Package Design | packagedesignmag.com

(June 2007) posted on Mon Sep 14, 2009

By Scott Young

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For many years now, we have used the "PRS Eye-Tracking" method to document and examine exactly how shoppers examine packaging. We also study the results to understand how these viewing patterns link to product perceptions and purchase decisions.

This article discusses the importance of understanding how packages are first viewed and highlights several key issues in interpreting these findings. It also shares several consistent insights that have emerged across thousands of studies, along with their possible implications for improving packaging effectiveness.

The first critical seconds

As product categories continue to expand, shoppers are increasingly overwhelmed at the shelf. In most CPG categories, they spend only 10 to 20 seconds making a purchase decision, often actively considering four or five packages in that time frame. This means that if a package does make it into a consideration set, it typically has only five to seven seconds to persuade the shopper and to make the transition from the shopper's hand to the shopping cart.

Given these realities at the shelf, it's obvious that packaging absolutely has to communicate effectively in those first few seconds. And not surprisingly, shoppers' initial message takeaways upon first viewing are often quite different from their perceptions after spending 90 minutes with a package in a focus group discussion.

One common approach to measuring initial package communication is through timed exposures, or t-scope studies, in which a package is flashed in front of subject shoppers for a brief period of time. The shoppers are asked to recall and "play back" what they remembered seeing. This approach has two significant limitations, however. First, recall is often affected by the person's previous experience with a brand. If you flash a Heinz package, for example, shoppers are likely to start speaking of 57 varieties and "anticipation," regardless of what they saw on the package.

Secondly, and even more importantly, any timed exposure fails to measure a package's ability to engage shoppers and hold their attention. This flash approach can penalize a particularly engaging package. In other words, we really want to know if a package captivates shoppers and holds their attention for five to seven seconds rather than only briefly. To do this, we need to put the shopper in control of the viewing time and see how long he or she chooses to spend with a package.

What to look for