5 KEY PACKAGING DESIGN TRENDS TO EXPECT POST-PANDEMIC

Covid-19 has immensely impacted consumer behaviour, from how people shop to the brands they are willing to spend their money on. In the same vein, the pandemic has also impacted the packaging design industry, as most businesses look to catch up with new consumer behaviours. While some industry trends might seem like a passing fad, others are here to stay long after the pandemic.

Smart business owners and marketers recognize that the best way to stay ahead is to adhere to what consumers now consider as the ideal product packaging. Such steps prove that you are listening and adjusting to the market, which will earn you loyal customers. Here are a few trends to be on the lookout for come 2022.

EMPATHETIC PACKAGING COPY AND MATERIALS

The pandemic has left everyone scarred, both mentally and emotionally. In fact, the pandemic has increased mental health struggles for many people around the world. Among the best ways to help anyone who is suffering is to show your support. You don't always need to do it directly—you can show support through your packaging choices.

Your packaging design needs to show compassion towards the pain and suffering of customers who are recovering, out of work, or feeling lonely. Packaging design teams need to ensure that they include an empathetic copy on product packaging written in a non-judgmental tone. Something like adding a funny quote to the product packaging could improve the customer's day.

In most cases, ensuring your packaging designs ooze empathy boils down to marketing psychology. Besides including encouraging copy, you should consider choosing colours, packaging materials, and designs that make people feel calm.

PRODUCT PACKAGES NEED TO BE E-COMMERCE FRIENDLY

It's no secret that the pandemic accelerated e-commerce adoption by half a decade. As more people began working remotely, they were required to buy their supplies online for their health and safety. Businesses have had to pivot more into e-commerce or lose valuable customers. However, since most product packaging had been designed for in-store environments, businesses have had to shift to B2C-friendly packaging.

E-commerce orders are always in transit, which has led to a need for increased product protection and better preservation measures. Your business should ensure your product packaging is sturdy enough to be handled by machines during processing and delivery. Also, packaging design teams need to consider e-commerce packaging with the utmost attention towards durability, functionality, ease of use for machine handling, and protection during transport.

PACKAGING DESIGN IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY PERSONALIZED

Customization has been a massive trend before COVID-19. It has now become so mainstream that it is almost expected for businesses to have at least a few customization options. In fact, 80% of consumers expect some form of personalization from their favourite brands.

Packaging design teams are required to personalize their packaging choices to offer customers unique experiences. The trick is to first start by segmenting your customers into unique buyer personas. For instance, you can segment your target customers based on age, gender, buying attitudes, and location.

Next, ensure that you design your products with each persona in mind. The packaging design should ideally be a reflection of your buyer personas' needs and desires, rather than merely being a vessel for conveying information about the product inside. This means that you need to focus on colour schemes, typography choices, label designs, and so much more when planning out your packaging designs. For instance, if you were shipping the same products to kids and the elderly, adding cartoons onto the packaging for kids could be helpful. As for the elderly, you can use quotes that resonate with them.

Lastly, give customers the option to customize their packages. This can result in them associating your business with specific events and emotions. For instance, a person who's buying a gift for a friend can customize the packaging accordingly. In the future, both of them will associate your business with the joy that this small customization option brought them.

FACTOR IN PRODUCT HYGIENE IN YOUR PACKAGING

It is not just about protecting products during transit anymore, but ensuring that customers can use them safely without exposing themselves or others around them to contaminants or diseases. Most products are often exposed to a lot of contaminants during manufacturing and even transport.

You now need to consider the type of packaging materials used, their resistance to chemicals, and their ability to keep out contaminants. You also need to ensure that the products you are shipping are clean, free from allergens, and safe for use without special handling procedures. Most importantly, ensure that the packaging you choose protects people from the pandemic, among other ailments.

DESIGN PACKAGING WITH SUSTAINABILITY IN MIND

Sustainable packaging is no longer a luxury your business can focus on; it is increasingly becoming mandatory. For starters, 75% of Millennials are willing to pay more for environmentally-friendly products. The conversation around environmental conservation has become a norm, with most consumers looking at how their favourite brands are contributing to it.

There are a lot of perks for designing your packaging and products with sustainability in mind. Some of these include increased customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and consumer trust. It could also reduce operation costs, help you enjoy government subsidies, and reduce your carbon footprint.

Consider your products' entire life cycle when designing them. Packaging design teams will need to ensure that their materials can be easily recycled, while also taking into account how customers dispose of their packages after usage. Also, make it easy to recycle your packaging by including QR codes on labels that contain manufacturers' instructions on how to recycle the product's packaging material.

More importantly, you should include a copy on your packaging that not only showcases your commitment to sustainability, but also educates the public about it. One brand that has done a great job at sustainability is The Body Shop. Not only does the company use recycled materials in its packaging, but it also introduced a campaign that encourages people to recycle their empty bottles of cosmetics and body care products.

IT ALL TRICKLES DOWN TO WHAT CUSTOMERS WANT

The packaging trends above could help set your business apart from the crowd. Best of all, they involve making a few small changes to your packaging approach to enjoy long-term benefits. Some of these changes include:

• Using empathetic copy and packaging choices that improve the mood of your target customer.

• Personalizing your packaging to the interests of specific buyer personas. Give customers the option to customize their packages further.

• Designing your products with sustainability in mind. Include a copy on the packages that educates the customers and recyclers on how to recycle them.

• Using packaging choices that promote hygiene to curb the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases.

• Shifting your in-store packaging choices to e-commerce ones to help protect products during processing and transport.

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ABOUT ARC & CO. DESIGN COLLECTIVE

Arc & Co. Design Collective transforms your brand messages into engaging physical brand experiences that increase your brand's perceived value and loyalty with your customers. By utilizing our proprietary FOUR Dimensions Framework™, we strategize, conceptualize, innovate and design experiential packaging and brand activation spaces that will complement your business and keep you ahead of the competition.

Get in touch with us to discover how we can assist in integrating a physical brand experience into your marketing strategy.