We’ve talked plenty of times of different ways you can increase the number of positive reviews you get on Amazon: using feedback software, following up on negative reviews and personalising your communication with buyers. In this post, we’re going to look at things from a different angle — how the packaging you use can influence the type of review you get.
Top Reasons Why Packaging Matters
West Rock did a study in 2016 where they surveyed 15,000 consumers in 10 different countries and found a whole lot of interesting data about a seemingly uninteresting topic. What they found led to some noticeable patterns, like:
- More than a third of shoppers have switched to a different brand just because of new packaging.
- But when packaging doesn’t change, 60% of consumers will buy again because they find the packaging so functional.
- When it comes to a package’s look, 38% of shoppers will click the ‘buy’ button again because they’re so enamoured with how the package looks.
- How about new shoppers trying out an item for the first time? If you’ve got great-looking packaging, it can convince a whopping 2/3 of people to give it a shot.
- Packaging isn’t just for making a product look pretty. If you highlight its features, it can sway almost 80% of people to buy it — ease of use matters hugely to them.
How to Make Packaging Work in Your Favour
Before you throw pretty colours and fancy shapes on your packaging, take a second to think of the strategy you want to employ. Your main goal should be to show, as quickly and clearly as possible, what you’re selling. You’ve only got a couple of seconds (at most) to convey this information before the consumer goes on to a competitor — who could very well convince them in a shorter timeframe.
Next, divide the packaging roughly into quadrants and pick one of the lower ones to showcase some of your product’s main features. Stick to the three-to-five range for maximum impact and no more than three words for each feature. Concise is your best friend here, but information comes a close second. Don’t shortchange yourself at all in this area and take as much time as you need to settle on the most important features and their descriptors.
P.S. If you’re stuck on words, pretend you’re an Amazon shopper and search for your item, but sold by competitors and see what keywords they’re using.
Oh! We couldn’t go on to the next section without talking about colour schemes. Certain colours tend to provoke certain emotions in people, such as:
- Red: Passion, energy, aggression, determination, anger, sex, action, ambition
- Orange: Enthusiasm, optimism, social communication, creativity, joy, stimulation
- Yellow: Intellect, energy, joy, warmth, cheerfulness, attention-getting, light-hearted
- Green: Stability, healing, growth, harmony, freshness, fertility, hope, safety
- Blue: Depth, stability, trust, loyalty, wisdom, intelligence, faith, tranquillity, piety, sincerity, cleanliness
- Purple: Power, nobility, luxury, ambition, wealth, extravagance, mystery, creativity, dignity
- White: Purity, goodness, innocence, perfection, cleanliness, safety, simplicity, charity
- Black: Power, elegance, formality, mystery, evil, domination, formal, elegant, authority, aggression
And when you’re choosing your colour scheme, keep in mind these two important tips:
- Use a colour wheel to match colours.
- Try using an unconventional colour for a certain situation for more dramatic impact, like red when everyone else is using black, to stand out more.
What This Can Mean for Your Reviews
For better or for worse, many buyers operate under the mistaken idea that when they’re shopping on Amazon, they’re purchasing from some giant, faceless corporation and not a hard-working individual such as yourself. Because of this, Amazon puts in place very high standards — and if you don’t live up to them (such as with awesome packaging), it could adversely affect the number of positive reviews you get.
But, and this is important, you get a big chance to personalise the process by including a product insert. This is a piece of paper (or a little pamphlet) you include inside the packaging that underscores what your brand is about and/or provides more instructions on how the shopper can use the item.
While you’re not allowed to things like a future discount in exchange for a positive review (Amazon banned incentivised reviews in October of last year), you can do the following: a request for feedback, like asking if they were happy with their purchase and if they were, could they please log onto Amazon and leave a review; if they weren’t happy, to go their order page and shoot you a message so you can help better the situation
