Personalized Shipping Labels and Packing Slips

Minisoft partner enVista, worldwide leaders in supply chain consulting and unified commerce solutions, is no stranger to our blog. In fact, we highlighted their cheeky and informative white paper titled Oh Ship! You’re Promoting Ship From Store – Now What? At the time, we noted:

Personalization has become something of a buzzword lately. Although it can be somewhat creepy when it’s done the wrong way, personalization doesn’t have to be invasive and weird. Quite the opposite, nobody minds the ‘Recommended for you’ or ‘You may also like’ features employed by many online retailers. Why can’t this hallmark of the digital channel be brought to the ultimate physical channel – the package?

Well, enVista recently put together an excellent blog on personalization called 10 Online Retail Personalization Tactics to Use Today. In their breakdown of online retail personalization tactics, they highlighted the package. 😍

Tactic 1: Personalized shipping labels and packing slips

The package is a physical channel that, if optimized, can drive traffic to brick-and-mortar stores, online stores, social media and other channels. With this in mind, how do most retailers ship today? Usually, companies use a plastic pouch with a packing list that’s manually folded and inserted into the pouch, with a separate label generated off of a thermal printer. Sometimes, a retailer will skip the plastic pouch and just throw the packing list into the package. With all due respect, this just isn’t very sexy.

EnVista noted “Branded boxes, envelopes and shipping labels extend the in-store and online experience. Customers are usually excitedly awaiting their package, so take that opportunity and extend a personalized experience with a promotion – you know they are going to look at the package!” We couldn’t have said it any better ourselves. 😉 The traditional brown box with a plastic pouch or an integrated packing list fails to capture a customer’s attention or point them to additional channels for more shopping and buying. Nothing about these approaches sells more or enhances the customer experience.

Packages are more than brown boxes. The package is a physical representation of your brand; a mobile billboard that travels far and wide to find its final destination. Successful unified retail businesses have optimized their channels across devices for consistent customer experiences, with the exception of the one channel every online shopper encounters: the package. Increased on-the-box personalization enhances the look of the brand and makes shoppers more likely to share their experiences about a product purchase. Likewise, on-the-box offers and promotions drive customers back to your websites for more shopping. How do retailers engage customers with personalized, branded packages?

With DuplexPackSlip® transactional laser forms and laser labels, every package that ships is an opportunity to generate new sales while reinforcing a retailer’s brands and messaging. These unique multi-use laser forms allow retailers to include relevant offers and promotions right on the box. You should check them out sometime. 😉 While you’re at it, we highly recommend that you also check out 10 Online Retail Personalization Tactics to Use Today for more information on enhancing the customer experience through personalization.