Do Customers Love Your Brand? Color Can Make the Difference
When a customer opens the door and picks up your shipment, will she see a package featuring a bold, custom, one-of-a-kind color design? If so, you’ve created more than a purchase, you’ve created a moment. When you hand over that just-purchased necklace, scarf or t-shirt in a colorful, decorative package, your customer feels special. A connection has been created. An emotion has been stirred. And it’s all because you put as much thought into your package as you did your product.
Plain White Versus Plain Brown…Versus Color
Colors ignite our feelings in a memorable way, which makes the design of your packaging a powerful marketing tool for building brand loyalty. Whether you’re a brick and mortar boutique, or an Etsy powerhouse, the way your customers feel as they unwrap your product is almost as important as how they feel when they use it.
When we see a color or a design, our minds and hearts are tapped by a personal emotion, memory or thought. Exposure to a color can change our physiology, from quickening the heartbeat to creating a sense of anxiety. Blue can be sad or calm, or remind us of last year’s incredible beach vacation. Yellow is happy and light – but sometimes a symbol of caution. In theory, we select an idea, a product – any one thing – for rational reasons. But in reality, there are so often irrational factors at work, guiding our decisions, preferences, likes and dislikes.
So I’ll Need a PhD in Color Psychology?
No! You don’t have to be a color pro or have a degree in design to pick out the right color design for your product. Here are three tips to create packaging that creates an emotional connection.
1.) Check out the Color Wheel
The color wheel, which arranges color by their chromatic relationship, can help you design packages that blend colors and patterns to create color harmony. In many ways, it will confirm your intuition and experience with color. In some cases, it may prevent a clash, or less-than-satisfying color combination! For example, you can create a smooth, mellow, autumnal feel by using green, yellow and orange. These are analogous colors, meaning these three colors can be found side-by-side on the wheel. You can also make a purchase pop with a package patterned in complementary colors — two colors sitting across from one another on the wheel. Try variations of red-purple and yellow-green, commonly found in orchids, for brands with strong identities and customers with bold tastes.
2.) Use the BoxUp Gallery
Of course we must talk about our custom boxes if we’re going to talk about color. BoxUp makes picking your custom-printed design easy, while still giving you control of your options. And our pre-made patterns allow for endless color-customization. You apply the tags, images, logos and other elements using our Flex Editor to make it yours. Your brand stays all about you. You can filter the box designs by size, theme, color and purpose. Color adds the emotional, human touch.
3.) Create a Personal Touch
Speaking of that human touch, did you know that, according to the U.S. Small Business Association, 73 percent of customers say that it’s customer service that makes them “fall in love with a brand?” Your unique, colorful packaging, a hallmark of exceptional customer service, could be the very thing that instills the same kind of loyalty felt with a close friend. There are a few brands for whom the box or packaging is a universally known quantity. Tiffany comes to mind. Millennials have been shown to be brand loyal despite what you’ve heard. They want to shop – and more importantly keep shopping – with brands and owners that add that personal touch.
Lucky for you, that kind of personal touch is our specialty. At BoxUp.com, our goal is to help you shake things up. We can help you give your brand a look and feel that taps into the very thing that keeps customers coming back – joy. Pure, colorful, gleeful joy. Visit www.boxup.com to discover how it works. Get started.