Thinking Like a Customer
Posted by scottjduffy on December 22, 2007
It’s the holiday season, and over the next few days, a billion or so people around the world will be opening billions of packages. Smiles and good cheer all around.
This makes me wonder whether package designers spend enough time thinking like a customer opening the product. It seems like the logistics folks often have the largest say in package design. How does it fit on the shelf, and how can we make it easy for retailers to stock?
If you’ve ever opened an Apple iPod, you will know that the package design team at Apple have given a lot of thought to the customer opening the product. Opening an iPod is an “experience”. People actually post photos to the web of each stage of opening a new iPod box.
Have you ever opened a hard plastic package, for example containing audio earphones? You can’t open this type of package with your hands – its impossible. Even a pen or other sharp metal object would not help much getting the package open. To open such a package, you NEED scissors. It takes 10 minutes to open such a package even with scissors, and when you’re done, the package is destroyed.
So what is the purpose of such a negative customer experience? Why do <insert electronics category here> manufacturers make their products so hard to open, and leave you with a package that’s in several pieces?
I suspect there are two reasons, neither of which are customer-focused. One, to prevent in store theft. Making it very difficult to get at the small product inside, forcing potential theives to have to try to get the entire package out of the store.
The other reason would to discourage returns. Imagine if you could buy something, take it home, open it, try it out, and if you’re not satisfied with it, take it back to the store for a full refund. That costs the store money, and maufacturers as well I bet, so one of their solutions is to discourage returns. By making you destroy the package while opening it, they are effectively saying, there’s now no way you can return this in the original condition. And in fact, since the package ends up in little pieces, you are likely to throw the packaging away immediately after opening, thereby making it impossible for you to return if you change your mind a few days later.
This, I suspect, is the main reason. But perhaps I am just a natural skeptic when it comes to these things.
