What is Package Design Testing?
Package design testing is the process of evaluating packaging elements—such as colors, claims, and shape—to find what resonates with consumers. It’s critical because research shows that 72% of consumers say packaging design plays an important role in their purchase decisions. All in all, packaging design directly impacts sales, brand perception, and go-to-market success.
What Can You Test in Package Design?
Usually, a package contains a few things on it, which means you can test a variety of things:
- Colours – which colours and colour combos do your target audience like most?
- Imagery – what sorts of pictures and images does your customer find the most appealing?
- Claims and messages – which words and phrases are likely to attract consumers’ attention?
- Logos and branding – how does your target market react to your logo’s placement on the package?
- The shape of packaging – if you want to experiment with a few different shapes for your package design, which ones are intuitively preferable?
Testing these elements iteratively helps you refine packaging until it’s both functional and persuasive.
Read more: 6 Top Packaging Design Examples + Why They Work
10 Reasons Why Package Design Testing Is Important
1. Find the best package design
Testing helps you identify winning designs, eliminate weak ideas, and refine promising ones.
2. Know what different audience groups want
Your target market isn’t uniform, therefore the “one size fits all” approach won’t work in this case. A package design test will help you find specific customer segments that are being underserved and identify their niche needs.
3. Learn what people like (and don’t like)
Since you’ll be testing different elements of your package, you’ll learn which of them are weaker than others. Perhaps your image is great, but your claim doesn’t live up to it. Maybe you need to fine-tune your colours to create the right associations in your customers’ minds. These little things matter in package design as they foster positive brand perception and help drive purchasing decisions.
4. Save money and time
Testing reduces the risk of expensive failures (think Tropicana’s $50M redesign loss). Even though packaging research might require additional R&D funds, you can be sure that you’re not going to end up spending millions on a design that doesn’t work.
And once you know what kind of package design your customers like, you’ll save time on actually designing it, meaning that your design team or agency will be able to focus on the right things and spend less time reworking what’s been done.
5. Make faster decisions
With data to back up your decision-making, you will know that you’re on the right track. This benefit is particularly important for anyone working in a fast-moving industry that needs to stay on top of consumer trends.
6. Test in a realistic context
When using research platforms to test ideas, you are often left wondering, what exactly do people like about the packaging and how do I know what a good result actually is?
Upsiide’s package testing methodology clearly lays out how your design options perform against each other. You can even include in-market designs to test alongside your new directions with no added cost. That means you’re never left wondering if the package designs you tested performed well – it’s all contextual.
7. Persuade your team and investors
Numbers matter. They give you the power to back up your arguments and can often be a strong driver in the decision-making process. Since your package design tests will bring you quantifiable proof, you can use them to make a persuasive argument to your colleagues and even attract potential investors to press forward with the right design choice.
8. Find ideas for future innovations
Lower-performing ideas aren’t wasted—they can inspire future redesigns or new product lines.
Just like you shouldn’t throw low-performing ideas in concept testing, we don’t like to think that those ideas are bad in pack testing. They’re simply not as good in their current form.
So, what do you do with those ideas? Save them! Create a folder with all of your package designs that performed okay but didn’t perform as well as others. Consider the “opportunities for innovation”. When you’re creating another product line or looking to reposition your product again, come back to the folder. You’re already going to have some idea of which designs your audience liked most, so you can apply this knowledge in your re-designs or new products.
You can use these previous designs as a launchpad for future innovation work, incorporating them into a new round of testing. That’s the formula for a successful innovation program.
Read more: 4 Common Mistakes In Packaging Design Testing And 4 Ways to Avoid Them
9. Improve other marketing collateral
Package design testing is a great opportunity for you to discover ideas that you may use in other marketing materials beyond packaging.
For example, you might find out that a specific claim on your package resonates a lot with your target consumers. And vice versa, you might realize that an image or a claim that you’ve used in every package and marketing collateral doesn’t work as well as you thought it would.
These discoveries will allow you to identify new ideas for messages, ads, visuals and other marketing elements that can enhance and focus your brand image.
10. Go to market with confidence
Testing packaging design ideas will help you be confident in your decisions. You’ll know that your final choices are backed by real numbers and public opinion. You’ll also discover that you also have other packaging options if needed. You can be sure that your designs stand out from the competition and translate the functional and emotional benefits of your product.
Risks of Skipping Package Design Testing
Tropicana’s 2024 Bottle Redesign Backfires
In 2024, Tropicana introduced a redesigned bottle for its flagship orange juice—a smaller, straight-sided PET bottle intended to be more eco-friendly and user-friendly. But instead of boosting the brand, the change triggered significant consumer backlash:
- Sales dropped sharply: –8.3% year-over-year in July, –10.9% in August, and –19% by October.
- Consumer outcry: Fans criticized the new bottle’s “generic” look and accused the brand of shrinkflation, charging the same price for less product.
- Loss of brand equity: Analysts noted the design stripped away the iconic character consumers had associated with Tropicana for decades.
Key takeaway: Even well-intentioned redesigns can flop without proper testing. Misaligned expectations and consumer sentiment can quickly lead to steep sales declines and long-term brand damage.
Successful Example of Package Design Testing: RXBAR’s Agile Packaging Test
RXBAR, a well-known protein bar brand, wanted to update the packaging for its A.M. breakfast bar line. Using Upsiide, Dig Insights ran an agile packaging test alongside a traditional virtual shelf test to evaluate design performance. Both approaches reached the same decision: the new design outperformed the old one across visibility, communication, and consumer preference.
- Increased shelf visibility: In the Upsiide test, first-choice visibility for the new RXBAR A.M. design rose from 4% to 7%, meaning more shoppers noticed the new pack first.
- Clearer communication: 97% of respondents said the new packaging clearly conveyed protein content, compared to 91% for the old design.
- Positive emotions: Consumers associated the new design with feelings like “hope” and “anticipation,” showing stronger emotional connection.
- Actionable insights: While both methods confirmed the new design’s strengths, Upsiide provided extra layers of insight—like commitment scores (the likelihood of actual purchase)—which traditional shelf testing didn’t capture.
Key takeaway: By leveraging agile pack testing with Upsiide, RXBAR saved time and research costs, avoided a risky blind launch, and uncovered insights to refine design details (like visuals of honeycomb and bar texture). Ultimately, RXBAR launched with confidence, backed by consumer evidence.
Read the full white paper here: Pack Testing Reinvented: An Agile Approach to Winning on Shelf
How do you test package design?
- Define objectives – What do you want to learn (claims, visuals, logos)?
- Create packaging variations – Mockups with different designs.
- Test with your audience – Use research platforms to get real consumer input.
- Analyze results – Identify winning designs and opportunities.
- Iterate and refine – Adjust designs and retest if needed.
FAQs About Package Design Testing
Q1: What is package design testing?
It’s a research method where brands test packaging variations with consumers to identify the most appealing design.
Q2: Why is package testing important?
Because packaging directly impacts consumer choice. Testing ensures your design drives purchase intent and avoids costly missteps.
Q3: How do you test a package design?
By creating design variations, showing them to your target audience (often through surveys or platforms), and measuring which designs resonate most.
Q4: What happens if you don’t test packaging?
You risk wasted R&D spend, lower sales, and brand confusion—as shown by Tropicana’s failed redesign.
Q5: How much does packaging influence purchase decisions?
Research shows that packaging can be a deciding factor at shelf, especially in categories where consumers have many similar options.
Conclusion: Why Brands Should Test Packaging
Package design testing is a small investment that ladders up to bigger wins over time. If you want to learn how Upsiide can help you find package ideas that consumers will love, drop our team a message. We’d love to show you around.