With Glow Recipe being known for its vibrant color schemes and “fruit-forward” beauty products, we expected the brand to deliver a fun and whimsical unboxing experience, but things began falling short of our expectations from the moment the box arrived at our door.
Overall, the brand earned a meager 2 out of 10 on UnDigital’s Unboxing Guidelines, indicating a clear need for a total Unboxing Marketing overhaul.
Like any brand, UnDigital used the Unboxing Experience Guidelines for Brands, an unweighted 10-point system based on research conducted on millions of DTC packages, to score Glow Recipe. The system scores unboxing experiences based on two main aspects, Personalization and Presentation, which are then split into five subcategories.
The five Personalization subcategories are customer name, product information, relevance, call-to-action (CTA), and story. Brands either score 0 or 1 point in each of these areas.
Glow Recipe, however, earned just two points — below is a breakdown of how we arrived at that score:
Incorporating a customer’s name onto a handwritten note or other personalized copy helps boost engagement and make consumers feel like their package was prepared just for them. Glow Recipe only included my name on the shipping label and package receipt, essentially doing the bare minimum, which cost it the point.
When evaluating your unboxing experience, ensure you use the customer’s name in conjunction with a marketing message of some sort. A simple postcard or thank-you note goes a long way in making customers feel valued and will boost their perception of your brand. If your goal is to drive repeat business — which it certainly should be — you’ve got to get personal.
Though the product we received included some basic use and ingredient information, thus earning Glow Recipe the point here, its product packaging and the print of the usage instructions were quite small, meaning many consumers might have difficulty reading the text.
When including product information in your packaging, make sure the print is legible. If your product packaging is just too small, throw in a postcard with instructions or even provide a QR code link to a product how-to video. Customers are excited to use your product, so make it easy on them.
The relevance category considers whether the brand includes any supplemental materials to make the unboxing experience more relevant and personal to the consumer. Here, Glow Recipe didn’t include anything inside the box except for, once again, the bare minimum: a receipt, some protective plastic wrap, and a product.
There are plenty of ways to make a package more relevant to its new owner: Include a few free samples related to the product ordered, share your brand story, or use the customer’s name in a thank-you note, as we mentioned earlier.
Glow Recipe didn’t include a single CTA in the entire unboxing experience, which is one of their most egregious missed opportunities. While the unboxing experience underwhelmed us, we would still be interested in re-engaging with the brand if the product itself proved to be awesome enough.
Without exception, every unboxing experience should include at least one CTA, usually more. Ask your audience to follow your brand on social media, encourage them to check out your latest products, and expedite the time it takes them to re-engage with your brand.
Here's one of the CTA we use as an example. We know you're learning about Unboxing Marketing, and we give you a clear next step to take. Incorporating what you know about your audience, with something helpful they can do to continue their interactions with your brand will help you build stronger ties.
Aside from restating their slogan on the packaging, Glow Recipe did not share any of their brand story during the unboxing experience. A small piece of branded content, like a note card or a QR code link, could have earned the brand a point here.
Make sure you are sharing your story with your audience. You don’t have to share every meaningful moment in your brand’s history, of course, but telling your customers a bit about your mission, vision, or values will go a long way.
Glow Recipe added its slogan to its otherwise generic packaging, earning half a point here. To earn the full point, it should have included some other branding, such as a full-color package insert or colorized packaging paper.
Make sure your packaging captures your brand voice and style. If you are worried about package theft, only brand the inside of the box. Customers will understand if the outside is a bit bland for security purposes, provided you nail it with internal branded content.
Almost every brand we review earns at least half a point here, as all they need to do is deliver the product in a relatively clean box. As you can see from the photos, though, the Glow Recipe package came complete with interior blemishes, dirt, and mold (of all things) along the corrugated lines. Gross!
Glow Recipe included some single-use plastic (not ideal) filler material to keep the product stable during shipping, and though the box was not obnoxiously large for the product, it was still a bit too big. They should use a smaller package or replace the plastic with recyclable paper package filler.
Brands should make returns easy to initiate by including either a pre-printed return shipping label or — at a minimum — a link to the brand’s returns page.
Glow Recipe didn’t do either, and the dingy package we received would definitely be a return candidate for many consumers.
To earn a point here, a brand must score at least six total points in the other nine categories. A delightful experience is well-rounded, personalized, clean, and — above all else — fun. None of that describes the Glow Recipe unboxing experience.
Glow Recipe's slogan is “Fruit-forward. Clean. Unapologetically fun,” but when the grungy packaging falls short in the clean category, and the experience forgets to include the fun, it’s clear why the brand earned a 0 in the delight category.
At UnDigital, we help brands solve weak points in their unboxing experiences, making them more informative, personalized,d and engaging. Brands like Glow Recipe can learn from their shortcomings and revamp their unboxing marketing strategy. To learn more about optimizing your unboxing experience, check out our unboxing guidelines.
