Ep 8: Daniel nails product presentation

[00:00:05] HOST: You know how when you give a present to a little kid, half the time -- they're more interested in playing with the box --or the bubble wrap -- than the present itself? That's because there's something special about the WAY a product is presented... the package it comes to you in... the color and texture of the wrapping, the feel of it, the time it takes to open. I mean... It's the crinkle of brown paper packages, tied up with string, right? Sometimes, the box the product comes in, is just as important as the product itself.

[00:00:43] HOST: Hi I'm Andrea Marquez -- and This is Small Business – a podcast by Amazon. This show is all about learning how to start, build, and scale a small business. On each episode, I talk to an expert, and a different small business owner... maybe someone like you! [00:01:00] At the end of each episode, I will sum up the key takeaways for you to use on your own small business journey. So keep listening.

Today on the show I was inspired by the unboxing videos I see on social media. I enjoy watching them, sometimes eve more than the product review itself. So, I wanted to learn about the unboxing experience, why is it important? What makes it stand out? Is it actually helpful for brands? To figure all of this out I'll be speaking to a product and packaging designer who's going to tell you how to energize your brand by focusing on the "unboxing" experience. But first let me introduce you to Daniel Singer -- from Filthy Food, a company that makes high quality cocktail mixes and garnishes. You know -- things that make your drinks fun. Daniel is thoughtful and charismatic. I think of him as a kind of "olive philosopher king." [00:02:00] You'll see what I mean in a second. When I first met Daniel -- which was actually about a year ago -- the first thing I noticed was was a very wonderful speaker and has a wonderful voice -- perfect for podcasting.

[00:02:16] Daniel: I think it's just the accent really.

[00:02:20] Andrea: It's more than the accent.

[00:02:21] Daniel: well, maybe we'll see. We'll see.

[00:02:25] Andrea: So let's jump right in. Tell me about Filthy and how you got started.

[00:02:28] Daniel: Well, Filthy is a cocktail garnish and mixer company and, and we try to make people's drinks better. About 12 years ago now we saw this incredible Renaissance happening in cocktails. People were moving towards fresh ingredients behind the bar, fresh herbs, fresh juices. And so areas of the bar that weren't really evolving were really being exposed and olives and cherries were really poor quality. Olives came in big gallons. The brine would turn rancid before anybody got through it. And as more bartenders started to take real pride [00:03:00] in what they were doing, they were just really rejecting those chemically cured commodity fruit.

My brother was a documentary maker and he was coming from Iraq as part of a tour with a force recon unit. And I sort of pitched him the idea for Filthy to come with me, to, to look at olives, explore olives. And he says, you know, I've jumped out of airplanes 2000 times. I've been Iraq in Afghanistan for the last two years. You want to start a cocktail garnish company? And I said, yeah, I do, actually. He said, well, I thought I was bloody crazy. Let's do it. So we thought it was gonna take us three or four months, but there are 700 varieties of olives on the planet. And so this three or four month journey turned into a two year olive pilgrimage where we looked at 230 varieties of cultivatable olives and just met all these incredible families and went to all these amazing regions. And we came back to America with four barrels of naturally cured olives. [00:04:00] So all other olives are chemically cured. They're highly commoditized. So it takes about three or four days to turn them from a fruit on a tree, into what you would see on your plate. And we just thought we could do better if we could just naturally cure with salt and water.

So we came back to America with four barrels, and then we built the business for the next three years, not with the same four barrels, but for the next three years out of the back of my wife's minivan here in Florida, going from bar to bar, and my brother was going around on subway trains in New York, and bartenders told their friends. Now 12 years later, you'll find Filthy in some of the best bars, restaurants, hotels, cruise ships, airlines, on Amazon, of course, some of the best places in the world. So yeah, just finding something that you love and, and just committing fully to that experience and that moment.

[00:04:50] Andrea: I love that story. And since I met you back in, when was that? Like November?

[00:04:56] Daniel: I think it was, that’s right.

[00:05:00] Andrea: I now ask when I go to a restaurant or a bar, I ask about the brand of their olives or their cherries. And if it's not Filthy, I'm always like, have you heard of this brand? It's really good.

[00:05:10] Daniel: Thank you so much. Well look, it's really kind of you, because I think ultimately kindness is a big part of what we do. You know, a lot of times people are going out they're meeting friends, maybe it's the one night, a month they're out with their partner or they've valet parked the car or got a babysitter. And I think anybody in hospitality it's about taking care of people. It's about making sure the people on the other side of the bar have a great time. And so I think, you know, we always say with Filthy, people may not necessarily notice that we're part of the experience, but we believe they'll feel it, they'll feel it as part of this overall experience of that wonderful bar or restaurant is trying to create for them.

[00:05:48] Andrea: And it goes beyond being a good business. Right. It's also about creating a differentiating experience for that customer.

[00:05:56] Daniel: A hundred percent. And even down to the tiny little details like an olive [00:06:00] that goes inside of a drink. And I just love to see people's faces when they discover our product for the first time. I just find that wonderful: being kind to people, doing something beautiful and having them appreciate it.

[00:06:10] Andrea: I want to really learn about your journey with customer experience, but I know that if I don't ask this question, I will kick myself. Why Filthy, why that word?

[00:06:21] Daniel: So all of you can tell from my accent, I'm not from here. I'm from little island in Europe where it's always raining. And, um, Mark, my brother is only 10 months younger than me. So as kids, we were always outside and playing and getting covered in mud and always being happy. And my mom was always like, look at you. You're bloody filthy the pair of you. You're bloody filthy. We're just about to go out and you're bloody filthy. So. Being filthy is how we look at life. You know, don't dip your toe in. Don't get a little bit dirty, get filthy in everything, cuz that's where the joy is. So we thought wouldn't it be interesting to start a company that was really maniacal about quality and guest experience and call it Filthy. [00:07:00] And so we are called Filthy cuz that's our perspective on everything. All- in, a hundred percent, relentless, obsessive, committed.

[00:07:10] HOST: Sold! Right? I love how clearly Daniel understands the mission and ethos of his brand. Basically -- to get the most out of life, and to celebrate all the little details. It makes a lot of sense, and you can see how that idea -- coupled with high quality product -- would catch on. So at this point -- you're probably picturing what the Filthy customer experience is like. Specifically, I mean the way they package, box, and present their products. And you might think from Daniel's description of his brand's identity, that their unboxing is filled with extra goodies like little cocktail umbrellas and fake ice. But actually -- their unboxing is kept relatively simple. I asked Daniel how they arrived at this simple approach. He told me that they used to have a much more complicated unboxing experience. [00:08:00] Here's why:

[00:08:02] Daniel: Sometimes on your jar you don't always have the real estate to communicate all of the things that you think are important when you're building a brand. So we felt, okay, by having this unboxing experience and by having something that the jar went into, we could communicate all of this other messaging that we felt at that time was really important for our consumers and people that love the brand to know about. We could be more provocative in a certain way. And so we went down this particular path, really about creating emotional connection with people and using the additional packaging as a way to connect with them beyond what the jar or the product quality could communicate.

[00:08:46] HOST: But then -- they changed tack. The jar labels they have today are simple and bright. The packaging functional. The unboxing experience is trouble-free. So how did they get from there -- to here?

[00:08:50] Daniel: I'm an incredibly dyslexic human being, which means that I don't get any of my information from reading it. I really get it from trying to be present and really listening [00:09:00] and really trying to understand what's important to people. So the last couple of years, supply chain challenges, the cost of things like cardboard, all of these things affect your business. So you think to yourself, wow. Do I really need all of this over-packaging? Do I really need all of this other stuff as prices are going up? Rather than raising prices, can we be more conscious in the way that we are providing packaging? So what is actually really important? Why don't we just ask consumers, what's really important to you? So we had a database of about 4,000 early adopters, I would say at the time. And so we started to do a lot of email surveys and incentivizing people to take the time to, you know, just give us some feedback. We learned a lot going on the journey. You know, we thought having a big unboxing experience would be something that a lot of consumers really resonated with, that they wanted to have this moment where the package arrived [00:10:00] and they opened it up, and there was this incredible experience. And the feedback that we got from listening and putting out loads of surveys was most people want to have something that shows up in one piece. That's gonna be as they expected it, provide value for money for them and add to their experience. And unboxing, at least for Filthy, on the surveys that we did, was the least important thing that our consumer was concerned about.

[00:10:25] HOST: Ok, so no extras in the box like little umbrellas then. I guess it makes sense, if you think about it: the people who are "unboxing" Daniel's products -- a lot of them are busy restauranteurs and bartenders. So they really just want a quality product that is easy to open when you have a full bar and you need more olives -- stat!

[00:10:46] Daniel: You know, I was always, just so conscious about every little moment of interaction with people and what we found through the transition was could we spend more money on raising awareness or improving [00:11:00] the timeframe for shipping or whatever it was as opposed to an unboxing experience, which was a massive, massive revelation for me.

[00:11:11] HOST: So as Daniel learned -- when it comes to the unboxing experience, sometimes less is more. But that doesn't mean the packaging isn't important to Filthy. Their labels and containers are simple -- for sure -- but also vibrant, and full of life -- just like Filthy.

[00:11:26] Daniel: What I do think though is that with the jars and the way that we communicate the brand on the packaging, that's important because I think every time you open your refrigerator, you should have these little moments of joy, or if you're going to your friend's houses, and you're gonna take something with you they should be little moments of joy. So I think we spent a lot of time on not necessarily the unboxing experience, but really about the packaging and how it communicates and makes it so simple and gives people, recipes and guides them to QR codes so they can see videos, and gives them little animated illustrations on the back. [00:12:00] So, so they can really understand about the product without reading about it. You know, going back to being dyslexic. I always thought, God, I wonder if people really do read the back of jars. I mean, I don't, but I wonder if people do, and then we thought, well, what if we make it illustrations and tell the story about our black cherries being slow- cooked in copper pots through this little, little illustration. So I think we really try to put a lot of time and energy into the way that the package, the jar actually engages with the consumer, as opposed to necessarily the stuff around it.

[00:12:30] HOST: By the way -- those cherries are super delicious! So yeah, while I admit to loving a fun unboxing experience, in the case of THIS particular product -- I kind of just want as few barriers to the cherries as possible!

[00:12:45] Daniel: Now, maybe if people were gifting our product more and not just, you know, smashing martinis at home and, and doing all of those wonderful things, right, that maybe unboxing would've been more important, but it wasn't. It was not about making decisions by committee. [00:13:00] But I think it is also sometimes just taking the temperature of what's important to people at any one moment in time. And, and that was very valuable to us. So we did, we, we stopped a lot of extra and over packaging through an unboxing experience, which actually was much more sustainable moving forward. So that was a good thing.

[00:13:18] HOST: There's a lesson here, I think, about looking for compatibility between your customer and your unboxing experience. And I like the "test and learn" approach that Daniel took. He listened to his customers -- during a pandemic -- and was prepared to adapt to what they wanted. I'll put that one in my small business playbook for sure.

[00:13:34] Daniel: We started to really understand more about ourselves, our own personal evolution. And we just learned that for us at that point, it wasn't about putting it in a cool box that said loads of stuff.

[00:13:45] Andrea: I'd like to know based on that feedback you received, when do you think that packaging does matter?

[00:13:52] Daniel: So in our world, it's really about what is that expectation we've created. And I think. A lot of times that's down to and [00:14:00] can be associated with the price point that you're charging. You know, like if you're buying a very expensive piece of jewelry or, or something that's predominantly directed towards gifting, you probably want to have that moment of anticipation. Where, what is it? It's a surprise. I I'm engaging with it from the outside. There's certain companies that do a great job of owning a certain color in people's consciousness. If something arrives that's in a turquoise box, everybody gets excited way before they open it. And so I think you get to that moment where it's about where in the journey does the engagement start? And I think this is really key, you know, looking at other brands in the space like Virgin, as an example. Virgin, always used to say, um, your vacation doesn't start when you land. Right. It starts when you get on the plane.

And so I think where does the experience start? Does it start when the package arrives, is it a certain color that's gonna create an emotion? Is it, does it have a certain shape? [00:15:00] Or does it arrive when they've gone through the packaging cuz their motto and their ethos is about sustainability and less cardboard and less packaging and less outer stuff ? So I think as an owner of a brand or somebody that's really trying to create an emotional connection with people, which is really what we all do. It's where does the vacation start? Where does the emotion start? So I think packaging is important based on meeting the expectation of the consumer. And if you don't, you're gonna disappoint them.

[00:15:30] Andrea: Do you see Filthy changing that experience once again, or, or bringing something additional to the table in the future?

[00:15:38] Daniel: I can tell you categorically that sustainability is a huge part of everything that we think about. So I think as the world continues to evolve, we have to continue to evolve. We try to be at the forefront of what's happening in packaging in general, based on a whole lot of different things that get considered all the way through, like I said, it's about being kind, it's about being thoughtful. It's about living this journey [00:16:00] every day with people that are like-minded in their thinking, that challenge how good you can be and constantly evolving. Cuz if you don't, somebody's gonna come along and just do it better.

[00:16:10] Andrea: I am so impressed with how in depth you've gone to, to really bring that experience to customers to really bring them on the journey of Filthy. And I wanted to really congratulate you, and hopefully be talking to you again.

[00:16:25] Daniel: Thank you so much. Take care.

[00:16:27] Andrea: Thank you, Daniel, you too.

[00:16:30] HOST: MIDPOINT: You're listening to This is Small Business -- brought to you by Amazon. I'm your host Andrea Marquez. That was Daniel Singer -- who -- as you heard -- believes in getting filthy.

Did you know that more than half of the products sold on Amazon come from small-and-medium sized businesses? Filthy Foods is one of the many small businesses selling on Amazon who have tapped into some of the tools and resources offered to help them succeed and grow. You can learn more about them in our show notes on our website ThisisSmallBusinesspodcast.com. [00:17:00] And just a reminder that we want to bring YOU the ultimate listener experience through our podcast too. So if you have thoughts you want to share with us, send us a message to thisissmallbusiness@amazon.com, and if you enjoy listening to This is Small Business, share episodes with your friends too!

Daniel mentioned that when it comes to unboxing, in the case of his customers, less is more. But for some brands and customers -- more is more. It's incredibly important to pay attention to customer expectations. Sounds sensible -- but like most things in small business, I'm learning, easier said than done. How exactly do you design your packaging and unboxing experience to meet customer expectations? What do you do if you find your customers expect something MORE than a brown cardboard box? My next guest is Kaila Piepkow from DOX Design. They're a super cool company that breathes life into your brand’s mission, vision, and values with the power of visual storytelling. [00:18:00] Kaila loves to sprinkle design magic into the unboxing experience -- and she's going to tell us how -- and why it matters.

[00:18:09] Andrea: Kaila thank you so much for being on This is Small Business with us today. Tell me a little bit of your background.

[00:18:15] Kaila: So My name's Kaila Piepkow. I'm the owner and creative director of Dox Design. We're a boutique branding and packaging design studio. We've had the pleasure of rebranding over a hundred businesses and I have a little small team of illustrators and designers that band together every day to create what we call drool- worthy designs.

[00:18:37] Andrea: Let's start with the why, why is that packaging design and boxing experience so important?

[00:18:45] Kaila: So for a lot of small businesses, especially e-commerce, your packaging and unboxing experience is really the only tangible touch points that your customer is gonna have to interact with you. It's the only time they're gonna physically have something in their hand, [00:19:00] that's from your business. So what makes a small business or brand memorable is obviously the emotion, and the story behind the brand and the customer experience that you bring to the table. And unboxing is just one of the best ways you can do that. I always use a case study of one of our clients, Dogs of Charm City. They're a small e-commerce company over in the east coast for Instagram obsessed dog parents. They sell a lot of dog apparel, dog home goods. Um, and our team was able to rebrand them, but also design an unboxing experience around their brand.

It was super colorful. It had witty language. It was really interactive. They actually personalized each box with the dog's name. Um, and just from that box during the pandemic, her business went viral. So everyone was filming their unboxing experience. They were posting images on social media with their dog, tagging them. You know, it was pretty much free marketing [00:20:00] because every other person who was following them, that was a dog mom was seeing this box, was seeing this brand. The results of one year of her launching her unboxing experience, her online sales increased by 297%. And her social media following went from 4,000 to 21,000. So if it's done correctly, meaning you have a deep understanding of your audience. You have a deep understanding of your brand. The unboxing experience can be a very powerful marketing tool for a small business.

[00:20:30] Andrea: Is there a time when the unboxing experience doesn't matter to the customer?

[00:20:34] Kaila: Yeah. So I think where it might not matter is if you're more of like a functional product. So kind of an example, maybe if you order, I don't know, like, an everyday household item, like window cleaner, that's something that's more functional and you might not even think about what box it comes in. You just want the window cleaner. But you know, a lot of small businesses, they're not just trying to have one and done customers and sell one product. A lot of them, especially when they come to us, [00:21:00] they're trying to create a brand. So I don't know if you've ever heard of Grove Collective. They're an independently owned cleaning product brand. So yes, they sell window cleaner and you can buy window cleaner from them but they definitely understand the importance of branding and unboxing. They're all about being natural. They're all about being approachable. So when you get their products, it's all in a reusable unboxing experience. They usually include like a bonus gift to their customers. They have some really nice branded print material that tells their story. And this kind of makes you more connected to the brand and want to support them.

So chances are, you know, if you have the generic brown box with window cleaner, you're never really gonna give a second thought to it. You might buy it again when you need it, but you might go with another brand, but if a company like Grove made an impression with you, then maybe you're gonna follow them on social media. Maybe you're gonna tell a friend about them and next time you need cleaning supplies, you'll have some brand loyalty to them because the first impression they made [00:22:00] with their unboxing experience was memorable.

[00:22:04] Andrea: So I wanna take us to the beginning of the journey of a small business owner when they're first ideating and bringing their idea to life. Where do you think that prioritizing packaging and the unboxing experience should fall, with everything else that they should be thinking about?

[00:22:18] Kaila: Yes. Cuz as small business owners we wear every single hat. I relate to that being a small business owner myself. Um, so, when we're thinking about the unboxing experience, I have a lot of clients who will come to us and they're like, oh, we need an unboxing. And maybe they have very limited funds to invest. But they don't even have a brand yet. They don't even understand like what their story is or like what their tone is. So a lot of times I'm like, eh, pause, pause. Before we spend all this money on designing a box, you know, printing the box, you really should have some solid foundation of your brand strategy for your business. If you're coming to someone and you're like, oh, I'm gonna create some packaging, but you know, I don't know if I'm a fun brand or I don't know if like being environmentally friendly [00:23:00] is super important to me. Like those are important questions. You should be asking yourself when you're designing the unboxing experience when you're creating the materials that go into it.

[00:23:10] Andrea: And, does your customer base make a difference? Does that somehow change your focus in terms of the unboxing experience?

[00:23:16] Kaila: Absolutely. Yeah. So, I kinda have a little exercise. I run all our clients through. It's like, who's your audience? And then who are you as a brand? But instead of thinking about your audience in terms of like "female, 20, lives in the city," like thinking about how your brand and your business is a part of their life. Where do they buy their coffee? Are they a Starbucks girl or are they shopping at like the indie coffee shop? Where do they shop for their clothes? What kind of car do they drive? What music do they listen to? What do they do for fun? Like starting to think of your audience and their personality can help you start to think about like how that box would fit into their life. So I do think the deeper you can get with that and the deeper understanding you can have, um, the more it can influence what that unboxing experience is.

[00:24:00] Andrea: Okay. And so let's say this small business owner already, understands what their brand story is, and now that they do understand this, they realize they don't have the biggest budget for personalization of a box. Where does someone start that can have a large impact without spending a bunch of money or capital that they don't have yet?

[00:24:14] Kaila: Yeah, totally. I think the more thoughtful you are with your unboxing experience, the more impact it has. I see this a lot with like, you know, handmade shops. They might not have the budget for like a full branded box. But when you open it, there's like a handwritten note in there. And the, the handwritten note relates back to them somehow. I actually just got like a candle and it was like a natural all organic brand. And they had like hemp paper that they wrote on. And then they put like a little like dried flower on it. And it was like that, that doesn't cost that much to do that, but it was thoughtful. And it related back to who they were as the brand, the flower they used was actually like the scent of the candle. And I was like, oh, that was a nice little personal touch. I mean, it probably cost her like $3 to buy that paper, write the note and put the candle in it. [00:25:00] So there are special touches you could do like that. Maybe inside the box. A lot of times I will tell our clients, like you can buy like colored mailers that are about the same exact price as a plain you know, brown box. And if someone sees like a lime green box that might get them a little bit more excited than just like the generic brown one, you know, so just utilizing where you can, those kinds of thoughtful touches, I think really will make an impact.

[00:25:26] Andrea: Let's say I do have the budget to invest. Where do I start?

[00:25:30] Kaila: Yes. Well, you could hire a design firm like us, so there's a lot of designers out there who will actually help design the entire unboxing experience. We're actually partners with Packlane. So that's where we get all of our boxes printed through. And you can get a full custom mailer inside, outside box, but also, again, still thinking about what that interior is like, like what other things are you packaging in there? You know, what kind of branded postcards, thank you cards. Do you have a little client gift you're giving out that's thoughtful? [00:26:00] Just thinking about that overall experience and how they're gonna be interacting with it and kind of going full force with that. If you have the budget, especially if you're e-commerce or you don't have a physical location for someone to interact with your business or product, really challenging yourself to think about that box, that like you are shipping, what your store or what your business would be to your customer in their home.

[00:26:23] Andrea: I’m curious. As an Amazon customer, I recognize the box a mile away, and I’m already excited. I know recognize the tape, I know how to open the box faster, almost like muscle memory. Can I still create that unboxing experience through Amazon?

[00:26:40] Kaila: Yeah, there is ways that you can incorporate that even if you're shipping through Amazon. I actually have one client that sells on Amazon. They sell essential oils and they have like a little gift pack that they send out of the three essential oils. So we design like a little mini mailer box that goes inside of the Amazon box. Instead of just having like the loose oils in there. [00:27:00] And so it's like a three pack and then it comes with like a little diffuser charm gift. And it tells like their whole brand story when you open it up, it's like little smaller, so it's less waste, and it's a lot less expensive to produce. And I would say that like the Amazon unboxing experience is like an experience in itself.

[00:27:18] Andrea: Absolutely. I shop a lot of small businesses. I try to buy most of the products of the small business owners we interview. You know, we do our research. We really understand what they're trying to do. And I think that every time I receive an Amazon package, one I'm immediately already excited. And then, two, when I open it and I see this carefully packaged small business product inside of an Amazon box and that to me is already a story. It’s already an experience. It's a level of trust. Because you understand the brand.

[00:27:53] Kaila: Exactly. And it's different for every business because every business has a different story to tell and has a different brand. So it all just depends on like what that is.

[00:28:00] Andrea: So I think one of the last questions I'll ask you, Kaila. Are there any tangible tools or pieces of advice that you would give small business owners who are starting to think about this unboxing experience that they could just like write down and be like, okay, these are the things I have to think about for this particular topic in my business.

[00:28:18] Kaila: Yes. Well, first and foremost, as you've heard me say about a million times, having a solid understanding of your branding. We call it like the brand vibe at Dox design. So are you a fun and bright brand? Are you more edgy? Are you more natural? And then actually having the visual toolkit to implement that tone. So this is where our team kind of comes in. So what are your brand colors? What's your brand font. Do you have brand illustrations? Do you have brand patterns? Do you have visual tools that you can use to actually design that box? Cause if you just have a logo, it's gonna be very hard to design that unboxing experience. And then I think kind of an added bonus to unboxing is the more interactive you can make it, [00:29:00] the more storytelling you can make it, cuz customers remember story. I think it's more of a memorable experience that gets them excited and ultimately wants to make them film it or post it. Tell their friends about it.

[00:29:14] HOST: Kaila even spitballed some initial ideas for Daniel that she thought might add to the Filthy unboxing experience, just in case they ever decide to "dive back in" to that world…

[00:29:24] Kaila: Imagine yes, you get like a bloody Mary mix. But then imagine like if the unboxing experience had like a fun, like drink recipe stack, and a matching glass as a gift, and maybe the box opened up and there was like a way to fold it, to like, have it be like a makeshift bartender, like counter, like how much more memorable would that be for their customers. And I could see that going crazy on YouTube of people taking the branded glass and sitting it there, opening up the drink recipe, mixing it together with their box in the background and having that kind of be like a viral marketing moment for them. So like the more interactive you can make it [00:30:00] and like, really think about like how that makes sense for your brand and how you would translate that. The more memorable it will be as an unboxing experience. And it'll leave a better impression on your customers.

[00:30:10] Andrea: Kaila. Thank you so much for your time, this was all very valuable.

[00:30:14] Kaila: Thank you so much, Andrea. I really appreciate you guys having to me.

[00:30:18] HOST: That was Kaila Piepkow of Dox Design. And as you can hear -- a designer like Kaila can really help you by coming up with loads of different ideas to help you design a fun unboxing experience. But then again -- as Daniel from Filthy said -- sometimes your customers care more about the product and less about the unboxing. In which case -- a pared down and environmentally friendly unboxing experience leading to a practical and enjoyable product might be the perfect choice.

Some of the key takeaways for creating the ultimate unboxing experience for your brand that I’m adding to my small business playbook after speaking to Daniel and Kaila are:

• Before you even think about the unboxing experience, you need to understand who your customer is [00:31:00] and what your brand represents in their lives. Kaila mentioned a fun exercise of understanding what their day-to-day looks like and where you can fit into that.
• You need to make decisions about your brand. What is the mission, vision, and personality? That’s being able to answer questions that go beyond just your brand logo, but also the visual ways in which you communicate with audiences every day and throughout all customer touch points.
• Then, it’s about looking for compatibility between your customer and your unboxing experience. What expectation have you created for them? Where does the experience start? Do you want to build anticipation before they open the package? Is it part of the brand experience to elevate expectation as they open the box? Or maybe, your product is more functional, and it’s just about getting to the product as quickly as possible. How do you meet the expectation of the customer?
• If you don’t have a large budget, [00:32:00] you can still be thoughtful about the customer experience. You can still create a brand connection through little things that will become memorable.
• If you do have the budget, challenge yourself and think about the outside and inside of the box. Envision the experience for your customers and invest on the added moments that create an emotional connection with your customer. And there are a lot of agencies like Kaila’s that can help you with that. The more interactive you make it, the more you tell a story, and we know that customers remember stories which leads to brand loyalty.

The truth is -- no two brands are exactly the same -- so it follows that there will be a lot of variety in unboxing experiences. But since so much of the way we shop these days is e-commerce driven... we should really think about unboxing as a key part of the whole customer experience. And look -- after you untie the bow, rip off -- and of course, recycle -- the paper, and open the box -- [00:33:00] what's inside is this simple message: First -- figure out who you are. Then, figure out who your customer is and what they expect in an unboxing experience. Then, try to give it to them without losing sight of what makes you YOU.

That's it for This is Small Business today.

On the next episode I will be talking to a handmade small business, a small but mighty team that started selling in farmer’s markets and saw a huge change when they decided to sell online. We’ll learn about how to successfully take your small business online. Meanwhile, if you like what you heard, don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast so you can stay up to date with new episodes, let us know what you think by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or email us at (thisissmallbusiness@amazon.com) with episode ideas, and tell your friends about us too!

Until next time – This is Small Business, I'm your host Andrea Marquez -- Hasta luego -- and thanks for listening!

[00:34:00] CREDITS: This is Small Business is brought to you by Amazon, with technical and story production by JAR Audio. [00:34:15]