A psychological study from Avery UK has confirmed what label printers have always known, that labels really matter when it comes to consumer decisions and customer loyalty.

The in-depth research focused on how retailers and ecommerce businesses can have power and influence using their product and packaging labels.

The research included three scientific approaches to understand what makes a successful label. A literature review of 159 academic papers about previously conducted research helped to identify the gaps in knowledge and shape the rest of the study.

Cutting-edge eye-tracking apparatus was then used in controlled laboratory conditions to trace exactly where a label can lead the eye. All test subjects were no stranger to buying from small businesses.

And finally, three online experiments were conducted testing 1,108 British adults to examine the more cerebral and behavioural aspects of labels. There were two sides to the research: one centred on product labelling and the other featured mailing and shipping labels.

Working with an established behavioural psychologist, Avery UK tested consumer response to product and shipping label designs to reveal how certain elements can encourage positive reactions to the items they are attached to. 

The study explored important aspects for anyone selling goods either online or face to face. It considered how various label designs affected how much someone was willing to pay; how they made people feel towards a company and how likely test subjects were to make a repeat purchase.

Fiona Mills, marketing director at Avery UK said, ‘This has been ground-breaking research for us. We suspected there was more to the science of label design than might first meet the eye, but the discoveries have been extremely enlightening. We can now speak with the utmost authority to say that labels really do make a difference to the performance of small businesses.’

As printers already know a label can grab customer attention above all the competition then you have won half the battle. The Avery UK eye-tracking experiments confirmed that bright colours and large labels help your potential consumer stop and look; while bold lines, borders and stripes mean that your label could be viewed 42% more than plainer labels nearby.

Once you have a consumer’s attention, the best way to hold it and convert it into a desired outcome (like a purchase or a positive opinion of your brand) is to make the brain think and engage with the product or package. This can be achieved through emotion, information, priming, heuristics (helpful decision-making shortcuts) and curiosity.

Humans are hardwired to notice emotion and the use of an emotive word like ‘love’ or ‘pride’ or adding an emotive image such as a heart or happy face are simple but effective ways to increase consumer engagement, association and ultimate investment. In the study, an emotive image made people spend 13% longer looking at the product and adding an emotive word like ‘enjoy’, encouraged participants to look at a label for 10% longer.

There is a sudden spike in brain activity when humnas encounter something that needs to be ‘worked out’. Adding a label with a special message such as ‘Just for you’ or ‘What’s inside?’ to encourage curiosity, can really increase response rates. When testing a label that evoked curiosity it increased purchase intentions by 43% and the potential for word-of-mouth recommendation by a significant 103%.

A very clear and intriguing finding in the study was that the use of multiple labels when shipping items increased positive emotions in the recipient and led to a higher likelihood of customer loyalty and repeat purchase. In fact, using multiple labels on a shipping package could increase brand love by as much as 129%, perception of quality by 116%, purchase intent by 113% and word of mouth recommendation by 135%.

Retailers are missing a trick if they only use one plain address label. It turns out that a package can evoke positive feeling toward a brand just by adding a few extra carefully designed labels.