TOUCH POINT: L'IMPORTANZA DEL PACKAGING
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The touch points of the costumer journey are all those points of contact through which the end consumer comes into contact with our brand. The touch points can be online and offline, it’s up to us to outline them through a detailed customer map. The identification of the various points of contact determines the positioning of the brand and the possibilities of relating with the customer. A customer who does not have an induced need or simply does not know our brand will not come to voluntarily look for our product. For this reason it is necessary to consider all the phases in which it is possible to relate with it.

I touch points non riguardano solo la fase prima e durante il processo d’acquisto ma dovrebbero coinvolgere l’utente anche nella fase post vendita. I punti di contatto successivi alla fase di acquisto possono essere molteplici: dal customer care, alla newsletter, al packaging… Proprio quest’ultimo molto spesso viene preso sotto gamba dalle aziende. In termini di esperienza d’acquisto il packaging è un elemento fondamentale di relazione con il cliente, dove si determina il sentiment e si gettano le basi del lifetime value di acquisti futuri.

The customer is not only buying our product but is also buying the shopping experience that lies behind that product. Packaging should convey the values of the brand in which the customer reflects. Today most purchases are made online through the help of e-commerce. The contact points that are created with the customer are more online, the only opportunity that we have to contact offline in e-commerce is at the delivery of our product.

Users who prefer to shop offline, in stores, very often do so for the act that the buying experience itself generates, for example, when it comes to luxury goods but this also applies to other types of goods. The involvement and immersion that you have in the physical shop has no equal, through the arrangement of the garments, the ability to touch and try them with hands,  the empathy that is established with sales professionals, the choice of music and the furnishing of the rooms that surround us, are all elements that in part go to touch the emotional strings of the customer.
The product in the online purchase should not simply be delivered to the customer but the way it is delivered and presented serves to recreate those feelings and that attention to detail that the user would expect to find in the physical store.

This is one of the many touch points that form the entire complex universe of the omnichannel that is behind a brand marketing strategy; merging physical points of contact with online, creating a sense of continuity in the customer experience of the user, at any stage of the acquisition process it is at.

When we talk about packaging we also talk about shipping, so fast delivery times, returns and free refunds.
The packaging that contains our product is usually entrusted to shipping companies that have their own standards and their recognizability but this does not alter that you can maintain and have your own company recognizability during the transport of our goods.
Among the examples of a good use of packaging there is definitely Amazon, Amazon boxes are well recognizable. Similarly companies such as:  Mango, Zara or Zalando, just to name a few, use the same care and criterion in shipping their products.

Another aspect to take into account when we think of our packaging is the eco-sustainability, very often this type of packaging are reused by customers to return the goods in case of returns.
The packaging therefore must not only transport our objects and protect them during transport but must take care of the experience that will arise once in the hands of our customer.