The holiday season is about to hit high gear. For many brands, this means a major increase in sales that can make or break their fiscal year. And for forward-thinking brands, Q4 is also a great time to proactively build sales for the next year with a few simple packaging and fulfillment strategies.
How, you ask? Let’s jump in.
Easy brand-building: label your packages!
Smart brands should consider packaging as great real estate to promote themselves. Include your logo prominently on all packaging: box, wrap, bags, etc. It’s essentially free marketing for people who have already shown willingness to purchase your products. And for people receiving your packages as holiday gifts, it’s a way to introduce your brand and leave a good first impression.
Shipping that satisfies: up-level your options
Especially in recent years, shipping windows have been in flux. Packages that once took a couple of days to reach the end-user may now take a week or more. Smart brands will include as many fulfillment options (overnight, two-day, standard, white-glove, etc.) as possible to enable consumers to order their products with confidence that they’ll arrive when needed. Put another way: products offered with limited shipping options won’t convert as many browsers into buyers.
Include thank-you cards for a great customer experience
Whoever opens your brand’s packages should get some positive reinforcement. Whenever possible, include little postcards or thank-you cards for your customers, and make sure a real person signs them. It takes 10 extra seconds per package, but the impression it leaves will last much longer by extending a genuine human connection.
Build customer retention with coupon codes
Thank-you cards are great; thank-you cards with coupon codes for the next order are even better. If you’re selling products that can be purchased repeatedly, offer 10% off a subscription. If you’re selling products that work well together (e.g. furniture sets), offer a discount on a piece related to the customer’s purchase. Many brands spend lots of money remarketing to customers using digital channels like Facebook, Google, and email, but you can accomplish the same thing for little cost by including the offer in the same package as the customer’s new product.
Powerful product merchandising: ask for reviews!
There are all sorts of studies showing the power of customer reviews on product conversion rates (this one, from PowerReviews, says products with 1-10 reviews convert more than 50% better than products with no reviews). In your packaging, include a request for the customer to go to the site where they purchased the product and leave a detailed, honest review. Good reviews have a compounding effect on product sales, and even negative reviews, if they’re detailed enough, can help suppliers troubleshoot product and packaging flaws that they can fix in real-time.
If you follow all – or even most – of these tips, you’ll leverage your incoming surge of orders to give yourself a head start on 2022 sales. Go the extra mile, and your customers will remember you the next time it’s time to purchase.
Have a safe and successful holiday season!
