Each and every time one of your products ships to one of your customers, you have an opportunity to influence how that customer views your brand. If the products arrive disorganized, damaged, or in the incorrect quantity, the customer will likely have a negative experience, and that will impact your brand.
If the order arrived neatly packaged, and undamaged, and the right quantities were sent to the customer, congratulations! Your business has one more happy customer. The way you package your products matters, and can drastically influence how a customer views your brand and company.
Acquiring and Keeping Customers
Customer acquisition is vitally important to a business’s success, however, customer acquisition is just half the equation. Customer satisfaction and retention is the other half – which is equally as important, if not more important.
A happy and satisfied customer often becomes the best marketing your brand or company could ever have. A business should take advantage of trying to impress its customers every chance they can.
Your Packaging on Products Matters
Your business may have spent years developing a product, growing its inventory balance, or expanding its product offering. This likely took a lot of hard work and deliberate effort, not to mention a great deal of capital.
From here, it’s now time to get the products to your customers, and if you’re an eCommerce company, that means your products will ship to your customers. Therefore, how your business packages those products for your customers is a piece that cannot be forgotten about.
Tips for eCommerce Packaging
If you’re looking to improve the way your business packs and ships your products to the customer, here are some tips that you can follow that will certainly pay off in the long run!
Make Sure the Box is an Appropriate Size
First and foremost, make sure you are using a box that is the right size. Too small of a box and your products can get squished. Too big of a box and your products can roll around, become damaged, and you’ll pay excessive dimensional charges from any shipping carrier.
Fill the Package Appropriately
Secondly, be sure to use some sort of package fill. Generally speaking, paper fill provides the most bang for your buck. It’s light enough and can be sourced from numerous suppliers.
Use Plenty of Tape
Thirdly, make sure the package itself has enough tape. Far too often do companies cut corners with their tape, which could result in the package opening up once in the hands of the carrier. When a carrier repackages your package, it never looks good in the eyes of the customer.
Speaking of tape, you can add some designs to your tape for a relatively low cost. If you have a specific color that is associated with your company, a brand logo, or value propositions, the tape used on the outside of the box is a great way to advertise that! You do not need to over tape the package, and the tape should be neat and organized on the box.
Place a Packing List Inside of the Package
Putting a receipt, or picking list, inside the package is also a nice touch. It reminds the customer what they ordered, and that the contents of their order can all be found within the box. Having a thank you message on that sheet of paper is also a nice touch that your business can do.
Be Mindful of How You Pack
Packing heavy/bulky items with small fragile items is a recipe for disaster. Don’t be afraid to use numerous boxes to fulfill the order.
If you are packing glass, go the extra mile and ensure the glass is well wrapped and protected to avoid any damage in transit. Even putting a fragile sticker on the outside of the box shows that your company did everything possible to keep the products safe.
Your Packaging is an Extension of Your Brand
The way you package your products for your customers is a direct reflection of your brand. Do not treat packaging as an afterthought. Customers will always remember a good experience, and with so many moving pieces involved in getting a customer’s order from a warehouse to their front door, doing your diligence to ensure the package is well packed is a step worth taking.
If fulfillment isn’t your strength, that’s okay! Partnering with the right third-party logistics company, or 3PL is a great way to ensure your fulfillment process is as buttoned-up as it can be.
The right 3PL will integrate completely into your eCommerce store and will be able to meet your packaging requirements. Print Bind Ship has decades of experience distributing products, and we’ll be happy to discuss your fulfillment needs with you.