Simply adding additional labels on a package can improve consumer perception of the quality of parcel contents by 116%, according to a new study.
The study, from Avery UK, saw the company work with an established behavioural psychologist to test consumer response to small business label designs, such as how much customers were likely to pay, and how they felt about a company.
Fiona Mills, marketing director at Avery UK, said: “This has been ground-breaking research for us. We suspected there was more to the science of label design than might first meet the eye, but the discoveries have been extremely enlightening. We can now speak with the utmost authority to say that labels really do make a difference to the performance of ecommerce businesses.”
The study, which involved an academic review, eye-tracking tests and online experiments involving more than 1,000 British adults, showed that interesting designs meant a label could be viewed 42% more than plainer labels. Emotive images and words also held attention for longer. Aan emotive image made people spend 13% longer looking at the product and adding an emotive word like ‘enjoy’, encouraged participants to look at a label for 10% longer.
Adding messages such as ‘Just for you’ or ‘What’s inside?’ to encourage curiosity increased purchase intentions by 43% and the potential for word-of-mouth recommendation by a significant 103%, according to the survey.
Multiple labels, rather than proving confusing, also worked well, increasing brand love by as much as 129%, perception of quality by 116%, purchase intent by 113% and word of mouth recommendation by 135%.
“While we don’t recommend businesses stick labels on their packages for the sake of it, there is a clear business case for going above and beyond a simple plain address label,” said Mills. “An address label, a company brand label, a return address label and a friendly special message label will give enough space to get across the important information, your brand, your professionalism and your heart for your valued customer.”
Image credit: Avery UK
