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Meta Title:

We Commissioned Independent Research on Branded Void Fill. Here's What 400 Consumers Told Us.

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We partnered with Michigan State University to measure how branded internal packaging affects consumer behavior – recommendation rates, social sharing, willingness to pay, and more. Here's what 400+ consumers told us.

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6 min

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We commissioned independent research on branded void fill. Here's what 400 consumers told us.

Most brands assume their packaging inside the box is invisible. Something functional, forgettable, a line item in the ops budget. Ship it. Done.

We weren't sure that assumption was right. So we partnered with Michigan State University to find out.

The result is the MSU National Consumer Study on branded internal packaging – 400+ census-balanced US adults, with a quantitative survey plus qualitative focus groups. The question we asked: does branded internal packaging actually change consumer behavior? And if so, how much?

Key findings at a glance

• 75% vs. 11% – branded void fill scores 75% on visual appeal; plain kraft scores 11%
• 57% more likely to recommend the brand after a premium unboxing
• 50% more likely to share the unboxing on social media – unprompted and unpaid
• 45% say branded internal packaging signals a detail-oriented brand that cares
• ~40% willing to pay a higher price point for a product with premium packaging
• 77% prefer to reorder from familiar brands – making every shipment a retention touchpoint

About the research

The MSU National Consumer Study was conducted by Michigan State University in collaboration with Seaman Paper. The study included 400+ census-balanced US adults. Researchers tested six packaging formats – plain brown kraft, bubble wrap, SpiroPack™, crinkle shred, SatinPack™ colored void fill, and SatinPack™ branded void fill – using a quantitative survey combined with qualitative focus groups. All statistics cited in this post are drawn from that independent study.

The baseline: what plain kraft actually signals

Before measuring the impact of branded packaging, the study measured how consumers respond to what most brands ship today: plain brown kraft paper.

Plain kraft scored 11% on visual appeal.