How to Ensure Efficiency in your Custom Packaging Design

Digitisation has increased the competition for brands and businesses like never before. While online shopping has opened a gateway to growth, it has also increased the workload and cost to compete and survive in the e-commerce landscape. 

Consumer preferences are evolving rapidly, and businesses are feeling the pressure to keep pace with them. This is evident globally and across industries. 

Efficiency in processes, products and packaging are no longer a choice but a necessity! 

Packaging serves many purposes, such as offering protection, optimising time, ease of handling and communicating the brand. There is no doubt that packaging is an essential cost that businesses must endure – it can be leveraged to harness efficiency and customer loyalty. 

Efficiency in custom packaging designs proves to be helpful in the long run.  

As a leading packaging business in Melbourne, we have closely watched companies succeed or struggle based on how they managed to navigate this fast-paced environment. Our team has played a pivotal role in helping businesses achieve efficiency and succeed through their packaging during this digital transition. 

Here are our top recommendations on how to create efficient customer designs: 

Study your Audience 

There’s nothing quite like knowing what your audience wants today and then predicting their expectations in the future. 

Digital marketing experts have impressed upon the importance of collecting data and conducting research to learn in-depth about your audiences: 

• What age group do they belong to?
• Which suburbs are they concentrated in?
• Are they new-age or traditional in their choices? 
• Is it more men or women?
• What salary bracket do they belong to?

Based on your industry and product, you can further narrow down to the metrics that will help you profile your customers. 

For instance, a business selling window solutions (such as blinds, curtains, and awnings) will benefit from reaching and appealing to new homeowners. Using this as an insight, it’s possible to infer what this audience will engage with. 

You can even refer to data sources available online to find out the age and salary brackets of your audience, among other details that will help you understand and capture your target audience.  

Brands and businesses exist to supply and service their consumers. So, when the product, packaging and marketing campaigns factor in the needs and preferences of the customers – they are much more likely to succeed.  

Standardise Packaging Components Where Possible 

For businesses with a large product range, creating custom packaging designs for each product can be costly and potentially even affect the production timelines. This could lead to delays and the added cost of organising, storing and maintaining a large packaging inventory. 

For small to medium businesses, where cost optimisation is key to growing the business – this might not be a viable option. 

The most efficient packaging solutions reduce costs, time and people required to properly handle them. Additionally, it offers optimal product protection – saving businesses significantly in costs of damaged goods. In the long run, custom packaging not only helps businesses in cost reduction but also supports efficiencies throughout the logistics cycle.  

This is where our design expertise comes in handy. We have helped many businesses in Melbourne by developing one-solution-fits-all packaging that does not compromise the quality or integrity of the packaging while still achieving marketing benefits. Such packaging solutions are also comparatively more scalable. 

A great example of this is the Shipper Box we created for Habitat – a business driven by its sustainability goals. To work within their restricted budget, we created a flexible design that can accommodate all possible purchase options they offer to their customers. Be it two, three or in rare cases, one dispenser along with an insert for including dissolvable hand wash tablets. 

Habitat shipper box highlights exceptional design skills, while also being brand-on-point and environment-conscious. 

Develop a Strong Brand Identity 

When brand guidelines are aligned with the marketing objectives, the messaging across channels will be consistent. This will embed your brand personality in the minds of the consumers. 

Developing core brand principles can help you achieve uniformity in the way you speak to your audience. Be it a television ad or seasonal packaging, your consumers will be able to recognise your product instantly! 

The easier it is for your consumers to recognise your brand, the quicker their purchase decisions will be. No matter the number of competitors in the market, they will continue to choose the brand they remember and feel familiar with. 

Memorable, branded packaging goes a long way in building this relationship between a product and its consumers. It’s a powerful instrument to keep your customers loyal and blind to any other brand. 

Therefore, a strong brand identity serves as the foundation of an efficient custom packaging design. It will not only foster recognition but also build trust in the brand over time, making it a no-brainer for consumers to pick your brand every single time.