Imagine only having a few seconds to introduce yourself to someone, to share who you are and the values you bring to the world. Seem impossible? At the very least, it feels daunting. This is what consumer products, including teas of all sorts, sold in retail face every day as they compete for attention to achieve the pinnacle of success: Becoming a habitual part of a shopper’s purchase and usage routine.
Despite ecommerce making big inroads as a shopping channel for consumer packaged goods (CPG), at-shelf continues to be the most important place to win, and packaging is the primary salesperson.
To win, CPG products have three to seven seconds to capture the attention and interest of a shopper to convert to purchase. In essence, they need to be seen, understood, and wanted in an instant.
Mindset Matters
Individual products don’t perform in a vacuum. As behavioral science nerds, we are well-versed in psychological principles such as framing and priming, especially in how they influence decision-making through channel and category mindsets. These shopping mindsets have a significant impact on what shoppers assume and what they seek when seeing products at-shelf.
Channel Mindsets
When it comes to channel/banner selection, shoppers set specific expectations and seek particular solutions. For example, shoppers walk through the doors of a Whole Foods Market or co-op with the expectation of finding organic and all-natural offerings. Because of this, they often approach with a discovery mindset, being more open to seeing and trying something new, especially in the Ready-to-Drink category. Expectations and openness to explore can be very different, though, when walking in the doors to a Walmart or mainstream grocer.
Category Mindsets
Mindset also filters down to the category and subcategory level. If a shopper is looking for a warm, soothing tea and stumbles across an iced tea innovation, it is likely they will skip over it subconsciously, even if they would love an iced tea option in the future. They still want that type of item; they just aren’t seeking it right at that moment.
This mission-based focus can even impact discovery and adoption for products directly next to one another. If a new product offers a benefit that doesn’t currently exist in the category, there will be a mental barrier to overcome in its communication. Categories often bring different levels of habituation as well. The more habituated shoppers are, the less likely a product will break their routine and inspire a different purchase.
Packaging has an Important Job to Do
Once shoppers are in a specific category, packaging needs to do its job. Packaging must accomplish four key tasks to be successful at-shelf, with each task presenting unique challenges.
- Be Seen: Breaking through at-shelf is a high priority objective for every package’s design. Achieving success at-shelf requires a nuanced and balanced approach that combines adhering to enough category convention while still standing out. Inclusion is required to enter the consideration set, but differentiation is required to rise above the noise.
- Be Understood: Being fully understood at-shelf is a significant obstacle for new product/brand success. Experience tells us that shoppers typically recall only one to three bits of information on a given package with exposure at the speed of shopping. Shopper empathy is crucial because no one understands your product and its benefits better than you do. It's essential to distill this knowledge into the most impactful and distinctive reasons to believe (RTBs) that shoppers can quickly see and comprehend while shopping. It is also important to leverage the channel and category when they help with understanding while also strongly communicating any differentiation from category assumptions.
- Be Wanted: Even after successfully breaking through the clutter and being understood, products must be desired more than all other options in the category and any alternative products that meet the same needs or occasions. This desire is often driven by emotion rather than reason, so cultivating that sense of irrational want is critical. Remember though, habituation gives the incumbent a significant advantage in being selected over something new.
- Be Wanted Again: Being wanted again hinges on the product experience, so the at-shelf experience should set accurate expectations. Recovery from any let-down during the product experience phase is very difficult.
How do shopper brains react to packaging?
Form: Form refers to the package structure or the structure projected by the package. Forms are the easiest for our brains to identify, which makes them the first elements our brain process when we see a product.
Primary Color: Color is powerful and can cue brand or category. It is the most emotive of the visual cues, capable of triggering persuasive subconscious reactions in shoppers.
Key Visuals: The visual is a key focal point of the design and is intended to drive interest and understanding. Depending on the category, this could be a dominant brand mark or product image that communicates what the product is and why it should be wanted without the use of words.
Words: Our brains require significant effort to process the meaning of the words on a package, making it difficult to rely on them to convey essential information. Words are often relied on to compensate when wrong structure or design decisions produce issues with concept understanding and appeal. When used effectively, words can enhance the design and convey a deeper story.
How do you ensure you are getting it right?
When evaluating a product’s at-shelf performance, it’s important to ensure the research provides learnings across all four key tasks. Too often, a product’s noticeability is tested at shelf and its desirability is studied separately. Rarely are all four tasks woven together in-context. Utilizing methods that combine the at-shelf experience with in-home usage testing ensures all four are considered.
In an overwhelming marketplace, capturing shopper attention as quickly as possible is imperative for success at-shelf. Designing to be seen, understood, and wanted is most effective when mindset, category, and channel are given consideration. Understanding the context in which your product will play ensures your design launches on the right foot, saving you time and money while increasing the chances of reaching your consumers.
Luke is CEO and Chief Nerd at REAL Insight, a US-based in-context insights agency that unlocks actionable truths through REAL connection. Spending over 1,000 days in store observing and engaging with shoppers has instilled in him an unrivaled passion and expertise for helping leading brands be seen, understood, and wanted at the speed of shopping. He and his team are privileged to guide leading FMCG companies toward decisions that drive sustained growth.
To connect with Luke directly [email protected] or https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-cahill-58a8832. To learn more about their research and consulting solutions, go to real-insight.us.
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