Once you’ve started a business and developed a product, the question of how to convince your target audience to buy it will arise at some point. Various factors play a role here, such as marketing or quality. But not only the “inner values” have to convince, but also the product design plays an essential role. Therefore, it is important not to save money in the wrong place during its development, but to focus on a high-quality and appealing design right from the start. The following tips will help you.

The psychology behind purchasing decisions

As the saying goes, “The eye eats with you” – and this is by no means only true of food. In the case of all other products, too, visual appearance consciously or unconsciously plays a role in purchasing decisions. The reason for this is that 70 percent of sensory receptors are located in the eyes. They therefore influence a large part of the sensory impressions and at the same time these remain longer in the memory than if a piece of information is only read or heard. In addition, the brain makes certain associations quasi automatically when it sees pictures, colors & Co. So if the packaging of an unhealthy food product shows something healthy, the product is automatically perceived as healthier – to give an illustrative example. The brain fills the information gaps, so to speak, on the basis of optical impressions, which is called reality expansion. Especially with still unknown products like those of your startup, this can positively influence purchasing decisions, which is a factor that also regularly plays a role in our work as a social media agency.

Investing in the right place

The figures showing how strong these psychological effects are are impressive: 85 percent of consumers state that the color of a product is the most important purchase criterion. So it’s all about an appealing look on the one hand, but also about recognition value on the other. Branding therefore also plays an essential role for your startup, even before you launch your first product – and here, too, the color scheme and design are essential success factors.

For you as a founder, this means that you have to give this area a high priority and make sufficient investments to convince with the brand and product design right from the start. After all, product and packaging design is a separate profession that can be studied and accordingly requires a lot of know-how as well as experience. Unless you bring these yourself, it is therefore not recommended that you take these tasks into your own hands in order to save money. Instead, you can greatly improve your chances of success by finding a specialist and entrusting them either as an external designer or as an internal employee.

High quality product design generates trust

Acquiring a basic knowledge of the subject is nevertheless recommended for every founder. Only in this way you can evaluate the quality of the designer’s work and at the same time understand why perhaps one product sells better than the other. What you have to realize is that trust is the key. Only if customers trust your brand or product will they buy it. So they trust that this purchase will pay off for them one way or another. The quality of the product design is a decisive point, i.e. (potential) customers trust a high-quality design more than a poor design. According to the survey, 46 percent of Germans would not buy from a company whose brand or product design was not convincing. In short, the quality of the design is directly related to the quality of the product.

Brand loyalty (also) through the right design

So, especially as a startup, a high-quality design is important to convince the target audience to make an initial purchase. After all, people are more likely to buy what they know than what is unknown to them. But more about that later. However, if you have overcome this hurdle and convinced customers to buy with the help of the right product design, your chances are good that they will repeat this decision and become regular customers. Only in harmony with convincing “external as well as internal values” can brand loyalty be generated and it is the basis for the sustainable success of your company. If, on the other hand, the first impression is not convincing, it will be difficult to persuade the target group to give it a second chance. “There is no second chance for the first impression”, is therefore a saying and this has its raison d’être. This is another reason why it pays to invest in product design from the very beginning and not to postpone this task to a later point in time. This investment pays off not only in the short term, but also in the long term, as 58 percent of Germans say that design promotes loyalty to a brand.

Legal basics in product design

So when it comes to product design in the start-up phase of your business, it’s important to rely on the expertise of experienced specialists, but still make the decisions together. After all, only you know what you want your brand and product to represent. So, only you can tell if the design fits your business as well as marketing goals and feels authentic. Nevertheless, there are certain limits to your creativity, because there are legal principles that you must observe when designing products. The expert can certainly enlighten you in this regard as well. Among the most important laws in this area is the labeling requirement. For example, the ingredients or any allergens must be declared on foodstuffs, or any hazard warnings must be affixed to electronic devices. So, depending on the product, the labels must contain certain information, but you are still free to make many label design decisions. The same applies to the type of labels, because adhesive labels are now distinguished between a wide variety of variants and they all have an impact on the effect and quality of the design. It is therefore necessary to find the right balance between legal certainty and individuality in order to satisfy both the legislator and the target group.

Psychological principles you should use

Last, it is important to know and apply the psychological principles at work in product design. As mentioned earlier, consumers prefer to buy what they know rather than the unknown. This is because they are simply afraid of the unknown, and fears generally play a central role in purchasing decisions – which is true not only in B2C, but also in B2B. Increasing awareness of one’s own brand and product through targeted marketing measures is therefore a first step in the right direction. However, for the best possible results, you can and should use other psychological triggers. After all, it is ultimately the emotional level on which purchasing decisions are made, while the rational level recedes into the background. Here are some examples:

• Loss Aversion: Once we own something, we don’t want to lose it. This psychological mechanism leads, for example, to subscriptions being retained or products being purchased, provided it is made clear to consumers what they will otherwise lose.
• Scarcity: When a product is in short supply, the consumer’s desire to own it increases and at the same time the purchase is made more quickly. Creating an artificial scarcity, for example through “limited editions”, is therefore a popular as well as effective marketing strategy and is at best also reflected in the product design.
• Self-Expression: Every person has a need to express themselves. Particularly in the case of lifestyle products, this increases the chance of a purchase if the product is linked to certain characteristics. The possibility of individualization further increases these opportunities.
• Sequencing: A complex action is more likely to be performed if it is broken down into small tasks, such as online shopping. The easier the (online) purchase of the product is designed “step-by-step” for customers, the higher the chance that they will make it.
• Social Proof: With unknown or new products, people tend to follow the behavior of their peers. For example, if you persuade celebrities, influencers, or simply a broad mass of people to buy the product, you create a domino effect.

All these psychological mechanisms play an important role in marketing and thus also in product design. So if you understand the importance of design and implement it properly with professional help, you’ll set the stage for success from the start.