How Food Packaging Creates an Emotional Connection with the Customer

Let’s be honest, smart advertising works and food packaging design is often just as important as the quality of the food itself. It’s true, recent studies show that customers expect a memorable food experience but practical packaging and an appealing design is often the reason they try this food in the first place.

What’s more, smart packaging can be used to transmit vital information to customers through graphics and as if that’s not enough, this visual can incite a heightened sense of interest in the product.

But what exactly makes food packaging design so important?

How Food Packaging Design Creates an Emotional Response

For many businesses, packaging is little more than a necessity to preserve ingredients and protect food from contamination. While this is obviously true, food packaging design is also critical for conveying important information and helping food products to stand out from the competition.

Needless to say, in such a crowded market, this last point is arguably the most important reason for food packaging design. After all, you simply cannot incite interest without the right design.

And that’s just part of the story….

You see, advertisements which capture the interest of consumers are most often “emotional”. In fact, consumer studies illustrate how an emotional response is more influential than information when it comes to the intent of a customer to buy. With this in mind, food packaging is your opportunity to engage with the emotions of potential customers and establish a meaningful connection with the brand.

What Material Should Be Used for Food Packaging?

Food packaging comes in many forms, from cardboard and paper cartons to styrofoam, boxboard and plastic. However, not all materials are create equal and while plastic or styrofoam are both common and durable, you should keep in mind that these materials are increasingly scrutinized by the public. In other words, biodegradable material is much more consumer friendly and for this reason, cardboard is often a better alternative.

For this reason, compostable options such as sugarcane of corn are increasingly common and re-usable bags or recyclable bottles are just as effective in this sense.

Either way, you can weigh up the pros and cons to choose the most suitable packaging.

The Importance of Food Packaging Design for Branding

As already mentioned, many businesses underestimate the importance of food packaging design for branding. Simply put, this design is your first impression with customers and interaction that will likely decide whether the product will be noticed in the first place.

That being said, packaging is also your chance to communicate a unique message about the food and conveying a novel experience of some kind will help the product stand out from competitors.

Conclusion

As you can see, packaging design is critical for the long term success of any product and while the standard of food needs to be high, this design is critical for nurturing initial interactions with the brand. You can choose from many materials and even opt for non-biodegradable if you wish but either way, it’s important to know that food packaging design is just as significant as the food.

After all, food can leave a lasting impression but emotions will create that initial desire to buy.