One of the most important tools in any online seller's tool belt is packing inserts. Inserts are extremely customizable and can be used to serve countless purposes. We will be exploring some of these uses within this article.
1. Enhance Brand Experience
There are many ways you can use inserts to enhance the customer experience. One of the best ways to use inserts is to elevate your branding. My favorite way to improve the brand experience is to include a hand signed thank you note. It adds a small personal touch and helps your customers to connect with you and your brand. Another way to improve your brand experience could be including your brand's story, sharing a recipe, or including tips or tricks for using the product. All these things help to improve the overall experience delivered by your brand.
2. Use Coupons & Promotions To Drive Repeat Business
Driving return customer purchases is a great way to increase your sales and create brand loyalty. One of the easiest ways to do this is to include coupons, promo codes, and other exclusive offers as inserts within your shipments. Everyone loves a good sale and a coupon can create a "win win" for everyone. You get an additional sale and your customer receives a brand they love at a great value! You can also include your social media pages to hopefully increase brand engagement and foster future transactions.
3. Facilitate & Improve The Quality Of Customer Service
Another way to utilize inserts is to improve the quality of your customer service. Inserts are a great place to print your return policy as well as any applicable warranties. I also like to use inserts to direct customers into the proper customer service channel. This is a great place to include your support email or phone number so you can communicate with your customers in the most effective way. This can also help resolve issues outside of an eCommerce channel which can help to improve your account metrics.
4. Free Gifts!
Not all inserts are just a piece of paper! Many times you can give away a free gift or a bonus item with each purchase. This simple practice can help to elevate your business over similarly priced competition that is not offering a free gift or bonus item. A free gift can go hand in hand with my first point of enhancing the brand experience. You can send a gift as a thank you, or even send a complementary item that will improve the overall user experience.
5. Ask For A Review!
DISCLAIMER: Some marketplaces do not allow this practice. Please refer to the review policy of your marketplace of choice. An insert is a great opportunity to ask for a review and to get product feedback. More positive reviews usually results in increased sales and these reviews are extremely valuable to your business. This is also a great way to get real time feedback so you can improve your product or listing through timely and relevant feedback.
