Sensory packaging is the practice of incorporating the five senses into your product’s packaging to create a distinctive experience that promotes brand loyalty. Incorporating sensory packaging into your portfolio sets your product apart from the thousands of others on the market.
Differing how your audience interacts with your packaging creates loyalty between your company and consumers through a unique experience. Something new and exciting has happened to them because of your product. If they like it, they’ll come back for more, and they’ll spread the word to their friends or through social media.
Customers who experience multiple sensory experiences from a product are twice as loyal as consumers who only experience one. Brands can create a multi-sensory experience in many different ways, primarily through textures, scents and enticing visuals.
Innovations in Multi-Sensory Packaging
Multi-sensory packaging has come a long way since the emergence of new packaging technologies. As a result, for brands, more and more opportunities for multi-sensory packaging have come about.
With new packaging technologies come new options for visual accents like windows or rounded corners, and new opportunities to bring sound like the opening of an Aplix Zipper.
Tactile Features
Touching a product is one of the first interactions your audience will have with your product. If the visual appeals of the product attract a customer, the next step is to pick up the product off the shelves.
If you add a textured varnish to your packaging, your customer then makes a connection with it. It feels different to another packaging they may have picked up during their shopping trip. Therefore, it’ll stand out in their minds and influence them to buy your product over another.
For example, make your packaging feel unique in their hands. Brands can do this through various press effects, coatings, and finishes such as:
- Soft-touch coatings
- Multi-level embossing/debossing
- Raised UV coatings
- Grit effects
Textured Varnish
The cylinder used in this print process is engraved far more deeply than a standard ink or matt varnish finishes.
As a result, a much thicker and uneven layer of varnish is applied to create a visibly grainy layer on the film surface.
The varnish is mixed well during the print process to create an even print across the material.
In addition, the textured lacquer also called “Haptic Varnish” gives an excellent finish that, to the untrained eye and on touch, feels almost like a paper bag.
Many of our customers love the look and feel of paper packaging but cannot achieve the same print quality and shelf life properties as plastic formats.
Importance of Touch
It’s well known that consumers like to touch products before purchase, and for years’ brand owners have been warned of the importance of touch in consumer purchasing decisions.
More recently, a new wave of emotional marketing looks to capitalise on touch and texture as companies seek to connect with consumers in-store through ‘sensory branding.’
Although psychological research into sensory branding is in its infancy, the growth in e-commerce could make touch even more crucial for successful multi-sensory store experiences.
This offers an exciting prospect for packaging and its role in the marketing mix.
Textured varnish could be the perfect solution for your future packaging needs with a solid and authentic paper-like design.
Combining fantastic print quality with a more rustic, textured finish can give your product the point of difference it needs to stand out from the crowd.
Auditory Factors
Sound can be an essential element of the packaging experience. You can create a distinctive experience by bringing sound into your packaging.
For example, some users prefer the sound of Aplix opening and closing because it gives a beginning and an end to the experience of the product. The audible clicking also reassures them that the bag is sealed shut and will stay fresher for longer. This applies to food, but also to pet food/treats, confectionery, snacks and more. Your furry pet will know exactly what this sound means!
Creating a genuinely multi-sensory experience is not an easy task, but with our help you could create something unique and memorable that will leave your customers wanting more.
If your brand wants to invest in quality packaging, we will guide you through the entire print process. In addition, we are providing recommendations along the way to improve efficiency, reduce costs and add untold value to the end product.
Contact us on +44 (0) 161 440 7302 or follow this link to complete our contact form.
