The importance of the text on the packaging

Do you think that the body copy, the headline and the copywriting in general are made by the creative?

Or do you think that at the end it will be enough writing something, but it is not important defining what?

If your answers are “YES”, and you think that everybody inside an agency is able to write, here you are wrong. Making a mistake on this point means making your product lose a lot of sales.

Now I am going to explain why…

The packaging speaks in a nonverbal way with several communication tools.

It does that thanks to its form (the structure), thanks to its colors and visual elements, thanks to its images which contains and in general thanks to its design. All of them are important elements, but we should never forget that a packaging always communicates using also the textual element: the written word, one of the most important elements of the packaging.

The text remains a fundamental pillar for the success of the packaging’s sale, because there aren’t captivating shapes, suggestive colors and graphics made ad hoc which can completely substitute the elementary function of the written word: the text on the packaging.

I can do some considerations to help you to consider in your next packaging some details that very often flee also at expert’s eyes.

You should use the information that you’ll read to examine your packaging currently on the market and identifying margins of improvement for your future restyling or for a launch of a new product.

 

4 functional elements for the text of your packaging

 

1. Meaning

It seems trivial but your message is not transmitted to the customer just by writing some words on the packaging. Therefore not always the presence of the text means the presence of a message.

I am saying that because personally I have heard the sentence: “later we are going to add some text to fill it”. That text said in a generic way has got an absolutely importance, every single word and comma have a huge weight when are printed on the packaging, they should be used with the goal to communicate and to reinforce your marketing message in the clearest possible way.

For this reason we have long meeting with our copywriter before proceeding, for this reason the briefing is sacrosanct and that’s because we are not going to stand up from the meeting room without having defined with extremely precision which are the key concepts to transmit to the customer. These concepts have to be in the text of your packaging to which it is entrusted the delicate task to transmit them to the customer.

2. Position

The box of a product is not static and neither two-dimensional. It is real and subjected to the customer’s habit before being grabbed it is exposed – sometimes on the shelf or in expositor other times it is palletized – the customer’s hands take it, they turn it and bring it at will.

Do you know the typical gesture with which you grab a bottle of wine with a hand and reading carefully the label, before the front and then the back?

If we proceeded with the graphic development without considering how the customer’s habit will meet the single product we would lose a big opportunity.

In practice you don’t say to customers do so, look here or read below, but it is the customer who instinctively explores the product to understand it before a hypothetical purchase.

Forecasting these behaviors, studying with extremely attention our target, it means using in strategic way the best position to communicate with the text on the packaging.

I myself go to the different department of supermarkets spending there a lot of time just to observe customer’s habit, just this could help you to develop a packaging which is functional to their behavior.

Comparing to the past for example, today we have understood that the back of the packaging has got a big importance, it is not just a container of technical information, but it is a real continuation of the front of the packaging, that’s because among the typical gestures there is indeed the one of turning the packaging. At the back we could be more descriptive because the attention of the customer has already been caught and turning the packaging they say their “yes, I would like to know more about it”. For this reason is logic to give them more information which on the front would have been spoilt.

 

Do you want to know how much a single packaging cost? Click here!

 

3. Dimension

How much should the text on the packaging be large? Good question. In jargon it is defined as weight, the weight of that text or that written.

Another time I resend you to the real usage, so what will happen once the product is on the shelf because the font size is uniquely decided in function of this.

We should always take the product in front of a real situation, in its contest with all interferences and obstacles. The goal is to make the text readable and the customer’s considerations on the stores are crucial. For example the pharmaceutical sector is different from perfumery, the perfumery from wine shop and large retailers as regards the exposition and the lighting. Not taking it into account in the dimension’s choice of the text would be a big mistake.

 

4. Font

I usually use 3 criterions for the choice of the font:

• Coherence with the appropriate category
• Legibility of the font
• Historicity of the product

In fact, a wrong choice could create a problem at the customer who might not be able to understand what we are communicating. And it is exactly what we don’t want to.

In conclusion, if we want a text which works and which helps to sell the product it must be easy to read it, it must be found in the right position, it has to communicate an appropriate message and has to speak also through its style to reinforce its identity.

Make a free checkup to the text of your packaging. Contact us without any obligation to understand how to improve your packaging

 

 

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