Decoding Effective Packaging Designs with the Power of Packaging

Earlier this month, Behaviorally launched the Third Edition of its renowned “The Power of Packaging to Drive Purchase Transactions” book, which reflects on the key principles and learnings of effective pack design. It has become a guidebook for leading designers and manufacturers of best-in-class pack design that is grounded in Behaviorally’s time-tested 4S model: Be Seen, Shoppable, Seductive, and most important of all, Selected.

The enduring principles of behavioral science that underpin Behaviorally’s 4S model have served as a cornerstone of effective packaging design for decades. These principles are rooted in an understanding of consumer behavior at the point of purchase that remains as relevant today as it was when first conceived. Take, for instance, success stories such as Tom’s of Maine toothpaste or Playtex Sport which are cases featured in the Power of Packaging book.

Each of these brands leveraged the insights derived from the 4S model to launch packaging that is not only visually appealing but also strategically positioned to capture shopper attention, drive purchase intent, and ultimately secure selection at the brick-and-mortar retail and digital shelves. Technology may have enhanced how we measure and understand whether a brand is Seen at shelf, but the objective and need to stand out is no less critical today than it was yesterday.

Yet while the principles of best-in-class packaging design have been built and endured since the inception of Behaviorally (formerly PRS) in 1972, equally the Third Edition of the Power of Packaging highlights a revolutionary improvement in the precision with which marketers can now predict the power of any packaging design change to drive purchase transactions.

As a result of the consistent operationalization of behavioral metrics across our product stack, the team at Behaviorally has been able to cultivate one of the world’s largest proprietary behavioral shopper databases, providing a wealth of datapoints to inform packaging design decisions. By analyzing a more expansive and aggregated set of at-shelf consumer behavior datapoints, we have gained valuable insight into the contribution of each lever that influences purchase decisions. This wealth of data, when combined with sales data and unlocked via the power of AI, has facilitated groundbreaking advancements in predicting pack design effectiveness.

One of the most significant advancements is the introduction of the PackPower Score™ in 2022. By drawing from our expansive repository of behavioral metrics, sales data, and leveraging the power of vision recognition AI, Behaviorally now offers any brand with who we partner a prediction of the in-market impact of their proposed packaging change. As the two disciplines merge, this is true whether we are speaking to a quantitative or qualitative sample of people, or in some cases leveraging synthetic data and no longer speaking directly to consumers at all.

What we do now know is that packaging can drive sales by as much as +5%, a result similar to that enjoyed by JM Smucker as new packaging launched for Dunkin’ At Home, as well as Kenvue upon implementation of a consistent brand identity across the shelf presence of Zarbee’s Naturals. Both of these cases featured in the Power of Packaging, yet they are extreme examples, and often the risk of packaging change is a short-term sales decline. In a good or bad scenario though, the precision of the PackPower Score provides marketers with more intelligent data to support decision making.

But recent capability advancements that the Third Edition of the “Power of Packaging” bring to the forefront are not only in the realm of the precision of pack effectiveness prediction; speed and scale have also now been realized as crucial advantages and in many respects mandatories for insights departments who support major brands to have a seat at the table. Accurate predictions of sales impact, built upon digital data, supersedes outdated arguments in favor of analogue in-person research, at least for cases where no structural or sensory change to packaging is being considered.

This reduces the research timeline for brands considering packaging change from an unacceptable number of months to a workable number of days/weeks, through to an advantageous number of minutes. Furthermore, AI can also now be used, in tandem with existing or new behavioral datasets, to scale assessment of product description page (PDP) images presented at the digital shelf in a way traditional insights methods simply cannot.

As a case featured in the Third Edition of the Power of Packaging and our work with Unilever has shown, insights can now support brands driving purchase behavior at the digital shelf. Another mandatory in the age of digital commerce.

With the launch of the Third Edition of “The Power of Packaging,” it is evident that while the key foundational principles of packaging design endure, the precision, speed, and scale at which brands now have data intelligence available to guide packaging decisions has undergone a revolution.

It’s with gratitude to the clients and partners who have accompanied Behaviorally on this transformative journey that our company looks forward to sharing its latest insights and case studies. Secure your copy of the Third Edition of “The Power of Packaging” today by visiting our website at www.behaviorally.com, and don't hesitate to reach out to us for a printed copy as a special token of appreciation from the entire Behaviorally team.

Yet, amid the excitement of all that’s changing today, one cannot help but wonder what is next on the horizon? As AI continues to redefine the boundaries for any firm that is in the business of making predictions, and in the case of Behaviorally predicting consumer behavior at the point of purchase transaction.

The reader must watch this space to see what the Fourth Edition of “The Power of Packaging” presents if and when it is ever published. With the power of world’s largest behavioral package testing database now deployed to predict design effectiveness with ever greater accuracy, and doing so at a speed and scale that is relevant in an era of digital commerce, our commitment to innovation that endures remains as we pursue our mission to support manufacturers own the most valuable moment in marketing: when a consumer selects your product and purchase transaction takes place.