Emotional Packaging Design that Captivates Consumers Heart

Last Updated on May 9, 2023 by DesignerPeople

Gone are the days when your packaging was only meant for protecting your products.

Suppose two or more brands offer similar products at similar prices and quality. How can your potential customers differentiate between them? This is where you need to set your brand apart from your competitors through unique emotional packaging designs.

The best packaging designs protect your product and offer valuable information to the customers and must also provoke the right emotions that encourage them to purchase.

The next time you create a product packaging design for your brand, refer to this blog as we discuss practical strategies to make the most impactful and long-lasting emotional packaging designs. Let’s get started.

Why Does Emotional Packaging Design Matter More Than Ever Before?

Your packaging design is one of the first things your consumer encounters with your brand. Creating the right emotions and environment that encourages your desired results through this first impression is crucial.

Emotional packaging sets the right mood within your target audiences, encouraging them to purchase your products over others, especially when displayed on the retail shelf or in online stores. The right colours, images, typography and more combine to draw all eyes towards your brand over your competitor’s offerings, resulting in a successful sale!

What Unconscious Emotional Effects Are Triggered by Packaging Design?

The emotional triggers from emotional packaging design are not limited to the conscious minds. Your emotional packaging design also impacts the unconscious mind through effective colours, typography, images and other design elements, eventually influencing customer behaviour.

For example, when you choose an emotional packaging design that resonates with the nostalgia and childhood of your target customers, it makes them feel special. This directly enhances the perceived value of your product while staying in their minds for a long time! It brings them back to their old days through your packaging design.

Similarly, poorly packaged products can create a negative perception in their conscious and unconscious minds, resulting in resentment of your brand.

Hence, when implemented strategically, your choice of packaging design can effectively trigger the right emotions within the consumers regarding your brand!

Strategies to Infuse Emotional Appeal in Product Packaging Design

Your packaging design acts as the voice of your products when you can’t be there to do it yourself. Evoking the right sense of emotions is only accessible if you hit the right balance. They will likely explore further with other brands unless they get triggered through your packaging design. Here are some valuable strategies that infuse emotional appeal into your product packaging to attract the maximum sales for your business.

• Learn the psychology of consumers

  Your consumer’s buying decisions are a series of analyses and evaluations before purchasing. There are several stages and perceptions involved during this process. To own this process, you must analyse their buying journey and psychology. This will enhance your product’s experience and purchasing decisions.

  Choosing the correct design elements that increase the perceived value of your products is closely linked to higher checkout rates, even unplanned ones. Hence, ensure that you analyse their thoughts and views while creating an emotional packaging design and include similar triggers that enhance the product’s value in their minds and encourage them to purchase your products successfully.

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• Use both warm and cool colours

  Starting from the basics, choosing colours for the packaging design is one of the prime factors for your customer’s purchasing decisions. Starting from the background colour to its contrast when paired with each design element in your packaging design. You must have a uniform colour palette that elevates your product’s emotional packaging and looks attractive to the eyes.

  For example, warm colour palettes like red, orange and yellow have longer wavelengths, drawing eyes from a large spectrum over other colours. These colours can effectively create a sense of urgency and attention-grabbing from a distance while enhancing your products’ beauty.

  Similarly, the cool colour palette has shorter wavelengths that are easier and more subtle on your eyes. This palette brings a sense of calmness, balance and soothing view to the customer’s eyes. Sure, they grab the attention that your product deserves, but not in an alarming manner like the warm colours.

  Hence, choosing a suitable set of colours is essential depending on your product and brand vibe. Ensure to stay consistent with your colour choices throughout your brand, as this will effectively contribute to increased brand recognition and recall in the long run.

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• Rely on images to highlight the flavour

  Your product packaging is a visual representation of the quality of your product. The consumers should get a basic idea of your product right through the images of your packaging design without reading any words.

  Brainstorm some creative and unconventional ways to demonstrate your product through the packaging design, as this will impact your customers’ perception. Make the images easy but exciting and unique! This will ensure that your packaging design strikes the right emotions within the consumers and stands out among your competitors.

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• Structure and Shape that Affect Emotions

  Your packaging is no longer limited to the standard boxes in this era.

  Step further and make your product unique through creative structures and shapes of your emotional packaging design. This is extremely important as through a shelf of regular bottles selling the same product, choosing a unique structure or shape can quickly make your products stand out and easily recognisable.

  Choose shapes that resemble a contextual message for your customers. Be bold and think beyond the conventional packaging shapes, but ensure it closely resembles your product and brand.

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• Allow the customer to see inside the product

  Sure, your choice of images and illustrations provides a rough idea about your product, but why not give them a sneak peek of the actual product? Take the alternative approach and give your customers a quick look at the product inside the packaging. This will assure your customers about the quality they are investing in, especially with high investments, and brings a sense of transparency and trust within the consumers.

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• Include aspects of storytelling

  Your packaging design can easily capitalise on the story you share through the design elements. Sure, the colours, typography and images can draw your customers. But, to keep them hooked to your product, your packaging design must share a story with or without words. This will give your customers an authentic reflection that goes behind and around your product production, inspiration and quality of your brand.

  Be brief and descriptive but keep it short. Stir the right emotions in your consumers by giving them a rough and honest brief. Keep their curiosity engaged by encouraging them to check out your other products or the brand through a QR code or just the website URL. There are numerous ways to leverage storytelling for your packaging design. Only the most creative mind can hack the right balance of storytelling through inspirational packaging design and keep the customers engaged with the brand in the long run!

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Conclusion

A good packaging design is one of the most compelling factors in your business growth. Attractive packaging designs that trigger the right emotions in the minds of your customers are the key to surpassing even the industry leaders with ease.

As we said, giving an emotional appeal to your packaging design is extremely challenging. This is precisely why most brands rely on professional packaging design that has mastered the art of expressive and emotional packaging designs. They will ensure that your product packaging designs effectively motivate your consumer’s purchasing decisions while leaving them feeling rewarded at the end of the purchase, resulting in recurring sales throughout the year!

Author: Anush Malik

Being a strategist’s head and a long term visionary personality aims to achieve excellence in branding, packaging and digital marketing field. My 15 years of design experience and masters degree ais my strength which keeps me motivated and keep me going positively. I have participated in extensive branding design conquests in India, USA, Australia and New Zealand with winning zeal. My objective is to encourage start-ups and hence involves actively in the articles which will act as a productive intake of knowledge for them. Do connect me personally via my LinkedIn and I love to share my expertise with you.