What Does it Take to Make the Best Product Label? Your Top Questions Answered

Did you know that around 70% of consumers make their buying decision in the store, which means that although online shopping is more prevalent nowadays, a lot of consumers still like going to the shop and seeing a product for themselves? This is especially true for food and drink products – items which one can always find in the supermarkets and grocery shops. If you have been tasked with creating a label for your product, it pays to make sure that your product label is not only visually attractive but has its own persuasive factor as well. So what does it really take to make the best product label? Here, your top questions are answered.

Know your target audience 

Before going ahead and designing a product label, you should first know your target audience. Research is key to this, and you have to get to know your consumer. Ask yourself, first and foremost, who your customer is – and, more importantly, ask yourself who your perfect customer is. This is because different individuals will respond differently to various visual cues, including fonts, colours, and imagery, and you need to be sure that your final design is focused on the proper customer. You also have to determine your demographic, particularly when it comes to age, gender, education, and values. How old is your target customer? What is their primary gender? What kinds of values are they looking for when buying a product? What is their level of education? Lastly, find out if they are already familiar with your brand. All this will help you determine your ideal ‘persona’ so you can create a product label accordingly.

Know your competition 

You also have to know your competition and what they are doing. This will help you decide what you should be doing in terms of your own label design. Bear in mind that you have to differentiate your product from the rest of the products on the shelves, and you can do the proper research on your competition by collecting different product labels from the same or similar products and by taking note of any common factors or elements. Examine your competition’s colours, typography, imagery, and the shape and size of their labels, and figure out if they are also targeting your demographic.

Decide on your material

Before you begin the overall process of designing your label, you also have to know the kind of material you will use for packaging, as recommended by Atwell Labellers who are experts in advanced labelling systems. This is important because various materials may require different approaches to design. For instance, your approach in designing for a transparent label will be different from designing for an opaque label. Some labels are also more suitable for particular products; clear labels with adhesive are often good for plastic or glass bottles, tubs, and jars, while matt product labels are ideal for boxes and plastic containers or bottles. Glossy product labels usually go well with plastic or glass bottles, boxes, containers, and tubs (this means most anything), while a metallic product label is suitable for beer bottles, beauty products, and other 'luxury' products. Fortunately, you can print most of these product labels in different sizes, so it really boils down to the appropriateness of the material for the packaging and its use.

Image attributed to Pixabay.com