When you buy new items in a brick-and-mortar shop it's always a nice sight to see them package your products in a protective wrapper, a strong paper bag and a sticker wishing you much joy and love from your newly bought products. This unboxing experience gives you a sense of importance and exclusivity. It makes you remember the store/brand because they took the time and effort to carefully put away your products.

When it comes to an ecommerce business, the unboxing experience is just as important, if not even more important. The package that you send to your customers is the only thing that will create a direct touch point to you. This leads to the unboxing experience being unique marketing opportunity for ecommerce business owners and many don't use this opportunity as they should.

The one and only functionality of packaging is to protect the package on its way to reach his client. Packaging however has a marketing possibility that was overseen for a very long time: the unboxing experience. A branded packaging has the possibility to create a unique experience for your clients. It has the possibility to fill the room with excitement and joy just because your client sees the package. Do it right and you create a memorable unboxing experience for your client and even their bystanders.

The unboxing experience matters because it creates a long-lasting memory with your client. By making your customers remember you by offering that little extra experience, you build a sustainable brand. this will eventually lead to customers coming back to you and even mouth-to-mouth marketing from these happy customers. Returning customers will end up spending more on your webshop than new customers.

In a survey by Ipsos 72% of the interviewees admit that the design of the product's packaging can influence their purchase decisions and 67% admit that the material used can influence their decisions.

There are multiple elements in the combination that creates this experience. Luckily not every possible option has to be included to create it.

It's up to you to test this out, adjust it to your own personal preferences and see what options truly create value to your customers.

By investing smart in just a handful of these items you might already have the key to a successful unboxing experience.

The first thing that meets the eye of your customer: the main shipping container. Depending on what products you're selling this could be shaped like anything: a tube, a box, a bag, an envelope. In the past it was preferred by the business owner to keep this as cheap (and ultimately cheap looking) as possible. That is not how you create a premium impression though.

The packaging itself is where the unboxing experience starts. Go cheap on this and you will leave a cheap impression. There are plenty of cheap options that create a premium "wow" impression.

The survey by Ipsos revealed that 67% of the interviewees think that paper and cardboard packaging makes a product more attractive than other packaging materials and 63% agree that it makes products seem premium or high quality!

Finding a wrapping paper protecting your products is always pleasant to witness when you open your package. It creates an extra level of care and excitement because it builds up anticipation. You could consider a personalized wrapper here or just bubble wrap because let's face it, who doesn't enjoy popping bubble wrap!?

Classic filler materials can vary from foam inserts, air pillows, packing peanuts, old newspapers. Unfortunately these are very little visually appealing and won't give a very premium feeling. Sure you might say bubble wrap isn't visually appealing neither and I won't disagree (it's just so much fun). A premium feeling you can achieve by using crinkle paper fillers or wood wool (a.k.a. excelsior).

Stickers are versatile, fairly cheap and you can let your creative mind go nuts here. Paste them on the box and add some extra for your client to paste wherever. Pick a relevant design, something that pops out and that is unique and you might even see your stickers show up on laptops or traffic lights (imagine the publicity!).

By adding a business or reference card with a message you hold a potential superpower in your hands. These cards obviously don't have to be the conventional size of business cards since you won't be sharing them the traditional way.

On these cards you can write a funny or helpful message. Maybe a tutorial on how to use your product or a note that creates new potential to your product. The possibilities are unlimited, relatively cheap and they will definitely make you noticed!

Standard part of almost every package is the receipt, invoice, packing slip. An overlooked opportunity by 99% of all the companies. A unique marketing tool for those who see it.

To sketch my point of view: you're at this fancy restaurant, you just had the meal of a lifetime and they bring you the receipt. Most likely they'll bring you the receipt in a elegant, subtle way: a closed folder or cute looking box. Very often they'll include a breath mint with your receipt. They care about how your breath smells? Not really. It's a psychological trick: they reduce the impact of the receipt by giving something free and thanks to this little breath mint your focus is a bit distracted from the receipt as it's not the first thing you'll see anymore.

When creating your template for your receipts or packing slips you might as well make it customized. You can do this by adding your logo or a slogan (quotes always score well). You might even consider adding a coupon code to encourage your customer to return to you!

I hear you thinking "What?! Tape?!" and frankly you're not wrong. It sounds ridiculous to have custom tape with your brand on.

Does it really sound ridiculous though? You might as well call it unique is what I would say.

It's definitely something something customers won't pay any attention to if it's just clear tape. make it a colourful tape with your brand and it will definitely be noticed. Imagine a brown box on your doorstep with clear tap. Now imagine it with colourful branded tape. Doesn't it just put a smile on your face? It creates instant brand recognition. Even the delivery guys will be intrigued!

Based on what the customer his shopping history is with your webshop it's best to include something that is useful for him/her. No point of adding a male face cream sample if your customer is female.

This small gift can be beautifully combined with your personal note. It creates a unique opportunity to cross-sell some of your products.

Yes.

Is it always worth to go this extra mile?

Not really.

It will cost you more money and time then if you would just send out the items with no extras, but this won't make you memorable. It's up to you to decide on when you'll execute these tips because it's just not realistic to add it to every small order.

Analyze your numbers, your profits, average sales and see for yourself when it's realistic to add it. If your client orders a lot from your website, they might be worth surprising them. They could bring in new customers and be a returning customer too.

Branded stuff such as custom boxes or mailers aren't exactly the cheapest solutions to create that unique unboxing experience. To make this pay off you'll have to order a lot, and with a lot I mean a lot. Order a minimum of 500 and price per piece will shrink like snow in the sun.

To give you an rough idea of prices: for personalized boxes this can vary from €5 up to €25 per piece, depending on the quantity and the design. Mailers will be much cheaper and prices will vary from €0,2 to €3, again depending on quantity and design. To create a premium feeling I advice you to avoid poly mailers.

Take in consideration that boxes weigh much more than mailers and this could create an extra cost. In this case it's smart to look at your options, and if a box isn't necessary then it might be better to use customized mailers.

Going the extra mile doesn't necessarily include sending out personalized material. For a small price you can buy premade boxes in any colour that you'd like, still offering a premium feeling without costing you that premium price. Pick yourself a colour that suits you and your business, make it your own and make it part of your brand awareness program.

You have plenty of options for this, you can take a look at Amazon or ebay, doesn't matter if you're in Europe or America. If you have time on your side you can take a look at AliExpress even.

If you're European we suggest you https://buntbox.com/ or https://packhelp.com.

For our American clients we suggest to go for https://www.customboxesnow.com/ or https://www.uline.com/ .

When it comes to stickers and personalized cards you can't go wrong with https://www.vistaprint.com/ . They have offices all over the world: Europe, America, Australia and Asia.

Running a business isn't looking at what others do, it's about looking at what they don't do. Brand awareness is differentiating yourself from your competitors.

Take the next coming days to revise your strategy on how you want to create brand awareness. A unique unboxing experience is good start, but it's up to you to decide on how you plan on executing this.

If you're looking for a cool stock photo for your ad campaign, you should definitely take a look at my 7 favorite photo platforms where you can find free photos for everybody to use!

If you're interested to know more about running ads on Facebook and Instagram, take a look at this article.

Your webshop is already up and running with you want to know more on how to increase your customers' average spending, then this article is right for you.