As a dynamic beauty product, clothing, and accessory brand, Chanel is one of the most recognizable names in the fashion industry, and its online customers, therefore, expect an equally luxurious unboxing experience. The brand delivers an acceptable experience with its customized packaging, fine use of space, and limited personalization.
It’s clear that Chanel’s team understands the nuances of unboxing marketing but may still be working to expand their capabilities. With that in mind, here is how the brand has scored a passing (and quite difficult to attain) 7 out of 10 on Undigital’s Unboxing Guidelines.
Over 2.14 billion people buy their goods online today, which makes the unboxing experience just as integral to the modern consumer journey as any other aspect. To that end, UnDigital’s Unboxing Experience Guidelines were established to help brands adapt to the shift and better understand how their processes compare to the expectations of today’s consumers.
Our guidelines take the form of an unweighted system that heavily focuses on personalization and presentation, designed around research conducted across millions of DTC packages.
Below is a detailed breakdown of how Chanel fared in each category:
Chanel offers a gifting option at checkout that enables consumers to send custom gift messages. So if someone sends you a Chanel item, and they write you a note, you could receive a personalized unboxing experience. That being said, there were no personalizations in the package to be found.
Adding your customer’s name somewhere highly visible elevates their experience and demonstrates your commitment to personalization. While you can certainly use a standard postcard, doing so may make the note feel like more of an afterthought instead of something that you do for every order.
Chanel provided some product information within the package. They also included a receipt outlining everything we ordered so we could easily ensure the package was not missing any items. Practices like these are especially beneficial for buyers of larger orders, as it can be easy to overlook a single item when receiving multiple products at once.
Though we would have liked to see a little more about the product information in the package, perhaps in the form of a postcard with a QR code that provides video tips about how to use the item, Chanel certainly did enough to earn a full point here.
Chanel included two free samples related to the product I ordered. What’s more, it didn’t simply toss the two samples in the same box as the primary product: It put them in a separate, reusable travel bag that I can easily place in my luggage and use to take their products on the go.
From start to finish, I loved Chanel’s unboxing experience, but there were two key areas where it can certainly be improved. For one, Chanel failed to deliver any call-to-action (CTA). There were no prompts encouraging re-engagement.
Every unboxing experience needs at least one explicit CTA; neglecting it is the same as leaving money on the table. Your customer’s excitement is at its peak when they are unboxing the product they ordered, and an effective CTA capitalizes on that excitement by encouraging them to re-engage with your brand.
Here's an example of how we work a CTA into our articles. Note that we've geared it toward people learning about Unboxing Marketing, and we've told them the exact next (measurable) step they should take.
Chanel captures its unmistakable style with elegant, aesthetically pleasing packaging, but the brand fails to integrate its brand story into the unboxing experience. Adding one or two sentences about their history, mission, or values could have further elevated the customer experience.
Customers love branded packaging, and Chanel excels in this category. The exterior and interior boxes, travel bag, and postcard envelope featured matching branding, yielding a consistent experience from start to finish. The box looks great and conveys Chanel’s unmistakable style.
Generic cardboard packaging simply looks unappealing, even if it is clean and free from damage. Chanel ditches the generic boxes and instead ships its products in custom, branded boxes, which is a clean, aesthetically pleasing, and eye-catching approach.
When evaluating unboxing experiences for space utilization, I consider two factors: efficiency and protection.
Chanel delivers on both. The interior box fits almost perfectly inside the outer box, as do the sample bag, postcard, and return slip. They use shredded paper filler inside the smaller box, which helps keep the product safe, and all packaging materials (save for the reusable bag) are recyclable papers.
Chanel makes the returns process easy by providing both return instructions and a return shipping label at the bottom of the box. While their packaging is so good that product damage is unlikely, it’s nice to see that they take returns seriously anyway. This is a great trust-building exercise that customers will undoubtedly appreciate.
The Chanel unboxing experience will absolutely delight consumers! It is also one of my personal favorites even though it could improve on the personalization front.
At Undigital, our evaluation system helps brands elevate their unboxing experiences and engage customers like never before. Those like Chanel can build on their success and capitalize on missed opportunities by adding a CTA and bits of their story to the presentation.
If you’d like to learn more about how to drive revenue through unboxing marketing, check out our unboxing guidelines today.
