into your company’s values and earn long-term customer loyalty.

Unboxing best practice: damage-free fulfillment

Despite all of your creative packaging and inserts, an unboxing experience can be undermined by damaged packaging or products. A disappointing unboxing experience is costly—every ding, dent, and scratch counts. Damaged packaging or products upon delivery harm the reputation of your brand. That goes doubly so for luxury brands and high-end products.

Not only will your business lose the positive word-of-mouth and viral marketing the unboxing experience could generate, but you could also lose future repeat business from the customer.

Prevent damage during fulfillment

Avoid common packaging and fulfillment mistakes that could lead to disappointing unboxing experiences.

Oversize packaging

Not only is shipping items in boxes that are too large for the product they carry cost-inefficient, but it will cause unnecessary jostling and damage to the product. Reduce your fulfillment costs and improve the unboxing experience by using size-appropriate packaging.

Not enough infill

While customers may dislike messy infill, like packing peanuts, they dislike damaged products even more. Choose an appropriate amount and type of infill material to suit your products. You can go eco-friendly to align with your companies’ values, too.

Sloppy presentation

Product presentation is key to the unboxing experience. Careless pick, pack, and ship processes can undermine that presentation. For example, boxes sealed carelessly with too little or too much packing tape can frustrate customers and even cause damage. Ensure your fulfillment partner puts care into their packing processes for every order, whether it’s bundled or standalone.

FIDELITONE: damage-free pick, pack, and ship partner

FIDELITONE’s pick, pack, and ship expertise helps transform the unboxing experience into a high-value marketing tool for your brand.

“The out of box experience is another way FIDELITONE can help our clients drive brand loyalty,” says Josh Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of FIDELITONE.

“We are committed to being a flexible partner and continue to look for new ways to create that customer satisfaction in partnership with the brands we support.”

Ecommerce packaging expertise

Leverage FIDELITONE’s nationwide network of fulfillment centers to extend high-quality unboxing experiences to new markets. Benefit from 1-2 day nationwide fulfillment, kitting and bundling expertise, and customized pick, pack, and ship processes.

Ready to elevate your brand’s unboxing experience? Contact FIDELITONE online or by phone at 800.475.0917 to earn repeat business through memorable unboxing experiences.