Minelli Magazine - Packaging

Cosmetic packaging design is crucial: the rules to be successful

Written by Edoardo Cavagnetto | October 30 2020

Consumers want to buy products that have a precise identity and values that they share. The best way for manufacturers to stand out is being able to create this identity and transmit it to buyers. Developing effective cosmetic packaging design is essential to reach this goal. We talk about this topic in the following article.

Cosmetic packaging design & product identity: what is the link?

Product identity represents the personality of the product; cosmetic packaging design is the way in which this personality materializes, becoming real (and saleable on the shelves).

The product package is what consumers see first when they visit a perfumery or a store. It is the element created to draw attention and convince them to buy. For this reason, manufacturers have a major responsibility to design cosmetic packaging that reflects a brand’s identity and responds to its expectations and needs. Cosmetic packaging design must convince consumers that the object they see on the shelves is worth buying.

Let’s start with the video below:

What do these cosmetic packaging designs have in common?

They all respect the five essential rules to be successful. Let’s discuss them in the following paragraphs (click the link to read the corresponding one).

Differentiate

To achieve a competitive advantage in the market, you must offer a unique product. It doesn’t mean, though, that you must create an object that hasn’t been seen before: differentiation can be in terms of quality, precision, prestige, convenience, service reliability, and customer experience. An apparently simple wood cap, for example, can make the difference thanks to its style, shape, finish, or design. Many collectors and enthusiasts often buy a fragrance or cosmetic just for the beauty of the cosmetic packaging design.

Brands must find a way to transmit their uniqueness and offer attractive products that consumers want to buy for their added value.

Customize

Customization is especially important today. Customers receive personalized experiences every minute, and they expect companies to provide what they are looking for, depending on their interests and preferences.

Surfing the web, for example, we are exposed to certain products that—thanks to sophisticated tools and technologies—allow marketing experts to analyse our behaviour and collect data in order to provide personalized content. Buyers appreciate that brands pay attention to their needs, providing personalized experiences. People expect to find this offline too.

According to the Forbes website, 80% of frequent shoppers only shop for brands that personalize the experience.

In the offline world, it means that consumers expect producers to always please them, providing extremely customized products. Thus, manufacturers must be flexible, willing to satisfy even the most complicated requests. Customization means providing the possibility to choose among a wide range of finishing options and colours and support clients during the design of the product, listening to their needs and preferences to make the cosmetic packaging design unique.

Offering the possibility to customize products is an opportunity to:

  • place value on products, as customers are willing to pay more to get a special object made only for them
  • increase loyalty and customer satisfaction as well as the possibility of purchasing again
  • get more insight about your customers’ preferences and tastes while also anticipating emerging trends

Make it green

Today, we are experiencing a growing focus on sustainability and a greater interest in the use of biodegradable materials to protect our planet’s health. As we discussed above, product identity also involves those specific values that brands want to transmit to their consumers. This is essential, as people base their purchasing decisions on how a brand’s values match their own.

Sustainability is one of the most important values today: people are more conscious than ever before of the problems linked to plastic pollution, and they often prefer buying from companies that are dedicated to protecting the environment. That is why brands must strive to mix eco-friendliness with elegance in their cosmetic packaging design proposals. This is the key to attract clients whose values have shifted toward more meaningful and ethical consumption. Being eco-friendly by nature, wood has a particular advantage, but this is not enough: if cosmetic packaging design companies don’t respect market standards regarding environmental protection, they can’t be considered sustainable.

You must verify that every single phase of the manufacturing process is focused on the environment and that manufacturers have FSC certification, which is the only way to ensure that products come from responsibly managed forests. Some manufacturers also offer water-based organic finishes created with ingredients derived from recycled materials and renewable sources to get a completely ecological product.

Exploit all senses

Our lives are based on emotions and feelings. Apart from food, we buy very few things out of necessity. Most of our purchases are more impulsive than rational. Companies know that and try to exploit this opportunity by playing with unique, captivating, and sensorial cosmetic packaging design.

A leading manufacturer must be able to create objects that appeal to all senses in order to create an emotional connection with consumers and convince them to buy. This is not an easy goal, but using wood in creating the design of cosmetic packaging is beneficial, as this specific raw material delivers a tactile and sensorial experience that is unthinkable with other materials. People love the sense of purity, elegance, and warmth that wood conveys.

Creating multisensory packaging means getting your product to stimulate different senses so that people can enjoy multiple sensory impressions from it. This emotional experience can be conveyed through:

  • visual elements, creating complicated and unusual shapes, for example, by using colours, glowing finishes, glitter, and pearlescent coatings
  • olfactory elements, as the scent of cosmetics and perfumes is key to drive the final purchasing decision, but the smell of wood packaging is also part of the olfactory experience
  • tactile experiences, which are provided by different coatings, effects, and finishing options, such as soft-touch finishes, polymer coating, multilevel embossing, and laser engravings

Creating multisensorial cosmetic packaging design, however, is challenging: you must find a supplier with a deep knowledge of the raw material to ensure harmony among all the senses.

Balance costs & quality

Finding a balance between costs and quality can be difficult but is fundamental to ensure the long-term success of products. The role of the wood maker is crucial for two reasons:

  • the entire manufacturing process must be as efficient as possible to ensure the optimization of production costs
  • it must be able to guarantee the highest quality of the raw material and finishes to get a top-quality product

Focusing on the overall process will let you understand if your supplier is doing his best to guarantee maximum cost-effectiveness. If the manufacturer has cutting-edge technologies, machinery, and tools, he will be able to set up an efficient process, manage wood properly, and create high-quality cosmetic packaging design at a convenient price. In this article, we discussed the most important things to evaluate in each phase of the process: read it to understand how to maximize cost-efficiency and make smart investments.

Choosing the right cosmetic packaging design for your product may have the same effect as a good commercial: it lets you transmit to consumers the image and values of your brand, communicating why you and your product are unique.

If you want to offer innovative designs and unique products to your customers, you must rely on a leading wood manufacturing company that is able to manage the raw material properly and create luxury and sustainable objects at the same time. You must find a supplier that constantly observes the market and offers new ideas and new styles to satisfy your clients’ requests.

If you are looking for a wood manufacturing company that can offer the highest quality at competitive prices, Minelli S.p.A. is your ideal partner: thanks to our decennial expertise in the timber sector and our innovative tools, we can create unique and innovative cosmetic packaging designs.

Contact us to share your project: click here!