Your Instagram feed is full of brands with perfectly wrapped packages, tissue paper folded just so, a cute sticker sealing it all together, and a handwritten note tucked inside.
It looks amazing. But is it moving the needle for their business? Or is it just really good content?
Here's the honest breakdown of every popular packaging extra, what it's actually worth, what it's not, and how to decide what makes sense for your brand right now.
First, the rule that governs all this
Before we get into specifics, one principle to keep front of mind:
Every extra you add to your packaging needs to earn its place, either by reducing returns, increasing repeat purchases, generating word-of-mouth, or meaningfully improving the customer experience. "It looks cute" is not a business reason. "It makes customers post about us and come back" is.
Run everything through that filter and you'll make smarter decisions.
Tissue Paper: Great, but know what you're paying for
Tissue paper is the most visually satisfying packaging extra there is. Unwrap it on camera and you've got instant unboxing content. It signals care, quality, and intention before the customer has even seen the product.
What it's good for:
- Fashion, beauty, jewellery, and lifestyle brands where the tactile experience is part of the product
- Higher price point products where customers expect a premium feel
- Brands where gifting is a significant use case
Where it might not be worth it
- Functional products where nobody is filming the unboxing
- Low-margin businesses where the extra $0.30–$0.60 per order adds up fast
- Situations where it's just filling dead space in an oversized box
Tissue paper is worth it when your product and price point justify a premium experience. If you're selling $15 phone cases, it might not be justifiable. If you're selling $80 candles or $120 silk scarves, skipping it is the wrong call.
Stickers: The highest ROI extra on this list
Stickers are genuinely underrated. They're cheap, lightweight, endlessly customizable, and people keep them.
A well-designed sticker with your brand logo, a fun graphic, or even just a color that matches your aesthetic has a life way beyond the packaging. It ends up on laptops, water bottles, notebooks, phone cases. Every time someone sees it, your brand gets a free impression.
What makes a sticker worth it:
- It's a design that people want to keep (not just your logo on a white circle)
- Your audience skews younger, sticker culture is real and strong
- You can produce them cheaply in bulk without significant cost per order
Where stickers fall flat:
- Generic, low-effort designs that feel like an afterthought
- B2B or corporate audiences who aren't going to stick anything anywhere
- When they're being used as a seal on tissue paper but the tissue paper itself isn't needed
Of everything on this list, stickers have the best cost-to-impact ratio. Even a simple run of 500 custom stickers is relatively affordable, and the brand visibility they create is genuinely measurable. Start here if you're not doing any packaging extras yet.
Thank You Cards: The most personal touch, when done right
A thank you card sounds simple. In practice, there's a big difference between one that lands and one that gets tossed in the bin with the packaging.
The cards that work are specific, warm, and ask for something small, a review, a share, a follow. They feel like they were written by a person, not printed by a corporation.
What makes a thank you card worth it:
- You're a brand where personal connection is a differentiator (handmade goods, small-batch products, anything with a strong founder story)
- You include a specific, low-friction ask, "Tag us on Instagram and we'll repost your photo"
- You use it to drive a second purchase, a discount code for their next order tucked inside converts surprisingly well
Branded Tape: The underdog
Branded tape, your logo, your colors, even just a simple pattern, wraps around the outside of your package and creates a brand impression before anyone has even opened anything. It's one of the few extras that's visible at every single stage: in transit, at the door, and during the unboxing.
Why it punches above its weight:
- It replaces something you're already spending money on (plain tape)
- It's visible at the moment of delivery, before any other packaging extra kicks in
- It photographs well and adds a cohesive, considered feel to your packaging
The honest truth: If you're sending anything in a box, branded tape is worth serious consideration. It's not the flashiest extra but it's one of the most consistently impactful.
Inserts, QR codes, and little extra,
Beyond the four, there's a whole world of packaging inserts: product care cards, how-to guides, QR codes linking to tutorials or loyalty programmes, small freebies, samples of your other products.
These work best when they're relevant and useful to the specific customer. A skincare brand including a card explaining how to layer their products correctly? Genuinely valuable. A random piece of paper pointing to a Facebook page the customer won't visit? Landfill.
Inserts with a clear purpose (education, retention, cross-sell) earn their place. Inserts that exist to fill empty space don't.
What should you choose?
Here's a simple framework based on where you are in your business:
Just starting out (under 50 orders/month): Start with stickers and a thank you card with a discount code. Low cost, high personal impact, and you can handwrite notes at this volume without losing your mind.
Growing (50–200 orders/month): Add tissue paper if your product and price point justify it. Start testing branded tape. Make your thank you card more intentional — A/B test a version with a discount code against one with a social ask and see which drives more action.
Scaling (200+ orders/month): Every extra needs to be earning measurable return. Audit what's actually driving repeat purchases, reviews, and UGC. Cut what isn't. Double down on what is.
The Bottom Line
None of these extras are mandatory. All of them can be worth it, under the right conditions, for the right brand, with the right execution.
The brands that get the most out of packaging extras aren't necessarily the ones spending the most. They're the ones being intentional about every single thing inside the box.
Start small. Track what works. Add from there.
And if you're looking for packaging that makes the whole experience feel considered from the outside in (before you even get to the extras) explore our range at noyo.co.
