Even the best products can lose their appeal if they have poor packaging, creating problems that ripple through your entire business. By recognizing and avoiding common packaging mistakes, you can protect your products, strengthen your brand identity, leave a positive impression on customers, and reduce unnecessary costs.
Why packaging mistakes can hurt your business
Packaging plays a crucial role in how your brand is perceived. In fact, a 2018 study revealed that packaging design directly influenced the purchasing decision of 72% of Americans.
Oversights in product packaging can translate to:
- Lost opportunities: In a crowded market, products have only seconds to stand out. Ineffective packaging blends in, causing your brand to be completely overlooked by potential customers.
- Customer dissatisfaction: Hard-to-open packages, fragile items arriving damaged, or poorly designed boxes often lead to frustration and negative reviews.Â
- Eroding brand credibility: Low-quality packaging materials and typos make your brand seem careless and unprofessional.
- Unnecessary costs: Poor packaging choices result in increased costs from replacing damaged goods, handling returns, and even facing costly recalls if regulatory information is incorrect.Â
- Unmet sustainable expectations: Today’s eco-conscious consumers are quick to call out wasteful packaging on social media, which could potentially harm your brand reputation among this growing demographic.
6 Common packaging mistakes and how to avoid them
Steer clear of the following packaging errors that can hurt your brand:
Packaging mistake 1: Designing for yourself, not your customer
One of the most frequent missteps in packaging design is creating something based on the business owner’s personal taste rather than the target audience’s preferences and needs. If your packaging style doesn’t resonate with your audience, then they may subconsciously feel the product isn’t meant for them, even if it’s exactly what they’re looking for.
How to fix it: Think like your customer
Before finalizing any packaging design, step into your customer’s shoes and think about:
- Who they are: Are they busy parents seeking convenience? Tech enthusiasts drawn to minimal, sleek designs? Young adults captivated by bold, playful imagery?
- What they value: Do they prioritize sustainability, luxury, or simplicity?
- Where they shop: The customer experience of an online shopper is different from that of a customer in a physical store. eCommerce packaging needs to be durable enough for the supply chain, while retail packaging must stand out on a crowded shelf.
Understanding your audience’s tastes, values, and shopping habits is key to crafting packaging that speaks to them, grabs their attention, and drives sales.
Packaging mistake 2: Having weak or inconsistent branding
Your product packaging is a tangible piece of your brand. Customers are drawn to familiar brands they can rely on.
If your packaging looks different every time, or if the logo is hidden and the colors don’t align with your brand identity, you’re missing a critical opportunity to build brand recognition and loyalty.
How to fix it: Make your brand the star
Here’s how to create packaging that effectively builds brand credibility:
- Make your logo and brand name prominent: Don’t hide your brand’s most important asset. Your logo should be clearly visible and appropriately sized.Â
- Align colors and visuals with your brand identity: Use consistent brand colors, fonts, and imagery across all packaging to create an instantly recognizable look that consumers will remember.
- Highlight key information: Include essential details such as your company name, website, and social media handles or a QR code to drive online engagement.
Packaging mistake 3: Overloading the packaging design with clutter
Many businesses try to provide too much information on the front of their packaging, crowding it with text and images about benefits, ingredients, and company history. Add poor font choices, illegible text, and clashing colors, and your packaging is sure to confuse and overwhelm instead of captivate.
How to fix it: Embrace simplicity and clarity
Follow these best practices for clean, effective packaging:
- Prioritize key information: Identify the one or two most important details customers need to make a purchase, and place those front and center. Secondary information can go on the back or a separate insert.
- Choose readable fonts: Opt for clean, legible fonts such as Verdana or Open Sans, and use font sizes that are large enough to be easily read from a short distance.
- Leverage white space: Don’t shy away from empty space. White space lends a clean, modern, and professional feel to your design, guiding the eye to key elements.
- Choose colors strategically: Stick to a limited color palette that aligns with your brand. Maintain a strong contrast between text and background to maximize readability. For example, avoid yellow text on a white background.
Packaging mistake 4: Displaying unclear or misleading information
Misleading imagery and exaggerated claims can instantly damage your brand’s credibility. Likewise, spelling mistakes may seem minor, but for many consumers, these signal a lack of quality control in your overall packaging processes.
How to fix it: Prioritize honesty and accuracy
Adopt the following tips to avoid this pitfall:
- Show, don’t exaggerate: Use accurate, honest visuals of your product. If you’re showing a serving suggestion for a food item, label it clearly to manage expectations.
- Proofread meticulously: Run thorough proofreading and quality control checks across all packaging processes.
Packaging mistake 5: Using cheap or excessive packaging materials
Choosing the cheapest option for packaging materials can backfire. When a product arrives crushed, dented, or broken, the customer doesn’t blame the shipping company — they blame you. On the other hand, oversized boxes filled with excessive packaging materials frustrate eco-conscious customers, increase shipping expenses, and waste warehouse storage space.
How to fix it: Invest in quality and suitability
Follow these best practices for choosing right-sized packaging materials:
- Match material to product: The primary goal of packaging is protection. For fragile items, use effective cushioning materials such as bubble wrap, custom foam inserts, or molded pulp for product safety during handling and transit. For heavy products, use sturdy, corrugated cardboard that won’t fail under pressure.
- Avoid wasteful packaging: Shipping a small item in a giant box adds waste, raises costs, and can frustrate eco-conscious customers. Optimize your packaging options to fit your product snugly and securely.
- Test your packaging: Conduct real-world shipping and drop tests to see if your packaging can handle the rigors of the supply chain.
Packaging mistake 6: Overlooking the unboxing experience
The unboxing experience is now a vital marketing strategy, largely due to the influence of social media. Hard-to-open packages that require tools, excessive packaging materials that create a mess, or a lack of internal organization can frustrate customers and ruin what should be an exciting moment.
How to fix it: Design packaging for a memorable experience
Think of the unboxing as the final step in your customer’s purchasing journey and your first opportunity to secure their loyalty.
- Make the packaging easy to open: Incorporate perforated tear strips or easy-lift tabs to prevent wrap rage.
- Create a “wow” moment: Plan for what the customer sees the moment they open the box. Custom packaging with branded tissue paper, a thank-you note, or neatly organized components can turn a simple delivery into a memorable event.
- Encourage social sharing: An aesthetically pleasing and satisfying unboxing experience is highly shareable on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, providing your brand with free, user-generated marketing.
Smarter packaging leads to better product protection and higher sales
Avoiding these common packaging mistakes requires planning and investment, but the payoff is worth it. Professional packaging solutions, from strategic design to quality materials, pay for themselves through reduced returns, improved customer satisfaction, and a stronger, more credible brand. Take the time to perfect your packaging, and you will build a solid foundation for sustainable business growth.
Contact Pro-Motion Industries at 856-809-0040 to see how our labeling and screen printing solutions can make your packaging unforgettable.