How To Use Stickers And Labels To Communicate With Consumers

Whatever products you’re selling or promoting, how you package and label them can speak volumes to the consumer, as can the addition of other forms of visual communication, such as fragile stickers.

All packaging should in effect be seen as a tool for helping a product stand out on the shelf, and should say something to the consumer that encourages them to pick it up and take a closer look at it, at the very least.

Whether through the use of colours, images, text, or a combination of all three, your product labels and stickers should be unique and eye catching. Once you’ve drawn the consumer to your product however, it doesn’t stop there: with so little time to speak to shoppers, your packaging must say what it needs to say, succinctly but powerfully.

With this in mind, here are a few ways you can help your products communicate effectively with consumers through stickers and labels:

Think carefully about the consumer’s initial experience

Imagine you’re picking one of your products up for the first time: what would make you want to buy it when you first look at the packaging, labelling and stickers?

Most people are attracted to bright colours, but will quickly move away if the colours don’t represent anything that they can relate to the product. In other words, colours are great, but they shouldn’t be the only thing you use to draw consumers in. If you’re using imagery, whether through a logo or simple illustration, be sure that the image is clear and unambiguous, and relates to the product in a way that consumers can connect with. If you want to include some basic information about the product on the label or stickers, make sure it’s written succinctly and in a type of language your target consumer can understand and relate to. Avoid the use of jargon where possible, and it should go without saying, don’t be offensive or unnecessarily biased.

Consider how your consumer will be viewing the product

If a customer is going to see your product sat on a supermarket shelf surrounded by other, similar products, what is going to make yours stand out? Think not just about what the label and stickers will look like, but where they will be placed on the product to gain maximum visibility.

Should a consumer receive your product through the post (you only sell your products online, for example), what will they see when they first remove the outer packaging, and if the product requires additional packaging to protect it, should that also say something about the product or your brand?

Make sure your labelling represents your brand accurately

As the first thing consumers will see when looking at your product, you must make sure that whatever message you’re trying to convey on your labels and stickers, is a true and accurate representation of your brand and its values.

Leave space on the product for promotional stickers

If your label is chock full of important information and creative imagery, and covers a high percentage of the product when stuck on, what will the consumer be able to see when price stickers and other promotional stickers are added, for example?

Conduct plenty of market research

While nobody would ever recommend that you steal a great labelling concept from a direct competitor (or anyone, for that matter!), it can be immensely helpful to get a good idea of what else is out there, and when you find a product that you know is popular and selling well, try to visualise how you can recreate a similar effect with your own labels and stickers.

No matter how great your product may be, if you can’t get consumers past the browsing phase and into the buying phase through your labelling, there may be little else you can do to help it sell.