6 Common Mistakes to
Avoid When Planning Your
Business’s Custom Packaging

Custom packaging is a fantastic business decision. It meets your product’s unique needs, helps spread the brand message, and boosts recognition. However, if you’re not careful, you might end up spending money on a package that doesn’t fit your requirements.

Image by Kerstin Riemer from Pixabay

Let’s explore the common pitfalls to keep in mind throughout the design process.

#1:
Forgetting About the Customer

Making your current clients happy and attracting new ones is your ultimate design goal. Try not to get so attached to an idea that you forget to account for their preferences.

As Deepking Labels experts explain, custom boxes are ideal for creating a stronger brand image and speaking directly to your customer. On the other hand, not thinking about your clients leads to an unremarkable box that does nothing to boost sales and engagement. Don’t miss out on this valuable opportunity.

#2:
Wasting Space

Quality custom packaging secures the product, ensuring easy, safe deliveries. While box fillers are necessary for fragile items, companies often get too careful with this and end up with packaging too large for their products.

So, work on optimizing the area you have. Wasting space leaves a negative impression on your eco-friendly, minimalist potential buyer and increases manufacturing costs.

Image by cromaconceptovisual from Pixabay

#3:
Misrepresentation and False Advertising

Although it could be tempting to incorporate some bloated statements to make the product more eye-catching, false advertising can only harm your company in the long run. You’ll soon get a reputation of a shady, dubious business, seeing a drop in brand loyalty and sales.

Instead, err on the side of caution and set realistic expectations. Under-promising and over-delivering is a much better strategy than going the other way around. Create authentic, high-quality products, and you won’t need to misrepresent anything to attract attention.

#4:
Cluttering the Box

Minimalism is far from the one-size-fits-all design solution. Still, taking it to the opposite extreme and cluttering your packaging with unnecessary writing and visuals can only turn a potential customer away from your brand.

  • You can make it colorful and elaborate while avoiding this pitfall. Be sure to:
  • Choose appropriate imagery. Choose images relevant to the item itself.
  • Use the right fonts. All information should be readable and clear.

Stick to complementary colors. Use the same palette you employed for your logo and keep the supporting tones neutral to create instant recognizability.

Follow these rules, and you’ll create an attractive product for people to pick up from physical or virtual shelves.

Image by cromaconceptovisual from Pixabay

#5:
Making it Unsustainable

Customers nowadays have higher expectations of business eco-friendliness than ever before.

If you’re a big company, there’s a significant expectation to show care for the environment. Small indie brands can cut through the noise by making all materials cruelty-free and recyclable, too.

The general rules for sustainable packaging apply across the board, even if the item you’re selling has nothing to do with ecology. Emphasize your dedication to a sustainable future through all aspects of your business, including the packaging.

#6:
Not Testing First

You might hesitate to make additional changes after you’ve already ordered a big batch of boxes. Still, it’s far worse to ship out packaging with apparent issues.

Ideally, you won’t order everything at once. Take a small batch of your boxes first and check for the following:

  • Is the product comfortable inside the box? Is the space usage optimized?
  • Is there enough protection against breaking and other shipping hazards?
  • Do you need additional shipping materials?
  • Do the aesthetic decisions make sense now that you see them on the package?
  • Is everything readable? Are there any overlapping visuals?
  • Will the target customer notice the box among the competition?

If you answer no to any of these questions, go back to the drawing board. Double-checking everything guarantees long-term success.

That’s a Wrap!

In the end, remember that packaging design is a vital sales tool. As long as it’s high-quality, error-free, and in line with your branding, it becomes a valuable company asset to capitalize on in the long-run. As such, it’s 100% worth the time and effort you put into it.