Pack-ins and their benefits
Loyal customers are what all ecommerce business owners aim for. They are the ones who remember your shop, your products, spread the word to their friends & acquaintances, thus driving more potential customers to you, and, most importantly, these are the folks who are more likely to buy from you again. But how can you get yourself these amazing loyal customers? Well, by being amazing yourself and going the extra mile! In this article, let’s talk about one of the great little ecommerce tips called packaging inserts, or pack-ins, the little goodies you can give your customers in order to increase their loyalty and to promote your business.
These things don’t have to be expensive or something grand, even a note with a simple “Thank you!” can do the trick. Of course, there are a lot of options, which you'll see below. Not only will your business stay in their memory, but it will also be associated with positive emotions, and you can achieve that with minimal effort. If you work with a print on demand company, then they will add those things for you.
Thank you notes
Print on demand thank you notes are budget friendly and amazingly effective pack-ins. Nothing improves customer mood better than genuine gratification, right? That feeling of being validated. The main thing here is to show a nice gesture that you care for your customers, creating an emotional connection. If you have received a package with some small gifts inside, you probably know for yourself how nice that is, and you probably also remember the company you got the goodies from. This works especially well with small companies, where you can feel genuine gratitude for every purchase.
So, create those positive feelings. Thank your customers, show them that it was a pleasure to do business with them, provide emotional value.
There are many different things you can do to make powerful notes, such as adding hand-written text, so it’s more personal. Content can range from literally "Thank you for your purchase", to a full letter and anything in between, for example, uplifting, inspirational quotes, or a joke, perhaps.
And for the visual part of this note, you can include your logo, or any other art piece you want. Logo just would work better from the marketing point of view, but it’s not written in stone what you should include in your note and what you shouldn’t - it’s completely up to you! Sometimes sellers add their signature, so it feels more real. You can even add your social platform usernames or your website link, but that sounds like another type of packaging insert - a business card.
Business cards
Thank you notes are more for the gratification & emotional value part, but if you want to promote your business, use print on demand business cards on which there would be all the details on how to find your store both online and offline (if you have a brick & mortar shop). Your customers will be able to find you at any time, or pass the business card to their friends. Either way this only benefits you - although business cards are usually associated with physical shops, they work in ecommerce as well, because your clients won’t have to dig through their browser history or Google to find your store again. Plus, they have a physical reminder that your business exists.
Here you can include a bit of information about yourself or your business, such as the name, website, contact email, social media accounts and more. For your business card to look real classy, you can also include a hand-written signature of yours. To make it more interesting than the basic ones, you can choose any text font layout & even material you want.
Coupons
Turn a basic piece of paper into something more practically usable - a coupon! People love discounts, and, by giving them a print on demand coupon, you are presenting them a chance to purchase your products cheaper (there are also other special offers), which brings more return customers to you. Thus, both sides will be happy! Even if the original purchaser is not interested in new products, they can offer the code to other people through word of mouth, again - bringing new sales to you.
You can also do more than just simple discounts. For example, if your product is very visual (such as posters), you can ask for social media content in exchange for some goodies, like a further discount or a 2-for-1 offer. Use the coupon space to promote new products or do some cross-selling, like “if you purchased this, then this might also come in handy”.
Coupons can be formatted similarly to business cards or thank you notes, as in - it is up to you. Be it a cool design of yours or just a simple text offering a discount, the visual might not be what matters the most, it’s the value it holds! So make sure your customers clearly know the purpose & the benefits of your coupon and you’re good to go. Also, don't forget to implement the coupon system in your shop, such as making the discount code actually redeemable.
Stickers
A small, fun gift to a valued customer, that’s what stickers are! You can provide extra value and that "Oh, nice!" feeling to customers, or if you sell print on demand stickers as a product in your shop, include some of the best in the packages of other products so that your customers can get familiar with the cool stickers you offer in your shop.
Stickers can be applied on notebooks, water bottles, computers, and in most cases those are noticed by other people too. Perhaps your customer will stick their gift-sticker on their planner and a colleague of theirs will notice it and ask where one can get such cool stickers! Don’t hesitate and add some stickers in the packages, you won’t regret it!
Certificates of authenticity for limited edition designs
Perhaps you create designs that are sold in limited quantities, like, 100 printed pieces for each artwork. Your customers will be skeptical about the fact of rarity if you don’t offer some proof, right? To solve this issue, you can include an authenticity certificate in the packages! It is the most classic type of proof and it usually has a lavish design - handwritten name of owner, signature, as well as the specific number of that piece. This adds to the premium, luxury vibe of your brand and greatly increases the so-called perceived value of your art, so why not do it?
If you fancy something different
The above mentioned custom print on demand products are not the only ones Printseekers offer. We evolve with each day and the product & service list only grows. The best part is that Printseekers is always open to hear your unique ideas and wishes, then fulfill them.
Contact your personal manager if you already have some ideas up your sleeve and need some help to bring them into reality!
