Customers frequently make snap decisions after being drawn to attractive or stand-out packaging – something that many business owners underestimate or make mistakes with when thinking about its design.

More than just a means to hold or transport your product, packaging matters…so much so that its design should support your wider business strategy.

On top of this, more and more businesses are taking the plunge to “go green” and are making inroads to ensuring their packaging is environmentally friendly in some way, whether it be recyclable, compostable or biodegradable.

Stand out from the crowd

Packaging is essentially a marketing vehicle, and an opportunity to translate your brand identity, personality and values directly through your product.

In order to stand out from other, more generic packaging, your product must have great “shelf appeal”. It should be clear what it is inside and what the product does, so consumers can make their purchasing choice with all the facts in front of them.

Whether you’re a small start-up launching your first product or a leading global company with an established and growing range, packaging design can help differentiate your product(s) from your competitors’ and importantly, engage your target audience.

First impressions count

First impressions occur even before cognitive processing and take just milliseconds to form. These particular types of emotions can linger and persist even if contradicted by factual information.

A good first impression raises expectations for the product inside, and in turn, influences how the customer perceives the product itself. Because of this, such attention to packaging details isn't obsessive, it's necessary.

In a crowded marketplace such as the mobile phone accessories sector, it is imperative to get a consumer’s attention. Whilst innovative, stand-out packaging can initially help sell a product, it is the stand-out technical spec and great quality that gets people buying the same product again and again.

Aesthetics vs functionality

Packaging design and creation is often a trial and error process due to the many factors that can affect product performance. It is for this reason that it is extremely hard to achieve the perfect combination of being aesthetically pleasing and fully functional.

No matter the design, your packaging should protect your products from getting damaged. This should be taken into consideration at each stage of the design process, and the right supplier sourced in order to ensure no compromise is taken on this front.

If your packaging is gimmicky, the product inside must be of the highest quality to justify this.

Finally, convenience and practicality are key. How your products look (and physically sit) on the shelf can have a huge impact on how they sell.

Consumers may be willing to pay more for functional packaging, including water resistance, insulation, durability, and anything else to make it more compatible with the buyer’s lifestyle.

By Jolyon Bennett, CEO of juice.