You might not think so, but package design can have a considerable effect on your sales, revenue and customer interest. There are many reasons for this, the most obvious of which is that an attractive package design can help your goods stand out from the competition, especially on store shelves. However, presentation is also a concern, and if your goods are primarily shipped to the customer’s doorstep, then it matters immensely.

Choose the wrong form factor, colors or even visual elements, and your product may sit on shelves collecting dust. Customers may also be less likely to purchase from you again if your package arrives on their doorstep and it’s not appealing.

About 52 percent of online shoppers say they would buy from a business again if their goods or shipments included premium packaging. Furthermore, 30 percent of businesses claim customers pay more attention to their products and items after they spent some time improving their package designs.

Again, initial presentation is much more influential than any of us realize. You’re constantly told throughout your life not to judge a book by its cover, and yet it’s what we do as humans. It’s a natural reaction.

This also ties directly into first impressions. Not only do your products need to be attractive visually, but they must also be convenient and accessible. After all, most customers are buying goods to solve a problem or take care of something in their life.

Ease of Delivery Matters Too

Another element of retail and sales is the delivery or fulfillment of your goods. It goes hand-in-hand with package design. Are your products offered on the shelves of brick-and-mortar stores? Are they primarily shipped to the consumer’s home? Do they come bundled in additional packaging with other products or items?

Ultimately, how is your product delivered or provided to your customers? Is it easy for them to get their hands on your goods? These are all questions that matter, especially if your aim is to deliver a positive, consistent customer experience.

Need an example? Home food delivery is seeing something of a renaissance currently, thanks to a much simpler form of online ordering and various channels for delivery. Services like Uber Eats and GrubHub allow people to order from their favorite stores and restaurants — which wouldn’t normally offer delivery services — and have them brought right to their doorstep.

In fact, investment firm Cowen predicts that there will be a 79 percent surge in the total U.S. food delivery market by 2022, growing steadily as people rely more and more on such services. It highlights just how effective ease of delivery and proper fulfillment services can be when it comes to sales. The easier it is for your customers to get their hands on your product, the more likely they are to return and offer repeat business. It’s also why online retailers like Amazon are thriving in the current market. They offer customers a simple, efficient way to acquire goods.

How to Improve Product Delivery and Packaging

How can you focus on product delivery and packaging design for your own business? What are the best practices for improvement?

Start with the basics. Come up with some ways to minimize and standardize your packaging to improve efficiency. This includes using standard sizes and form factors that people are used to. With something like a cup or carton, for example, you’d adhere to the small, medium and large pattern that almost everyone else employs.

This may seem like you’re following the crowd, but it’s possible to create an attractive packaging design with visual elements while sticking to standard sizes and dimensions.

Renewable or reusable packaging also works wonders. By shipping goods in bins or containers that can be used again by the consumer, you’re providing them with an alternate reason for choosing your product. Levi’s, for instance, started shipping their socks in mason jars after the DIY craze took off. Thanks to a variety of ideas presented on Pinterest — where you can creatively reuse mason jars — people love to take part in this sort of thing.

Improving delivery services, on the other hand, is more logistical in nature. You’ll need to change quite a few things, such as your choice of courier services, your order and fulfillment processes, and even the tools you use — we recommend an EDI, or electronic data interchange. Another important aspect when it comes to improving delivery is to make sure that you or your courier service provider is using the latest in business mapping software, which can optimize routing and provide accurate time windows.

The overall aim should be to make the entire process more efficient, and also to keep your customers more informed about where your shipments are and how long it will take until they arrive. This calls for better transparency regarding your shipping and fulfillment services, which can be solved by modern data systems.

If all goes well, your customers should reap the rewards thanks to an improved experience, which will translate to better loyalty and repeat sales.