Branding is all about creating a name for yourself. It makes your products easily identifiable and helps distinguish your company from others. In today’s highly competitive market, this is more important than ever. Good branding can leave a memorable impression on your customers and give them an idea of what to expect from your company in the future. Bad branding, however, can make you forgettable at best, or leave a bad impression at worst.
While we tend to associate branding with logos and messaging, it’s also an important aspect of fulfillment. Creating a customized order fulfillment process through branding can make a world of difference when you’re trying to grow your small business.
Customized order fulfillment, a component of fulfillment marketing, is a method of combining fulfillment and marketing to create a better customer experience. It is a strategy that uses existing customer data to create a unique order fulfillment experience with every delivery.
While creating a nice presentation on the outside of the box is part of customized fulfillment, it’s also about what goes inside the box (other than a well-wrapped product). This could include coupons, flyers, inserts, and more, each tailored to the recipient.
Customized order fulfillment supports branding in a variety of ways. Here are four ways it can grow your brand and your revenue.
One brown box is indistinguishable from the next. Too often, small businesses elect to ship their products in a generic brown box while the big guys they’re competing with send out their items in branded boxes that offer immediate recognition.
By using branded boxes that include a unique logo, slogan, pattern, or design, it levels the playing field and leaves a good impression. Would you prefer, upon finding your box at their doorstep, that your customer says, “I wonder what this is?” or “Awesome! My new (YOUR PRODUCT NAME) is here!”
According to CMO magazine, customer trust is more vital to brand survival than ever before. One reason for this is because people are more likely to purchase products from a company that appears polished, professional, and reputable.
Branding that is cohesive across platforms – from your website to your advertisements to your packaging – gives that impression. A customized, branded package lets recipients know that the people behind the product care about their presentation and providing quality goods.
Branding through customized order fulfillment creates trust, which then creates a connection between your brand and your customers. Suddenly, they’re not interested in what the competition is peddling; they’re going to buy from you. And, repeat business is the best kind of business to have. Need proof? The Harvard Business Review reveals that acquiring new customers is 5-25 times more expensive than keeping an existing one!
That’s not all. Studies show that 45% of Millennial shoppers expect more engaging experiences with brands than with retailers; they expect brands to not only have great products and services, but to actually build relationships with them.
Customized fulfillment can grow your customer by generating good word-of-mouth, which is the best form of advertising! When a customer is surprised and delighted by your personalized packaging and inserts, they’re more likely to tell others about it. In fact, there’s a whole genre of YouTube videos called “unboxing videos.” They are just what the name implies – people opening up boxes and/or products!
A study by Google revealed 1 in 5 consumers have watched an unboxing video; in 2017, the term alone had 60 million searches and 3 billion views on YouTube! Who knows, with customized order fulfillment, your product could be the star of the next big unboxing video, generating a lot of revenue! Check out some unboxing videos on Small Business Trends.
At The Fulfillment Lab, we’re helping create and transform small business brands through customized packaging, delivering a customer experience that’s truly unique. How do we do it, with your help? You’ll have access to a unique portal that allows you to create custom shipping boxes, coupons, flyers, and inserts with quick turnaround time.
You can also create customer profiles, and then leverage existing data to make the packaging more personal (does a customer have a birthday coming up? Include an insert wishing them happy birthday with a discount on their next purchase!).
Then, our team gets to work picking, packing, and shipping your product from one of our fulfillment warehouses. Have more questions about customized fulfillment? Check us out online or contact one of our experts.