Packaging and wrapping - the presentation of your goods - is one area where you can really make your business shine and be remembered. Good customer service has many steps, and one of the keys to success is to improve the level of service that your business offers during each step.
There was a time when many businesses really made an effort to package your purchases well. This may have been the local supermarket, where the person at the checkout counter put some thought into making certain that the bread wasn't put at the bottom of the bag with the potatoes on top of it, or the department store where your purchase was gift-wrapped. With the constant pressure to reduce costs, this level of service has almost vanished to the point where, for many companies, packaging is almost considered an irritation rather than an opportunity to provide excellent customer service.
There is also a move towards making packaging far more environmentally friendly. For this reason, it's a good idea to use recycled material where possible or even to provide packaging that can be reused by the customer. One very good example of this, which has been introduced in recent years, is the reusable envelope. You may receive your telephone account in an envelope that can be reused and sent back to the telephone company with your payment enclosed. For those businesses that send out a lot of mail, this isn't only a cost-saving mechanism (you don't need to insert a reply paid envelope), it's also an environmental statement and it encourages people to pay their bills faster.
I recommend that you review your packaging process and look for the following key points:
- Is your packaging material as good as it can be?
- Are your staff trained to package products well?
- Will the packaging that you provide protect your product for its complete journey?
- Is your packaging environmentally friendly?
- Can you make it easier for your packaging to be handled?
- Is your business promoted on your packaging?
- Are your customers happy with your packaging?
- Is your packaging staff-friendly - that is, is it easy to use?
By doing a packaging review you may identify a number of areas that could be improved and the end result will be a much higher level of customer satisfaction.