Well, as you know, I love packaging, and branding. I don't go through the effort of holding back excitement to photograph the package rather than tear into it for nothing. So it irritates me to no end when I purchase things and receive them just thrown into an envelope. I expect it, of course, from Amazon and places like that, but when it comes to handmade items - pieces that have had love and time go into them - I expect a little more.
And I got "a little more" today.
I have had my eye on a cupcake stand by OhNoRachio for a couple of months now. I just fell in love with the simplistic design, and I'd been wanting a stand for individual cupcakes for some time. A week ago, I scraped up the last of my Christmas money and bought it.
It took some time to ship - I hadn't realised that her products were made to order. But that was fine by me, because I knew that it was being made specially. So I waited as patiently as an impatient person can, and finally my package arrived - while I was out looking at archaeopteryx skeletons. The one day I finally go out and do something! Sod's law. So I had the package redelivered and it arrived (again) today.
Well, I said that I don't like it when people just toss the product into an envelope, but addresses on the package are not something I usually think about. A nice bit of decoration on the front of the envelope is delightful - I cover mine in washi tape, isavirtue uses lovely embossing powders to make her "do not bend"s stand out nicely, and so on - and can really make the package - but a hand written address with hand drawn decoration, well, that's not something just everyone does.
It was the design on the cake stand that I loved, so including the design on the front of the package with a lovely white hand written address really made the package stand out. Yes, I peeled the redelivery sticker off of the package.
It was so simple, but just about every package I receive have printed addresses. Like I said, the address isn't something I think about. Personally I hand-write all of mine because my printer is unreliable, and most people I correspond with by mail hand write them, too, but it's not too common to receive a package with purchased goods with a handwritten address.
Perhaps I'm just easy to please.
From the address alone I could tell care and considerarion had gone into the packing, and I was right. I cut open the envelope and found my product wrapped in gold tissue paper, and a hand written letter - well, it was certainly longer than a note!
Products wrapped nicely with a business card is satisfying enough, but to receive a proper note, personalised, written by hand, thanking me for my purchase, is something I don't expect. Well, I'd love to receive more - I always include a handwritten note, myself - a note at least saying thank you would be polite, but I really feel that I was treated specially. I wasn't, of course, but I feel it, and that's important.
I write these posts to publicly thank the sellers who put effort into their work, but I also write them through hopes of helping sellers who don't know where to start, and to give them ideas for their own packaging.
The best part of receiving products wrapped in tissue paper is that I can reuse it to wrap my own products in (unless the tissue paper has obvious branding or some sort of specifics to the shop on it), which helps the environment. Or just to use in personal crafts. This gold paper will be saved for my 100th sale - which is only 3 sales away! It's certainly fitting.
Thank you Rachel, for a wonderful product, and for putting time into your packaging. Let this post show it isn't for nothing!
That is the most adorable packaging and I love that you publicly make thank the seller that way. I think packaging and branding really can make or break a product.
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