Stand Out on the Shelf: Tips for Eye-Catching CPG Packaging

Packaging is key to some of your most important sales. It is where customers first see your brand, and the packaging can make or break a product. Whether you are selling a new product or re-launching an existing one, creating eye-catching packaging is key to driving sales and boosting customer engagement.

If you are unsure about what kind of packaging would work well for your brand, Aventive Studio can help you create a brand strategy & memorable CPG packaging designs to attract more customers & grow your business!

How packaging influences consumer buying decisions

Packaging is a critical element of any brand’s arsenal. It not only has the power to influence consumer buying decisions and sales but also brand perception and loyalty.

As a matter of fact, packaging can give consumers clues about what they are buying, how much it costs, who makes it, and where it comes from. This is why consumers know a high-end brand just by looking at the packaging.

There are three factors that make good packaging: design, materials, and printing. Let’s walk through them.

The design of the package affects consumer perceptions of emotions and values. Color can be used to express brand personality or create a mood (e.g., red for passion or blue for calm). In fact, color psychology is one of the most crucial aspects of packaging design. We talk about this more in this article.

The shape and fonts used for your packaging can also help evoke specific emotions and uniquely position your brand in the minds of your target audience.

Next, the materials used in the packaging can influence consumer perceptions of quality, cost, and values (such as environmental sustainability in the case of paper versus plastic packaging).

Many brands even use textures as part of their product experience to stand out. This is especially common among perfume and food brands. 

Lastly, the printing you choose on your CPG packaging can convey information more conspicuously than labels. For instance, some brands use relevant adjectives in bold text across the packaging to highlight their brand values and give consumers more insights into their brands.

In essence, the more information your packaging provides to your consumers, the easier it is to make a purchase decision.

What is CPG packaging? Why do you need a good one?

CPG packaging is the visual representation of the product, which makes it one of the most important aspects of marketing. Since the CPG market is largely saturated, you can no longer afford to launch a brand without eye-catching packaging.

Especially in the health and wellness category, good packaging can give brands a certain level of trust from consumers and help them build relationships with their target demographic.

Besides, you can’t enjoy good brand recognition or even a positive brand image in the market if you don’t invest in your CPG packaging. This is why we recommend working with a professional packaging design agency to brainstorm the best ideas for your products.

Tips for CPG packaging to skyrocket your sales

Packaging is more than just an opportunity to show off your creative skills. It is also an opportunity to make your product easier to understand and remember. This means making sure that your packaging communicates exactly what you want it to — no more, no less. That way, even if they have not seen your marketing communications, customers will still know what they are buying and why they should buy it now!

Before we discuss the tips, let’s cover the basics.

First, think about what your product is all about. What makes it unique? What makes it stand apart from the rest of the competition? If your product is a food or beverage item, think about unique features like ingredients or flavors. Or if it is a household product, think about how it differs from other cleaning supplies.

Next, identify what features of your product should be emphasized in your packaging design. For example, if you own a pet-food company and want your packaging to focus on nutrition and health benefits rather than the price point and quantity of the contents, then this is something you need to consider when designing your packaging design.

Once you have the fundamentals clear, you can use the following tips to stand out on the shelf.

Understand what your consumers are looking for.

Packaging influences sales. We have already established that. What you need to understand is that different products demand different packaging. So, as a brand, there are certain nuances you must consider in terms of packaging design.

For example, if you are trying to sell health drinks in bottles with colorful labels and fancy graphics, you are likely to get more sales if you are catering to a young demographic.

But this only applies to casual buyers. If your health drink is aimed at young people who are looking for a serious solution, fancy and graphically loud packaging may not appeal to their senses. Simply because the packaging will not be able to convey the level of seriousness that they are seeking.

This is why having a thorough understanding of your target market and competitors is so vital to creating great packaging that stands out on the shelf.

Remember that less is more.

More creativity is not always good or even the wisest decision for your brand. Adding too many elements or graphics to your packaging can overwhelm potential consumers and turn people away.

Sticking to two to three font types and sizes along with a couple of graphical elements can help you make a better connection with your audience than making cluttered packaging where the potential consumer can’t comprehend what you are trying to convey.

From a simple ingredient label to a minimalist color scheme, less is more when designing eye-catching packaging.

Try to involve as many senses as you possibly can.

The great thing about creating packaging is that you can have fun with it even while sticking to the rules. If you can involve multiple senses of your consumers, it will be incredibly easy for you to connect with them on a deeper level. This is why people love food. The process of eating allows you to indulge all your senses, making it a fulfilling experience.

In the case of packaging, you can add eye-catching graphics, textures, and appealing scents. Textures can also add depth. For example, using a matte finish on top of a glossy sticker can add sleekness to an otherwise busy design. Similarly, you could try using a textured sticker with light-colored background material to give your packaging more dimensionality and make it pop off the shelf.

Lastly, you can also choose special materials to add sound to your packaging. Remember ASMR? That’s what made content related to unboxing such a huge category on YouTube.

Make sure that every element used has a specific meaning.

A clear understanding of your product is necessary before you begin the creative process. This will help you add only those elements to your packaging design that makes sense from your brand’s point of view.

Once you know what your product does, then you can determine how it should be packaged. With this information in mind, you can create a custom label or package that best reflects the unique characteristics of your product.

The simplest example of this is that if you are building an eco-conscious brand, opting for a glass packaging will always be more meaningful to your audience than plastic containers. 

Designing your packaging requires you to make a series of executive decisions that can help you come to a design that not only you like but is also something that your customers are happy with. Aventive Studio has helped countless CPG brands plan and create packaging that has helped put them on the map. And our team can do the same for you, as well. Get in touch with our packaging experts to get started.