Make your cosmetics packaging #InstagramReady

You can throw all the marketing budget in the world behind a product, but one thing you can’t buy is authenticity. 

Nowhere is this more true than in the cosmetics industry which, for years, stubbornly held out as one of the last brick-and-mortar stalwarts when other industries embraced eCommerce wholesale. The reason for this was simple – consumers wanted to try before they bought; to experience, on some level, the product for themselves before committing to a purchase. 

Cosmetics are products that we develop an intimate relationship with. We apply them to our bodies every day, first thing in the morning or last thing at night – often both! We rely on them to make us look the way we want to look and often to feel the way we want to feel. This means a certain amount of trust needs to be built up between a consumer and a brand or product before a purchasing decision is made.  

Before the pandemic, this meant the vast majority of cosmetics consumer journeys took them into a physical store, with around 85% of beauty product purchases in most major markets being made in-store, according to consumer data wizards GWI. However, the first three words in that previous sentence probably set off a few alarm bells in your head, and for good reason! We’re now living in the post-pandemic era, and nothing is quite the same as it once was. 

Today, consumers don’t necessarily need to try before they buy. The majority of beauty consumers – 57%, according to a study by PowerReviews – said they had bought a product online that they had never tried at all. The same study found that 49% of shoppers spent more than $50 USD on online beauty shopping, compared to 16% in 2019. 

The times, they are a-changing. But not everything is. Consumers still need to be able to trust a brand before they buy, but the ways they build that trust are evolving. In this new e-tail-focused beauty landscape, authentic user-generated content is king. 

A recent study by Statista shows that 62% of UK and US consumers look for user-generated content before purchasing a cosmetics product. Luckily, this goes hand-in-hand with another trend that’s emerged over the last decade or so – brand advocacy through social media. Anyone with even a passing interest in the beauty industry could probably tell you this – it isn’t exactly a trade secret. “A good social media strategy is very important” is an almost impressively insight-free statement. However, what many overlook is the importance a brand’s packaging plays in this leg of the consumer journey. More than anything else, packaging is how you make your product achingly shareable. 

According to research by eCommerce platform Shopify, four in ten consumers would share a photo of a purchase online for no other reason than to show off premium, unusual, or otherwise lovely packaging.  

See, packaging shouldn’t simply be viewed as a tool to protect your product as it travels from A to B. Its job doesn’t end once it’s enticed the consumer to pluck it from the shelf, either. Packaging should be viewed as an integral part of the whole ritual of consuming your product. It complements the product and turns it into an experience, sending all sorts of feel-good hormones rushing through the consumer’s brain as they peel and tear it away to get at its contents, all the while building that positive relationship that’s worth its weight in gold to any brand. 

Of course, coming up with a pack that is, well, the total package, is easier said than done. To produce something that your customers can’t help but show off takes careful design inside and out – and plenty of attention to detail. And making your brand stand out over all the competition, at a time when masstige beauty has blurred the lines between price points, is tricky.  

While most brands know a visually striking exterior is a must for beauty packaging, brands often forget that the consumer’s experience doesn’t end when they open the box. It’s this key point, when the customer’s anticipation finally gives way to fulfilment, that brands can capitalise on with some exquisite inner detailing. 

Now more than ever, it pays to invest in experiential packaging. A carton that doubles as a luxurious display case, unveiling your product like it’s the top prize on a quiz show, makes for a prestigious unboxing experience. A smart packaging supplier with a good grasp of design and execution can do this in a number of ways. It could incorporate an intricately-folded insert to create a podium structure, a plush inner lining to create that ‘display case’ feel, clamshell holders, apertures, hidden panels, inside-out printing that guides customers on an unboxing journey, maybe even some hashtags they could use – the possibilities are endless. 

We like to share photos of events that are memorable to us. If your packaging isn’t memorable, then why would anyone want to share it – or the things it contains? You might think this is only true for show-stopping luxury purchases like perfumes and boutique gift sets, but it’s true for everyday beauty too. After all, everyone likes nice surprises! There’s no reason a pack of everyday moisturiser or tube of lipstick can’t have a few extra personal touches on it to make your customers add just a hint of (metaphorical, but as this is the beauty industry, possibly literal) glitter into their daily routine. 

Ultimately, to make your packaging as shareable as possible, it needs to lavish as much care on its interior as it does on its exterior, and all its parts need to be designed to work together to deliver as memorable an experience as possible. If it’s worth remembering, it’s worth sharing – and by paying a little extra attention to detail to your packaging offer, it can become the centrepiece of your user-generated social marketing strategy. 

That kind of authenticity never goes out of style! 

New Vision Packaging specialises in creating gift sets and artisan packaging solutions for the beauty industry. To learn more about their uniquely engaging packaging, contact sales@newvisionpackaging.co.uk.