Businesses can leverage psychology to shape customers’ perceptions of products. This effect can happen with the right labels and packaging. The colors, fonts, graphics and materials, among other elements, make each box an event to open and an opportunity for brands to make connections with buyers.
This works with careful, intuitive design strategies that any organization can implement.
How Labels Influence Customer Perception and Trust
Packaging safeguards products during transit until they reach a customer’s porch. However, it provides a more significant purpose for shoppers and brands. Customers form their first impression of a company and its product within three to five seconds of seeing the box and its labels.
This is called the first moment of truth, and it can occur when someone picks up a package from the post office, sees a viral TikTok of someone holding it or reads an email containing a photo of it.
Brands must think about how these interactions with labeling serve as a gateway to business perception, especially as social media vicariously popularizes unboxing to motivate purchases. The visuals and opening experience make shoppers curious about what it would feel like to open it themselves, leading to potentially more conversions from branding alone.
Designers achieve their goals using various elements, such as:
- Typography
- Color palettes
- Package weight
- Spatial considerations
- Material composition
- Brand iconography
Visual Architecture and Cognitive Fluency
Psychology dictates how and why designers choose specifications. Ongoing research shows how the mind associates particular feelings with design elements, such as shapes and orientation.
A study on food and beverage packaging and labeling found correlations, such as people associating round typefaces with sweet products and certain colors with healthfulness. These are developed through associative learning and continually reinforced in the subconscious.
Brands research what aligns with customer expectations, establishing an identity that sets them apart. Dissonance between what a shopper anticipates and the final product will cause confusion, leading to brand muddiness. For example, black, white and gray colors with a sharp font may evoke a tech-forward and luxury feel, but if a brand is targeted to playful youth, there could be a disconnect.
Additionally, cognitive overload from excessive labeling and branding could lead to customer fatigue. If the visual architecture is not pleasing, or there are too many words and disclaimers, a customer could feel incentivized to rip everything off the package, as some influencers do.
These trends should inspire intentionality in design, choosing high-value visual anchors without the noise or jargon. Consider clean packaging over a bottle covered with words like “pure,” “B Corp” and “organic.” While this may influence some buyers, it can overwhelm others if not thoughtfully spaced and designed.
It also gives the package more space to include essential markers like fragile labels, which already create a thoughtful tone through their bright colors, ensuring the package is handled correctly.
Sensation Transference and the Haptic Subconscious
An observation of coffee packaging showed that customers engaged in taste- or sense-based transference before consumption. Brand labels evoke sensory experiences in customers before they interact with products. Taste and flavor perception are influenced by many factors, including the package’s shape and environmental lighting.
The tactile experience is just as important as the visual. Each step solidifies the object’s perceived value before interaction. This can also impact how buyers feel after the product is no longer in use. For example, a hefty, amber perfume bottle that exudes craftsmanship, artistic merit and class could inspire the purchaser to reuse it rather than throw it out. If the packaging were lightweight and made of plastic, it might have been recycled.
The haptic subconscious effects also extend into other senses, such as sound. Consider opening an airtight container. The hiss a jar emits could make customers feel it was sealed correctly underneath its sticker label and is safe for use. Such a packaging decision influences the brand’s reputation.
Strategic Takeaways for Product Leaders
With these points of psychological evidence in mind, marketers can use some of these ideas as catalysts for more effective and targeted packaging and label designs.
Consider:
- Packaging weight and durability alongside the price point
- Branding consistency across product lines for boosted familiarity and less dissonance
- Smart color and font choices based on target audience and their preferences
- Textures that align with how they want the customer to feel using the product
- Straightforward labels to convey essential information without visual clutter
Finally, designers must practice restraint. More is not always better, as overloading customers with stimuli can alter business perception. Choices like designing based on emotional appeal, right-sizing packaging, using negative space and picking appropriate materials set a solid foundation for accurately portraying a product.
Customer Perception and Labelmaking Precision
Companies must consider how their package is viewed from every angle. While temporary, the container is the first product. It is the anchor of shoppers’ perception of the brand and of how they discuss it with friends and family, both in person and online.
The most competitive businesses will place as much weight on packaging and label design as on the product itself, because these elements can shape the organization’s legacy.
