Marketers should focus packaging communications on consumer product uses rather than ingredients, features, and price.

If we can point to one consistent reality about shopper behavior and “what works” in terms of packaging across categories and channels, it is that marketers and shoppers approach the in-store experience from different perspectives: Marketers typically think in terms of their product offerings. Therefore, they name and package their products in terms of ingredients, features, and price points. But shoppers seek products for specific people and situations—and therefore want to know if a product is right for their needs.

Perhaps the most common manifestation of this “Great Divide” between what consumers want and what marketers offer is the positioning and packaging of products on a “good, better, best” continuum. This approach is commonplace in many products, but it leads to confusion as shoppers are overwhelmed with options and face packaging that typically speaks to new features rather than their underlying needs.

Consider these three ideas for successfully executing a “good, better, best” strategy:

1: Link "Quality Levels" to usage occasions and scenarios. Packaging can make quality tiers more relevant and powerful if it links specific products to underlying shopper needs.

2: Visually build across packages or subbrands. Perception Research Services (PRS) has found that it is powerful for a more premium package to “build” on a lower-end model by showing that it has everything in the lower-end version plus a certain added feature or benefit.

3: Use structural innovation to delineate higher-end products. Across our studies, PRS has consistently found that shoppers typically associate innovative packaging structures with revolutionary and higher-end product offerings and that the use of unique materials can impact on product expectations and brand imagery.

To a marketer introducing a premium product line, the implication is clear. An investment in packaging innovation is very likely to be worthwhile because differentiating on an intuitive, visceral level is critical to generating consideration, conveying added value, and facilitating shopping.

Marketers connect with shoppers when they break away from traditional product-based naming and segmentation and instead organize products and packages around shopper priorities and thought patterns.

Read more about the “Great Divide.”

By Scott Young and Lily Lev-Glick

Scott Young is President of Perception Research Services, a consumer research company that conducts more than 500 custom studies annually to guide packaging and point-of-sale marketing decisions. Lily Lev-Glick is Director of Shopper Insights and Point-of-Sale Research at PRS.