** An article written for DS Smith as the e-commerce Design Manager **
As a child, I remember the excitement building during the run up to the festive period, not being able to wait until the big day and when my parents left the room, sneaking over to the tree and examining the wrapped gifts in detail. Were they heavy, light, overall size, did it have cut outs, or a shape that might give away what it was. I was quite the seasoned packaging detective by my teenage years, but even if I did guess what was contained inside, it never stopped if from being a great experience to unwrap and unbox the contained gift.
This childhood experience for me has transferred into my adult life and as a prolific purchaser of e-commerce goods, I find the unboxing experience to be vitally important for any business. Even if you buy the items yourself online and know what to expect, have you ever thought about the emotions it triggers, what makes you feel good or bad during these critical seconds? In this short moment, it can be for many the first point of contact with the retailer or brand and can have a large influence on whether they will be purchasing from them again.
My role as e-commerce Design Manager for DS Smith sees me often being asked to evaluate e-commerce packaging solutions on behalf of retailers and couriers, so is there a secret formula to creating a great and memorable unboxing experience?
If you start by examining the unboxing experience from the beginning, then the parcel arrives at your front door and the first thing in your mind is the condition of the external box. You scan for it being crushed, ripped, torn or punctured. Is there anything you should report immediately to the driver? Once you have concluded that it is in good condition, you start to check visually if it looks as expected and then how to relieve your goods as quickly as possible from their imprisonment in the corrugated transit case. Does it have an easy opening feature, or are you going to need some form of tool to get you inside? Just these first few steps lead me to believe that an unboxing experience is not about a single element that stands out and can fix everything, but a combination of multiple needs combined together to make the perfect one for your customer.
After digging deeper and thinking about this end to end process of unboxing, it left me with over 15 different areas to question, that I noted would contribute to the overall experience. However, these can all be covered by four main elements of; Structural Design, Customer Experience, Visual Impact and Circularity.
Structural Design
This element has one of the largest number of needs, covering everything from how easy it is to open or return, the amount of protection it offers during transit, right through to has the design been tested for supply chain performance, or is it right sized? Even the physical shape can play a large part in the overall experience, in that something unique could really make your brand stand out during the unboxing process, however it is also important to remember the practical element of shaped designs when travelling through automated handling and labelling processes.
Customer Experience
The customer experience is dominated by brand alignment and one of the first questions I ask myself is; does the packaging received at home provide the same feeling, or emotions as if you purchased in store? Although they are completely different supply chains, customers expect a consistent service level or experience aligned with your brand. If you purchase from a luxury brand, you would expect a quality box, that arrived in good condition, was easy to open, product packed carefully, maybe a personalised message or card and a return feature. You would want to be made to feel that your purchase was important and valued by the brand. Other thoughts may include, does the packaging reward you, are there any way of you connecting with the brand through AI, AR or QR codes? How would you feel when you buy from the same store online and a dirty, crushed box arrives, no void fill, fitment or anything presenting the product. You do not feel valued, your purchase is not important to the supplier and would you buy from them again, or maybe seek another online supplier. A silent drop is difficult to pick up when you are an online supplier, the issue may not be enough to contact customer services for a complaint, but just enough to put you off from buying from them again.
This does not only apply to luxury brands as well, if you purchase from a value brand, then your expectations maybe different, but it does not mean that the customer has any less feelings in regards to the importance of their order.
Visual Impact
Is the packaging a visual delight for your eyes? Does it have an outside print, or is it discrete to protect the goods contained? Many online businesses focus on inside print these days to create a WOW factor, but some brands have successfully explored outside printing of their pack to create humour or creativity. Many years ago, the best recommendation for any business was word of mouth, but these days social media is the new “word of mouth”, get it right and your unboxing experience could go viral, get it wrong and the effects can be devastating.
One brand in the Netherlands has put their packaging to great use as a marketing tool by using their bright orange and blue print to inspire creativity in their customers. The packs have been turned into many different craft objects through online photography competitions, ranging from pet beds to toy cars and planes.
Not everything is about print in the visual element, clever combinations of materials, textures and finishes can also create striking results that grab attention.
Circularity & Recyclability
The hot element that is at the top of most businesses priorities right now, but how does this link to a great unboxing experience? Questions you should be asking yourself as a business are; how much air are we shipping? Too much and it could be a problem to store or kerbside recycle, the customer may feel you are not taking sustainability seriously as a business and that you are wasteful. Do we offer our customers an environmentally friendly alternative to our mainstream packaging? Some online businesses offer plain or more sustainable packaging, whilst others offer combined delivery solutions to save on the number of boxes shipped. There are many more in this element, but it highlights the importance of considering circularity as part of the unboxing experience.
The above provides a lot of food for thought when it comes to creating a great unboxing experience, but just how big is unboxing? To give an idea of how important it has become, the amount of time people have spent watching unboxing videos on YouTube just on their phones is the equivalent of watching the holiday classic “Love Actually” more than 20 million times – it’s over 45,000,000 hours, encase you were wondering. The YouTube channel “Unbox Therapy” has over 13 million subscribers, and 2.4 billion views. These figures show how the humble corrugated box that was once viewed as necessary transit item, has become an integral part of the customer experience and opportunity for communicating with your customers in their own homes.
The next time you are developing e-commerce packaging and want to create a great unboxing experience, think about all these elements, but most importantly, which ones will make the experience great for your customers and that they are aligned with their expectations of your brand.