Terri Ramsey Beavers Everyone loves getting presents; there’s something so special about getting to unwrap a box, untie the ribbons and bows, and see the marvelous gift inside! If you’re in the gift business, then you definitely need to pay close attention to this because you know that it’s not just about the products you sell, but it’s the experience you’re giving to your customers (or the person they’re buying the gift for).
Plus, nowadays, if you’re running a small business and you’re not making the unboxing experience feel personal and unique, then your brand is going to immediately come off big and soulless like Amazon since there’s literally no unboxing experience with them.
So, with that said, how can you make this personal?
How can you really show that this is just a small business with a soul? Something that really puts love into each order? Well, it’s all about making it feel personal and memorable to the customer, and here’s everything you need to know to achieve that!
It All Starts with Custom Packaging
The first step to a remarkable unboxing experience is investing in custom packaging. You will want to tailor the design to reflect your brand’s identity, like using your logo, brand colors, and unique graphics. You might even want to go a step above that and even consider eco-friendly materials to align with sustainability trends and showcase your commitment to the environment. It’s your choice to opt for companies that specialize in this, or you can go the cheaper route and buy a customized stamp that has your logo on it and stamp everything yourself.
Make the Note Feel Personal
Nowadays, more and more small businesses are opting to use a thank you note for each order. It’s your choice if you want to print out mass thank you cards or if you want to go the more personal approach by stating their name and writing a handwritten thank you note. One takes a lot more time than the other, so it’s something you’re going to want to think about. For the most part, customers don’t expect business owners to be too personal unless the order itself is personal.
Surprise Gifts or Samples
Why not consider delighting your customers by including a small, unexpected gift or sample in their package? This could be a complementary product, a discount code for their next purchase, or even exclusive access to content or events. Why do this? Well, surprise elements enhance the sense of excitement and leave a positive impression. Plus, most people love unexpected small gifts.
Make It Instagrammable
Or you can even use the word “TikTokabble,” but the whole point is to just make the whole unboxing experience, the boxes, the wrapping, anything, and everything just seem super aesthetically pleasing. The whole point for this is just to design your packaging with shareability in mind.
You’ll need to make sure that you can create visually appealing and Instagram (or social media) worthy moments that customers will be eager to capture and share on social media. The whole point is that you can help encourage user-generated content; you can even go a step further by creating a branded hashtag for customers to use when posting about their unboxing experience. So, this is personal, but at the same time, you’re enticing them to share their experience.
Create Boxing Content
This is mostly a TikTok trend, but there are small businesses out there that are packaging and boxing up their orders for their followers to see. Some followers will even make a request to box up their order, and they’ll comment on their order number so the owner knows who’s to package up. This is extremely personal and probably even memorable.
You’re basically acknowledging your customers’ existence on social media; you’re doing as they ask; they get to see you respond to them and see that you made content specifically for them, and they see that you created an unboxing experience just for them. This is extremely personal, so this could be something that you can start looking into.
Interactive Packaging Inserts
This isn’t done too often nowadays, but depending on the type of audience you have, this could be enjoyable for them. So, you might want to go ahead and consider incorporating interactive elements into your packaging, such as QR codes that lead customers to exclusive content or instructional videos. The reason why you might want to try this is because it engages customers beyond the initial purchase and creates a sense of community around your brand.