Hello and welcome to theLotCo business podcast. My name's Melissa Robbins. I am your host . And for those of you who are new here, welcome. I'm so excited to share with you tips and strategies and hopefully some mindset hacks and some amazing guest stories, journeys

to help you as a product business owner grow with strategy and not with stress. Today we're diving into something that gets massively overlooked, but could be one of your biggest opportunities to create magic for your customers. It's the unboxing experience, and I'm not just talking about cute tissue paper and sticking a postcard in a box.

I'm talking about creating a moment for your customer, making your customer feel special, making them feel seen, making them feel like they're part of something, making them feel an emotion and ideally excited to share what they've just experienced.

So if you've ever shipped out your orders in a plain old satchel. And hope that was enough. This one's for you, so we can talk about , why unboxing matters more than ever.

So we all know that we live in an experienced economy. People aren't just buying a product. They're buying how it makes 'em feel. Now, that feeling doesn't stop when they've clicked that buy now button, the moment of delivery, the unboxing it's your chance to build a brand that people love or create a forgettable experience. Which one would you want? Just think about it. Now this also depends in how you feel about this. Depends on what your experience is with buying things online as well. And now for me, I buy quite a bit online.

And I like, that anticipation of waiting for something to come, waiting for that to get there. I don't want it to be an anti-climax when it does your customers might have waited days. They might have saved up for a long time.

They might have been debating on that decision for a really long time. Once they've actually decided to make that purchase, you know they're tracking when it's coming. They're waiting for that confirmation that their order's being shipped.

They're potentially tracking that order . And when it gets to the actual delivery of the product and them getting to open it, you don't want it to be a letdown. We don't want it to be beige, bland boring. We don't want it to just be an invoice and bubble wrap and nothing that says I value you.

Let's flip it around.

Unboxing should be an emotional experience, and it should tap into that childhood joy. This is a gift. It's opening something special. We all remember, when you waited for your birthday 364 days and you really could not wait to rip open that present. And of course, that's part of the whole.

That's why kids literally spend hours watching other kids unbox toys on YouTube. The reason that they're unboxing is so huge is 'cause people love the feeling of them, reliving that through other people. Ryan's world, one of the top kid creators. He's built a million dollar brand off just off unboxing Crazy.

Unboxing is psychology. It's anticipation, it's reward, it's delight. , And it's an opportunity for a brand moment. And smart businesses can use it strategically to drive loyalty and word of mouth, and ideally get everyone to share that unboxing experience with others. Now before you think, I don't have the budget for this, I don't have huge amount of money to spend on, the product cost me enough as it is.

I don't have enough money to spend and I don't have enough margin left for anything else. It doesn't have to be expensive. When I had my retail store, I used to go to a recycling center that, had all this recycling products that they just had on the shelf that you could buy really quick, cheaply. I bought some silver electrical sort of tape that, looked amazing and it was wrapped up and crumpled up and I used it wrapped around brown paper.

. It doesn't have to be a huge expense. Maybe you've got, instead of having, custom tissue paper or custom boxes, you've just got a most beautiful handwritten postcard that doesn't cost you money, it just costs you time. but obviously it can be worth it if every time that someone is opening your parcel, every time someone's receiving your order, they're sharing it and showing it with others.

That's gonna lead to more and more orders and other people, being aware of you and things going viral when they actually, people see that unboxing experience. And it also gives you that opportunity to create a moment when you're actually packaging as well and sending out those orders. What special touch do you put in?

To really connect with customers. You don't need fancy branded boxes or velvet drawstring brags unless that's who's your brand. You might just need something that feels intentional, it feels different, it feels like a gift, even if they've bought it themselves. So let's have a think about, a handwritten note with your order, A fun postcard that they can pin or gif, something that they can keep on their fridge afterwards.

I know I've got one from Sage and Claire from years ago, which was like. It just says gratitude on the front. And they were expressing their gratitude for me placing that order. And now I get to keep that and have that as a beautiful moment on my pin board as well.

It might be a sticker that says You are the vibe or something that they can look at every morning, or it goes on their laptop or their diary. It might be a sample or a special treat inside. It might be a fragrance that you spray on it and everything that captures emotion or something nostalgic for the customer.

There might be inner packaging, which, when they open it up, there's sort of lots of different moments when they open up a parcel or a package.

It doesn't have to be expensive, but it should be memorable.

I'm gonna share some examples as we go as well, and I'll share a link in the show notes if you're listening on the, if you're listening to this on the podcast.

Now, let's zoom out for a second and have a think about some other big brands and what TikTok can teach us as well. Major brands, invest. Huge energy into this. And why? Because it works. TikTok is filled with unboxing moments. Luxury brands like Dior and pr. I use unboxing as low cost marketing. Fashion creators go viral just by showing the packaging alone.

And it's not just big players, mermaid straw. They film themselves packing orders for that aesthetic detail and racked up millions of views.

People love the packing as much as the unboxing. These brands understand that in today's scroll, happy world Packaging isn't functional, it's performative. It's like a billboard for your brand.

Maybe you include a digital poster, maybe you include a exclusive Collector edition card,

so even small detail in your brand signature color or cheeky quote inside the lid can spark excitement. You want 'em to go and open it and think, oh my God, this is so cute. I need to post this. I need to go back and share that unboxing and unop of that product, that moment. That's marketing goals and we wanna replicate that again and again.

So remember, your customer journey isn't over at checkout.

We don't want you to stop at make the sale. That's just the first part, the real journey part of the customer journey that someone goes on with your brand. All the different touch points that someone has with you, someone discovers your brand, maybe they need to see it 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 times before they even, go into your product page on your website.

Maybe they follow or they browse. Maybe after a while you build trust by the different content you put out or the way that they've, joined your email list and they actually engage with your brand even more.

That may take some time and you need multiple touch points to get to that point as well, which is why retargeting is such a great tactic if you're not already doing that too. So once someone actually, they build enough trust, they buy with you. They receive that product, they unbox it.

They decide if they'll buy it again or share it or recommend it to other people. The unboxing is a big part of it.

So your packaging shouldn't be an afterthought. It's part of your post-sale service. It says, we're not done with you yet. We're still here. We're still obsessed with what you experience and the way that you feel and the way that you are excited to receive that product, and you can't wait to share it with others.

So maybe give yourself a little mini audit. Does my packaging reflect the care that you put into the product? Would you be excited to open it? What would make someone wanna take a photo and tag you? This is the moment to up your game, not because it's trendy, not just because unboxing is a thing, but because it builds trust with your customer, and trust leads to those repeat sales.

So the popular quote of from Maya Angelou, people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did.

People will never forget how you made them feel.

The unboxing is the physical embodiment of your brand. If it's intentional and thoughtful, it continues that brand experience and encourages more loyalty, more word of mouth and more social sharing. Think about this, like what would make someone stop and take a photo of just the way you wrapped their order?

People love to share packages that feel personal, clever, or beautiful. You don't need to go viral with everything. It's just something to inspire. I wanna share this with my bestie moment, or I wanna share this on my stories. Whether it's a cheeky affirmation, free sample of another product, a note that makes them laugh or cry in a good way.

And just think about, does my customer feel surprised and delighted when they open my product? Do they feel like this delivery was meant for them? And for me it's not always about like , it's not always about the internal packaging. It's even just knowing that is the particular order that I was waiting for.

So you get a delivery and say you get two different deliveries in one day. If one's got the sticker name of the brand that I've purchased, I'll be like, oh, that's the exciting one.

That's the one that I've been waiting for. Even just the outside packaging, having something on there to trigger my emotional feeling or connection to a brand is something. And so how can you continue that on and don't just forget about someone from, that they've actually purchased.

And again, this is just one part of that customer journey and it doesn't end when they even get their parcel because you wanna have that after sales service that you're gonna offer as well. So I've linked a Pinterest board full of creative and inspiring unboxing ideas to get your brain buzzing, check the show notes for that, and if you wanna get more customers and wow them once they come.

And if you wanna get more customers and wow than once, they actually come and keep them coming back. For more and more come and join me inside my Roadmap to Profit program or grab my Get More sales program where I help you do just that. We map out your full customer experience from attraction to conversion to retention.

You've done the hard work for getting that sale. Now let's make sure that experience lives up to the value of your product and gets people sharing and commenting and coming back again and again.

Okay? So

revisit your current packaging. Add one extra thing, a sticker, a scent, a postcard, something that says ICU and I value you.

Thank you for tuning in. Remember, every box you send is a brand building opportunity, so let's make it magic.