The shipping experience begins and ends with the shipping boxes. It begins with you, the business owner, packing up the boxes, and it ends with the customer tearing into them. It’s the last thing that you will see, and the first thing that they will see. Shouldn’t it be more of a priority to make the receiving of an item the beginning of the excitement and appreciation? At the same cleverly advertising your business and product during the entire shipping and handling and process?
Businesses like the Honest Company have risen to the challenge and they decorate their shipping boxes from the inside out. It might seem unnecessary, but that sea of teal you come across as you unpack their box does something to your mood. Knowing that the company you are spending your money on cares so much about their product, and is willing to invest in the little things, makes you more inclined to go back.
It’s not enough to have just plain old packaging and shipping supplies these days. Not with how advanced technology is. It has become kind of a competition between businesses to see who can have the most elaborately and creatively designed supplies and I, for one, appreciate the outcome! I tend to reuse the packaging and shipping supplies that I get in the mail, and the more creative the better.
It’s a really smart investment to brand your shipping boxes with both your company name and something that identifies your company in an intriguing way. A company like ModCloth decorates their packaging material with their company name and logo on a bright strip separate from the rest of it. The remainder of the shipping boxes are covered with designs that resemble the materials of their product: clothes! So when the delivery guy comes across a box that is cleverly decorated with what looks like string, they will think to themselves, “What is going on here?” And they will look up ModCloth. More than likely they will use their phone, which will yield instant answers to their questions. From there, they might even become patrons of the company. It’s a win win situation. The consumer gets to receive a beautifully decorated package, and the company gets to market itself while boxes are in transit to their new homes. Essentially, there is no downtime of the advertising campaign, which is well worth the investment.
