Unboxing Experience for Ecommerce: How to Make Your Price Feel Worth It

An unboxing experience is everything your customer sees and feels from the moment they order until the product is out of the box. Done well, it confirms that your price was fair and makes the second order more likely. You don't need luxury packaging for that. You need a box that feels like your brand, something personal inside, and order and shipping emails that build excitement instead of reading like a receipt.

Picture this. Someone just paid good money for your product. The package arrives. They open it, and it's a plastic bag with a crumpled packing slip.

The first thing they think: "That's it?"

Right there, their brain decides it wasn't worth what they paid. And a customer who feels that way after the first order is a lot less likely to pay it again.

A lot of brands spend almost everything on ads and almost nothing on this moment. That's backwards, especially if you charge more than the competition.

By Emiel Dingemans, Founder of Magicianly

Updated November 2026

What Is an Unboxing Experience?

An unboxing experience is the moment a customer opens your package and decides how they feel about what they bought. It includes the box, the inside, any card or note, how the product is presented, and the emails that set expectations before the package even arrives.

It's one part of the wider post-purchase experience, but it's the most physical part. It's the one moment where your brand is literally in the customer's hands.

Why Does the Unboxing Experience Matter for Repeat Purchases?

The unboxing matters because it's where the customer checks whether your price was worth it. If the first week feels cheap, your price will feel too high, and they won't come back to pay it again.

There's data behind this too. In Dotcom Distribution's 2013 ecommerce packaging survey, 52% of consumers said they were likely to make repeat purchases from an online store that delivers in premium packaging.

That's why premium brands treat delivery as part of the product. We cover how this fits next to identity, transparency and promotions in our guide to premium pricing strategy.

What Are Good Unboxing Experience Examples?

Good unboxing experiences give the customer a reason to feel something, keep using the packaging, or get excited before the box arrives. Here are three brands that each do one of those well.

None of these brands are Magicianly clients. These examples come from what they show publicly.

Lola Blankets: Put the Story in the Box

Lola Blankets sells very soft blankets, and not cheap ones. The brand was started by brothers Tommy and Will Higham in honor of their mom, Amy. During her treatment for breast cancer, a soft blanket was what comforted her. Before she passed, she left each of her kids a blanket just like it, with a handwritten note.

They put that story right in the box. Co-founder Tommy Higham has written that a photo of his mom goes into the box of every order.

So you open it and you don't just get a blanket. You get a piece of a real family story. That moment is what makes a premium price feel fair.

Brooklinen: Make the Packaging Worth Keeping

It doesn't always have to be emotional. Brooklinen, the bedding brand, ships its sheets in a box with a reusable bag inside. A lot of people end up using that bag for groceries or laundry.

So the brand stays in your house long after the box is in the recycling.

Ritual: Start the Unboxing Before the Box Arrives

The unboxing really starts before the package shows up. Ritual, the vitamin brand, is a good example.

Their order update isn't the usual boring confirmation. It tells you they're getting your Ritual ready and packing up your order. It even gives you options to add products, change your delivery date or upgrade your routine.

The shipping confirmation does the same. Instead of "Your package has shipped," the headline is about good things coming your way.

Sometimes that's all it takes: a slightly different angle in a headline. It makes a big difference to a new customer's first experience with your brand. Our guide to transactional vs marketing emails explains how to keep these emails useful and deliverable while you give them more personality.

How Do You Create a Better Unboxing Experience?

You create a better unboxing experience by looking at the moment your customer opens the package as if it were a product page. What do they see first? What do they feel? Is there anything worth showing a friend?

Here's the checklist we'd start with:

1. 1Is there a card? A short thank you, ideally from a real person or the founder.
2. 2Is there a story? Why the brand exists, who makes the product, or where it comes from.
3. 3Is there a next step? How to use the product, when to expect results, or where to get help. A QR code to a short video works well.
4. 4Does the box feel like your brand? Colors, materials and the first thing they see when it opens.
5. 5Is any of it worth keeping? A bag, a tin, a box people want to reuse.
6. 6Do your order and shipping emails build excitement? Or do they read like a receipt?

You don't need all six. Pick the one or two that fit your brand and your margin, and do them properly.

What Should Your Order and Shipping Emails Say?

Your order and shipping emails should confirm the facts and make the customer look forward to what's coming. Order number, delivery date and tracking come first. Then add a line or two that sounds like your brand, not like a logistics company.

A few easy upgrades:

• Change the headline. "We're packing your order" or "Good things are on the way" instead of "Order #10482 confirmed."
• Remind them why they bought. One sentence about the result they're about to get.
• Set expectations. What to do when it arrives, and how long until they notice a difference.
• Keep discount codes out. A code three seconds after a full-price order teaches them to wait for one next time.

Then let your post-purchase emails take over once the order is placed, and your post-purchase flow carry the customer toward the second order.

How Much Should You Spend on Packaging?

Spend enough that the first impression matches your price, and no more. A $15 product doesn't need a magnetic gift box. A $300 blanket shipped in a plastic bag is a problem.

The cheapest upgrades are often the most effective: a printed card, a handwritten-style note, a better first line in your shipping email. Test those before you redesign the whole box, and judge them by whether more first-time buyers come back, not by how the box looks on Instagram.