Last Updated on April 14, 2021 by Drew Thomas Hendricks

The Role That a Wine Unboxing Experience Plays

The effect of a well-thought-out unboxing experience can be much more profound than any of us would initially think. It is about more than providing a customer with entertaining reading material, since in today’s world where online transactions are the dominant mode for buying anything, this may be their very first (or only) contact with the particular brand. The entire unboxing experience, from the packaging to the wine itself and any additional materials, represents a brand in the same way that a diplomat represents their country when going abroad.

The customer’s perception of the brand and quality of the product can, to a very large extent, be shaped by the quality of the package that they pick up from their doorstep. No matter how effectively a brand uses its digital marketing campaigns to reach its customers and create an online presence, we should never overlook the fact that the proof is in the pudding, so to speak when the physical product is delivered.

For the customer, the unboxing experience is the physical representation of the brand, which is why it is so important.

Here are some of the reasons why:

Setting the mood for the entire experience

The type of packaging that the wine comes in, along with any promotional or complementary products that are included in the package, act to delay the customer’s gratification and build a level of suspense and anticipation by lengthening the experience. When a customer opens a bland, unmarked box and is immediately presented with their wine, the process is so quick (and boring) that the only gratification that they experience is when they have the bottle (and sometimes glass) in their hand.

If the customer had an amazing online experience thanks to the quality of the digital marketing and the site that they purchased from, then they may already be anticipating something amazing. A bland, unmarked box and a minimal unboxing experience may feel disconnected from what they were expecting. An effective unboxing experience that places the brand front and center can, however, complement all of the digital marketing and take the customer’s experience of not just the product, but the brand as well, to new heights.

Providing an opportunity to tell your brand’s story

Along with placing your brand on the packaging, part of a great unboxing experience involves telling the story of the wine. This can be included on the packaging itself, but it is also a great idea to create some copy for inside of the box and on accompanying cards that a customer finds before retrieving their wine. Wine presents many different approaches for telling a brand’s story, so this is definitely a chance to be creative.

Consider covering things like the location of the vineyards and the history of the surrounding area to the particular method of wine production and even the morals and ethics behind the brand itself. Is it a locally owned and operated brand? Is it multinational with a great history? And how is the brand contributing to sustainability, the environment, and ethical employment? Are the packaging materials all environmentally friendly and sustainable?

It is possible to tell a brand’s story without words as well. The colors and graphics of the packaging along with the contents can be designed to reflect the qualities of the brand which conveys specific brand and product characteristics to customers. Gold, silver, and royal colors can align a brand with luxury, while greens, browns, and earthy colors may indicate a more down-to-earth vibe in touch with nature. This is a key approach to communicating the feelings of a brand without words, and it can enrich the overall unboxing experience.

Effective wine unboxings improve customer loyalty

The overall experience of anticipation, excitement, and reward from an effective unboxing experience has a lasting effect on customers. According to a poll by Yotpo, it can take up to 5 repeat purchases for a customer to consider themselves loyal to a brand, and ensuring that they come back time and time again until they describe themselves as loyal is all about being memorable in those first interactions.

Without an effective unboxing experience, customers aren’t given the opportunity to emotionally engage with a brand outside of the digital world, and it becomes too easy for them to put the wine on the shelf with the rest of the bottles in their collection where it won’t stand out or be remembered once it has been consumed. By bringing emotional engagement to their experience where they are given a reason to smile or feel like they are contributing to something positive with their purchase, wine producers can increase the chances of their brand being thought of and talked about long after the bottle has been finished.

Of course, there are many digital loyalty programs that are designed to turn customers into repeat shoppers, and as effective as these programs are, they have essentially become the status quo among many wine brands where online pamphlets, promotions, and brand stories often get lost in the email inbox and trash folder. By complimenting effective digital marketing with physical materials in the unboxing process, wine producers can ensure that their brand message and any extra materials are incorporated in the excitement of the unboxing rather than relying on customers to check their emails at a later date.

Memorable experiences can go viral

When it first started in the early 2000s, the trend of posting unboxing videos to social media platforms like YouTube may have appeared to some as a passing fad. However after a few years, millions of people online are still searching for the next unique unboxing experience, showing that unboxing videos on social media are here to stay and are as popular as ever. There is just something satisfying about watching a great unboxing video.

The trend has become so popular that many social media influencers are making millions of dollars solely from their unboxing videos, like 9 year old Ryan Kaji. He is just an example, making $29.5 million in 2020 alone. While his videos focused on age-appropriate toys and clothing, there are many social media stars making the most of the fascination that the online world has with the unboxing experience in almost every genre imaginable, and this is happening with wine as well.

With the growing trend in online influencers creating fun and entertaining unboxing content, many influencers are actively on the lookout for the next genius unboxing experience to make content with. This presents wine brands with an interesting way to promote their products and an opportunity to go viral.

All it takes is an original and emotionally rewarding unboxing experience in the hands of the right person and boom! That brand goes viral. And even in cases where a wine doesn’t make it into the hands of a famous social media star, a great unboxing experience gets people talking among their friends and posting to social media where a brand can reach many more people in local circles.

Great packaging enhances a great product

Outside of the experience of unboxing and creating a strong connection with a brand, since a lot of wine purchases are shifting to the digital world, it is important that customers still get to experience a vibrant, creative, and exciting environment that is expressed through the packaging. This is a key consideration since they won’t get to enjoy the feeling of being in a professionally staged wine store.

Providing them with the right packaging means that they will be able to form the same quality associations with a bottle of wine that they would in a physical store, making each bottle look even better than it already does.