Scoring just 4 out of 10 on UnDigital’s Unboxing Guidelines, Kiehl’s demonstrates that its unboxing marketing strategy is long overdue for a redesign.
The packaging was branded, as was the unusual (and sticky) wrapping paper, which made accessing the products tedious and unnecessarily messy. The Kiehl’s unboxing experience was uninspired and fell victim to numerous missed opportunities.
UnDigital created our Unboxing Experience Guidelines for Brands based on research carried out across millions of DTC packages. The guidelines feature a 10-point unweighted scoring system that is divided into two categories: Personalization and Presentation.
Both categories feature five subcategories. Kiehl’s was eligible to earn 0 or 1 point in each of the five Personalization subcategories and 0, 0.5, or 1 point in each of the five Presentation subcategories. Here is how the well-known beauty brand performed.
Ideally, brands need to include the customer’s name on some sort of personalized insert, such as a thank you note or postcard.
Personalized marketing makes the customer feel valued and boosts engagement. Kiehl’s missed out on this prime opportunity to elevate the unboxing experience.
Kiehl’s includes quite a bit of product information (enough to earn this point) on the items. However, it doesn’t provide any supplemental product information, which is something they need to work on if they want to drive additional engagement or loyalty in this touchpoint.
Providing supplemental product information, like a quick set of instructions or a link to a tutorial video, decreases the customer’s time to value and helps them put the product to use right away. Most customers are excited to use a product right after unboxing. Make it easy on them by adding extra product information into DTC packaging.
Although Kiehl’s did not use my name inside the packaging, the brand salvaged the relevance category by including three free samples. All three samples were relevant to my order and provided a nice surprise during unboxing.
If you offer free samples as part of your DTC packaging, there are a few ways to go about it. You can let the customer choose their own samples, which ensures they will love the bonus items they receive. Alternatively, you can announce that you are including free samples but not reveal what products are included, which adds an air of mystery to the unboxing experience. If you go the surprise route, be sure to make them relevant to the customer or their order. Otherwise, you’re going to see mixed results.
Kiehl’s didn’t include any sort of CTA in the unboxing experience. This represents yet another missed opportunity and further diminished my unboxing journey.
Always include a call to action (CTA) in your unboxing campaign. Be explicit and tell the customer exactly what you want them to do, whether that be checking out your latest products or signing up for your mailing list. While you don’t need to be pushy, you should be clear and direct. Remember, your customer is excited to be opening their package, so capitalize on it by encouraging them to connect with your brand.
You need to tailor your calls to the recipient. You could do a broad CTA based on a behavior. For example, the CTA below is geared toward people learning about Unboxing Marketing. We tell you what we're offering and then we give you an explicit button to click. This is the minimum and you should make it your goal to exceed this level of relevance in your unboxing experience since you know who each package is being delivered to.
Kiehl’s failed to weave its brand story into the unboxing experience in a meaningful way. It did include a brief section of branded copy on the packaging receipt, but the text uses generic lettering and is easy to overlook.
The lesson: share your brand story with your e-commerce customers, but do it in an organic, frictionless way. For instance, if you include a personalized thank-you note in your DTC packaging, add a snippet about your values, mission, or brand history. A few impactful statements can nurture feelings of loyalty in your target audience and help you keep them coming back for more.
Kiehl’s sent my order in a typical brown cardboard box. The inside of the box had a white coating, which typically indicates it is a bit better quality than your run-of-the-mill box. The company also included its brand name at the bottom of the box, which is why it earned half a point in this category.
But that’s where things took a turn for the worse. Kiehl’s wrapped the products in a white branded packaging paper. The problem was that the paper was sticky, so I had to tear it open to access my products. In beauty, the very last thing you want your customers to associate your product with is grimy tactile experiences.
That sticky paper cost Kiehl’s half a point in the cleanliness category, too. Generally, we consider whether the package is free from damage like scuff marks or tears. While this box was in pristine condition, the sticky packaging paper was anything but clean.
Kiehl’s chose an acceptably sized box for the product and samples. There was very little wasted space. However, it didn’t include any real packaging material other than the sticky wrapping paper. Because of this, the products were free to move around during transit, which increases the likelihood of damage.
The receipt included a contact number to initiate the return process. It also provided a brief synopsis of the company’s return policy, which helps customers understand how long they have to initiate a return.
However, Kiehl’s could have earned a full point here by including a link to the return page of their website or providing a pre-printed return shipping label. Ideally, brands should do both to make the returns process as frictionless as possible.
The Kiehl’s unboxing experience was far from delightful. In fact, the unusual packaging made it unnecessarily tedious and just plain unenjoyable. Moving forward, Kiehl’s needs to invest in some personalization, rethink its packaging paper, and include a CTA. These simple changes would significantly improve the unboxing journey.
Kiehl’s missed out on lots of opportunities to wow consumers and nurture feelings of brand loyalty. Fortunately, you can learn from this brand’s mistakes and optimize your unboxing marketing strategy. To get started, check out UnDigital’s unboxing guidelines and make the most of every DTC interaction.
