After you’ve made a great product, taken beautiful pictures, listed your item, and sold that item to a lucky customer, there is one final frontier. Packaging! How you package your product is the final note that your customer receives after a transaction with you. It is, essentially, just as important as all the other steps that you’ve taken towards satisfying your customer. There are a few bits and details that you should think about including when you package your product so that your customers will keep coming back.
Things to include when you package your product:
- An invoice. It could be a printed invoice from Paypal or a handwritten one on some nifty old bookkeeping paper. Either way, the customer might want one for their records, or they like to know that you double checked and made sure that you included everything they ordered when shipping your product.
- You should also include your business card. Your customer will like to have your business card handy in case they want to order something from you again or to give to a friend to refer them to your shop. Some shop owners have business cards with a special promo word or number on it so if your customer wants to buy from you again they can get a special discount on their next purchase by entering in the code. Who wouldn’t love such a good deal?
It’s all in the details
- When you think of how you should package your product, just imagine that you’re sending a nice gift or care package to a friend. Customers like to know they are getting personal attention and they buy from indie businesses because they know that they can’t get the same care and attention to detail from big companies. Here are a few ideas that can make your packaging special when shipping your product:
- Include a sweet handwritten note saying “Thank you for your purchase”, it makes their buying experience so much more personal and they will love it.
- You don’t need to gift wrap the product (unless specially requested of course) but just wrapping their item in some kraft paper and tying it with baker’s twine is a nice added touch when you package your product.
- Some shop owners like to include little freebies along with the purchased item. This is completely up to you. A freebie that you include when shipping your product doesn’t have to be something big or something that you normally sell. Nice additions could be pretty beads, a little doodle or ACEO, a button, or magnet. It’s a general rule of thumb that you shouldn’t include any perishables or candy, especially when selling internationally. Food can melt, break, or even possibly ruin their item in transit.
- The outside of the packaging is also important. Using a custom rubber stamp (carved by you or custom made) is a terrific way to display your logo or business name on it when you stamp the return address line. Custom printed stickers that say things like “Fragile” or “Do Not Bend” can be really pretty but also functional.
The way you package your product is just another tactic to create a wonderful buying experience for your customers. As an independent business owner, you can have a huge leg up on the big company competition with your customer service when shipping your product. By showing care and detail in even the simplest thing like packaging, you will create a loyal customer base.
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