Don’t make the mistake of ignoring your Amazon packing slips. With a little creativity, they can help you build relationships with your customers and stand out in the uber-competitive ecommerce world.

This is especially important with customers who buy from you via Amazon. Remember, they’re not your customers, they’re Amazon’s. Since you can’t do any email marketing with them, customizing the packing slip is your next best bet.

Why You Should Customize Your Packing Slips

Think about it. Amazon just puts the basics – name, address, order details, etc. And most sellers don’t do any customization with their Amazon packing slips at all.

So adding a custom message to is a great way to stand out and retain customers for YOUR brand, not Amazon’s. Everything your customers touch or see that represents your brand is a chance to increase customer engagement.

How to Automate Your Amazon Packing Slips

You can customize your Amazon packing slips automatically with the FBA Shipping app. Enter up to 1,000 characters and we’ll make sure the message is included on all of your Amazon packing slips. Boom, done.

Packing Slip Branding

Amazon obviously isn’t going to promote your brand on your packing slips. So you can’t add your logo, change the colors or do anything fancy like that. All you can do is write up to 1,000 characters in your message.

But remember, everything your customers get from you is a representation of your brand, even your Amazon packing slips. So even though you can’t show off your brand’s visuals, you have the opportunity to create a genuine connection with your customers.

Hint: If you DO want to show off your brand’s visuals, do it on your package inserts. Why do both? Package inserts are great for building brand awareness, but packing slips can be changed much more quickly and easily – no need for designing or printing.

Packing Slip Message Ideas

Make those 1,000 characters count! Here’s a few ways to do it:

1. Thank You Note

Obviously you should be thanking your customers. They’re the whole reason your business exists! Here’s a couple of ideas:

+ Oh, glorious and noble customer, we owe our fealty to you! [Company name] honors your name by shouting it at the sun and whispering it to the stars.

+ Or maybe something a bit simpler like, “Thanks for ordering from [company name]. We think you’re awesome.”

2. Cross-Sell

Share new products or best-sellers. Or products you just need to move before Amazon hits you with those long-term storage fees. Try this:

+ Want to make your friends jealous? Show off with the new [product name], the coolest new [product type]. Just search for [product name] on Amazon.

+ Thanks for your purchase. Did you know we also sell [product name]? It’s one of our best selling products because [why it’s awesome]. Check it out by searching [product name] on Amazon.

3. Request Customer Feedback

We all know customer reviews are like gold on Amazon. So ask for them! Or ask for feedback on your products. Or photos/videos of people using your products. Or a fat sack of cash! It never hurts to ask. Here’s how:

+ Love it or hate it, we want to know what you think! Go to your order page and send us a message or simply leave us a review on Amazon. We appreciate it!

+ Thanks for your order! I know you’re busy, but our newest product designer, Kyle, needs your help. You see, your product was created by Kyle, and he thinks it’s awesome. If enough people agree that it’s awesome, we’ll give Kyle a raise. If too many people think it sucks, we’ll fire him into the sun. Kyle’s future is up to you. Tell him what you think by leaving us a review.

4. Promotions

Are all your thingamajigs on sale this month? Or are your kajiggers going on sale next month? Or are you running a discount on your slow moving products? Use your packing slips to tell buyers about whatever promotions you’re running. Check it:

+ July is the best month to buy [product type]. That’s why all our [product type] are 10% off for the entire month. Happy shopping!

+ We bought too many [product name]! Take advantage of our dumb mistake with 15% off all [product name] this month.

The Greatest Packing Slip of All Time

Okay, this isn’t actually a packing slip message. It’s an order confirmation email. But you can still use it as inspiration for your Amazon packing slips.

This company called CD Baby used to send out a generic confirmation email just like everyone else. “Your order has shipped today. Please let us know if it doesn’t arrive. Thank you for your business.”

Boring.

They knew they could do better. So they took a few minutes and wrote something that actually aligned with their brand’s voice and their mission. Here’s it is:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow. A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing. Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy. We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved “Bon Voyage!” to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Friday, June 6th. I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as “Customer of the Year.” We’re all exhausted but can’t wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Beautiful, right? That email was so loved that if you Google “private CD Baby jet” (with the quotes) you’ll get over a thousand results. More importantly, it also created thousands of new customers.

Now, don’t go putting your Shopify website on your Amazon packing slip. That’s called driving customers away from Amazon and they don’t take too kindly to that. But still, if you write something like that and include your company name, people will get curious and look you up.

Conclusion

If you’re not customizing your Amazon packing slips, you’re missing out on an important touch point for your customers. Yes, it’s a minor one, but every point counts. Get creative and use your packing slips to promote your brand.