A great way to grow your automotive aftermarket business — or any business — is to deliver an exceptional customer experience. In fact, as Forbes notes, it may be the best way to expand your business.
One pivotal moment in the customer experience occurs when the recipient opens the package you shipped to them and inspects the contents.
If that process doesn’t go well, you have a problem.
Proper packaging of your automotive aftermarket parts is crucial to the start or continuation of a positive customer relationship.
What Careful Packaging Delivers
You may be wondering: how, specifically, does packaging help my automotive aftermarket parts business?
There are several ways, including:
- Fewer returns. Ensuring that your merchandise is adequately protected during shipping means less damage and fewer returns. And those two factors combine to help improve your bottom line, both by reducing product costs and the added labor that comes with processing returns or exchanges.
- Less theft. Sealing your shipping cartons with water-activated tape (WAT) creates a secure, tamper-evident bond and is effective in reducing theft and the associated expense.
- Positive reviews. People tend to give a lot of weight to the experiences of others when it comes to selecting a company with which to do business. A handful of positive reviews on your website can be a contributing factor to many future sales.
- Increased brand awareness. Water-activated tape (sometimes known as gummed paper tape) can be branded with you company name, logo, etc. When you seal your packages with branded tape, everyone in the delivery chain - from the shipping company staff to neighbors who see the package on the recipient's front porch - becomes more familiar with your company.
- Social media shares. Social media platforms have made it easy for one person to express their opinion to potentially millions of others around the world with just a few keystrokes. If what they share is their satisfaction with the parts they received, it can give your company a tremendous boost. If their post describes an unpleasant experience — potentially with a picture just to drive the point home — your sales may suffer.
- Repeat sales. It’s a business truism that the easiest person to sell to is the one that’s already a happy customer. When a neat, secure, beautifully branded package arrives with well-protected parts inside, you are already well on your way to repeat business.
Small Investment. Big Return.
It’s understandable that some companies say, “It’s the superior quality of our merchandise that matters. How it gets to the customer is unimportant.”
Obviously, the first part of that statement is true. You have to sell an excellent product to succeed in business.
However, both personal experience and customer satisfaction surveys will tell you that the second part of the statement simply isn’t true. A customer’s perception at the moment they receive a package can affect their opinion of your company from that point forward.
A small investment in the time and effort that goes into the packaging of your automotive aftermarket parts can deliver big long-term returns.