How Does Protective Packaging Influence Consumer Behavior?

Brands spend a lot of money to research and design the best packaging for their products so they look attractive on the shelf to passing shoppers. However, protective packaging design has become increasingly important as more and more people shop online instead of in brick-and-mortar stores.

It’s estimated that 1.8 billion people shop online, and in 2018, 13 billion packages were shipped in the United States alone. Your products could be the best in your industry, but that won’t matter if they break during the shipping process. 

Let’s take a look at how protective packaging influences consumer behavior. That way, you can do your best to ensure a positive delivery experience for your customers.

Secure a Good Impression

Your customers have a lot of concerns when they order online, such as:

Online shopping is all about trust and making a good impression. This starts on your website. 

For example, are the pictures of your products high quality? Is your return policy clear and easy to find? Is checking out simple and streamlined? 

However, even if you have the best website in the world, your customers’ positive impression of your company can go out the window if your shipping process fails to live up to their expectations. It doesn’t matter how easy the checkout process was, for example, if your products arrive damaged.

Chances are your company is investing a lot of time, money, and resources into making sure your website makes a good first impression on customers. Don’t forget to stick the landing by also investing in the right protective packaging for your products.

Build a Professional Reputation

Customers want what they paid for, and they expect the items they ordered to arrive on their doorsteps intact. Violating this expectation can have serious consequences for your brand down the road.

Protective packaging provides a positive experience for your customers. High-quality packaging communicates professionalism and increases trust in both your product and your brand as a whole. It also cuts back significantly on the number of returns you have to process.

Did you know that nearly 60% of consumers 35 and under won’t shop at a retailer again if they have a negative experience returning an item? Every ecommerce store will have to handle some number of returns, but you can greatly reduce returns by investing in protective packaging. That’s because 80% of returns to online stores are due to broken or damaged items.

With fewer returns, you can deliver a more professional experience to those who choose to return for reasons other than damaged products.

Benefit from Positive Online Reviews

It takes time to write online reviews, which is why people are more likely to make the effort if they have strong emotions about a company or product.

This is great when you start getting a number of highly positive reviews from enthusiastic customers, but it’s not as fun when you start getting pummelled with viciously negative reviews from frustrated customers.

People take protective packaging for granted until something goes wrong. If you want people to rave about how quickly and securely they received their products, you’ll need to do more than throw a sheet of bubble wrap in every box.

That’s why picking the right protective packaging and even investing in something like branded packaging can make your company stand out and encourage that customer to write about their positive delivery experience.

Nurture Lifetime Customers

In general, it costs less money to keep customers than to make new ones.

It’s in your best interest to keep your customers happy because happy customers are more likely to buy more products from you in the future. They’re also more likely to post positive online reviews, expanding your brand’s reach.

Brick-and-mortar stores have the advantage of meeting customers in person. As an online retailer, it’s important for you to find other ways to connect to customers.

Your packaging materials can help you keep your customers happy so they don’t decide to buy from your competitors next time.

Impress Consumers With Protective Packaging

As a protective packaging manufacturer, we’re dedicated to providing quality packaging materials to customers across the country. Call Premier Protective Packaging today at (616) 791-7400, or contact us online.

This blog post has been updated.