Create an Unboxing Experience

How to

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As an eCommerce seller, the first physical touchpoint you’ll have with a customer is when your package arrives at their door. In this crucial moment, how can you actually capture their attention?

Shipping your awesome products in boring brown boxes is no longer enough. It’s not engaging, memorable, or personable—and modern consumers are demanding this kind of customer experience from brands. If you can’t give it to them, they’ll simply find another company who can.

So, in such a fast-moving industry saturated with competitors selling similar products, eCommerce sellers need a new way to differentiate. A premium, personalized unboxing experience can be that key differentiator! In fact, a survey from Dotcom Distribution found that 40% of consumers are likely to make repeat purchases from an online merchant with premium packaging. The same study also found that premium packaging makes the brand feel upscale and builds anticipation for delivery.

The question is, how can you create an unboxing experience that will keep your customers delighted, engaged, and coming back for more?

Your First Physical Interaction with Your Customer

“A premium, personalized unboxing experience can be that key differentiator!. In fact, a survey from Dotcom Distribution found that 40% of consumers are likely to make repeat purchases from an online merchant with premium packaging....”

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The Benefits of a Branded Unboxing Experience

There are many valuable benefits of providing a personalized, branded unboxing experience! Just a few major ones include:

Increased Visibility and Brand ReachNo one would look twice at a brown box on a doorstep, but if people saw a totally unique box standing out against a sea of generic packages, they’ll become intrigued. This makes them more likely to check out your website or socials to see what you’re all about, increasing your brand awareness. Plus, delivering a great user experience can make your customers so excited about your brand and its products that they’ll be much more likely to share photos of their new package online.

In fact, 40% of online shoppers say they are more likely to share a product image or video on social media if the packaging is branded. This trend is only going upwards as social media becomes even more prevalent in the purchase process of modern consumers!

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The Ability to Attract New Customers“Unboxing videos” have become a huge trend, and have the potential to persuade someone new to purchase your product. As of 2016, 35% of online shoppers have watched a video of someone opening and unboxing a new product, and 54% have used social media to view an unboxing picture or video. This trend has only continued to grow—in 2019, over 90,000 people on average typed ‘unboxing’ into YouTube every month.

If you can create a cool unboxing experience that drives your customers to share it online, it can help others find your brand—and convince them to buy from you because they want to participate in that awesome unboxing experience they saw on their favorite YouTube channel themselves.

Increased Revenued The bottom line here? A branded unboxing experience can help you generate excitement for your brand and attract new customers, while keeping your current ones satisfied and coming back for more. Repeat sales from current customers + sales from new customers = more revenue for your brand!

LeadGeneration

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3 Steps to Creating an Unboxing Experience

Here are three simple things eCommerce sellers can do to create a better unboxing experience!

Leverage Fulfillment Marketing to Get Personal.

Use Branded Packaging to Tell Your Story

Think Inside The Box, Too.

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1. Leverage fulfillment marketing to get personal.

How well do you really know your customers? For example, is your buyer male or female? Where do they live? Which landing page or social media link did they come to your website from? What is their average spend? How often do they order from you? Do they have a birthday or anniversary coming up?

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Fulfillment marketing can be used to apply insights gained from the consumer data you’re already collecting to personalize the unboxing experience! For example, if you notice that a repeat customer has a birthday coming up, you can create a customized coupon to put in their box next time they make an order. This creates a more meaningful, memorable customer experience and builds a deeper connection between you and your buyers—all while incentivizing the customer to buy from you again in the future, meaning more revenue from repeat sales.

Fulfillment Marketing is Great for eCommerce Sellers Because it:

Combines fast shipping, transparency, and customization without sacrificing scalability. Being able to deliver this level of personalization at mass volume is incredibly valuable! Why? As of 2017, 88% of U.S. marketers reported seeing measurable improvements due to personalization, with more than half reporting an increase greater than 10%.

From the buyer’s perspective, 80% of customers say they are more likely to purchase a product or service from a brand who provides personalized experiences, and 80% of those who classify themselves as frequent shoppers only shop with brands who personalize their experience! So, if you want to build a happy customer base that is loyal to your brand long-term, an epic unboxing experience can help you get there.

2. Use branded packaging to tell your story.

To create a successful unboxing experience, the box can’t simply be an ordinary box—it has to be YOUR box. So, let your brand’s personality and story shine through your packaging. If it’s not clear at the first glance who the package is from, you’ll lose the impact of your first impression. This kind of brand storytelling doesn’t just increase your favorability in your customer’s eyes—it can also be up to 22 times more memorable than simply telling facts about your products. In such a saturated industry, any chance you have to stand out from your competitors is incredibly valuable!

Ensuring that your branding and user experience is consistent for the customer, from browsing the products on your website, to the moment of purchase, to receiving the product, helps to build a recognizable brand story. Once your audience knows, trusts, and likes you, they will be more likely to buy from you because you’ve created a deeper relationship with them—turning them into loyal advocates for your brand. In fact, in 2019, 43% of customers reported being willing to spend more money with brands they’re loyal to.

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3. Think inside the box, too.

When it comes to the unboxing experience, your presentation inside the box is just as important as the outside! Lazily chucking your product in the corner of a box isn’t going to build the cohesive, curated image you’re looking for. So, it’s important to think about the size and shape of the product, the boxes you are using, and how your products will fit and look when a customer opens their box. Some brands will even add messaging and designs inside the box as a nice surprise for the customer.

“So, it’s important to think about the size and shape of the product, the boxes you are using, and how your products will fit and look when a customer opens their box. Some brands will even add messaging and designs inside the box as a nice surprise for the customer.”

To further elevate the customer experience and create a feeling of exclusivity, you could even put a little something extra inside your boxes! For example you might:

o Send a customer samples of products similar to those they bought.

o Recommending complementary products can add additional value and show your buyers that you offer the products they need, but may not have even known that you offer.

o You could also consider putting some coupons inside the box that encourage additional purchases. Seeing as discounts and coupons came in as the top-ranking tactic for driving loyalty with 61% of consumers saying they used them in 2018.

This can help you build long-term loyalty and drive repeat sales!

COUPONsay that they used coupons found in package in 2018

of consumers61%

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For more information, visit us at thefulfillmentlab.com or email us at info@thefulfillmentlab.com

With nearly limitless options for customization when it comes to boxes, labels, inserts, coupons, and more, you can maximize profitability while keeping it fresh and exciting

every time someone buys your products. Contact us today to start creating an unboxing experience that will transform your customer experience!

Reach Out To Us Now

Elevate Your Brand With an Engaging Unboxing Experience

To recap, a memorable, engaging, and personalized unboxing experience makes it possible to:

Enhance Your Customer Experience

Differentiate from competitors

Build brand recognition

Amplify your brand’s reach

Better satisfy current customers

Drive additional revenue

Attract new customers

Ready to experience all of these benefits so that your eCommerce business can gain a competitive edge? The Fulfillment Lab is here to help! We bring fulfillment and marketing together at scale—combining expedited shipping, order transparency, and complete customization to keep you and your customers happy.

How does it work? Our fulfillment team will meet with your marketing team, helping you to create a few customized fulfillment experiences for each unique customer profile. Using analytics within our Global Fulfillment Software™, you’ll quickly be able to pinpoint which experience your clients like the most. Then, you can upgrade and refine your packaging to align with the preferences of each customer!