Behavior Over Opinion: How to Predict Packaging Success
Update: 2025-10-28
Description
In this episode of The Curiosity Current, host Stephanie speaks with Matt Salem, SVP of Customer Success at Behaviorally and co-author of unPACKED: Predict Packaging That Sells. Drawing on over two decades of behavioral research, Matt shares how packaging serves as a brand’s silent salesperson, shaping attention, emotion, and purchase decisions at the moment of choice. He introduces the Four-S Framework: Seen, Shoppable, Seductive, Selected, a behavioral model that helps brands design packaging that wins on the shelf and online. Matt explains how visibility captures attention, shoppability simplifies navigation, seduction communicates difference, and selection confirms success through real buying behavior. He also discusses PAC AI, Behaviorally’s predictive engine built on decades of human shopping data, which allows brands to test and refine designs with accuracy and speed. The conversation extends into e-commerce, where mobile-ready hero images, size cues, and optimized visuals redefine what works in digital retail. Matt highlights how post-purchase moments, from ergonomics to everyday usability, reinforce brand loyalty and repeat buying. He emphasizes the need for a shared language across research, design, and marketing teams, reminding listeners that packaging sells when powered by behavioral insight and consistent measurement.
What You’ll Learn:
- How to use the Four S’s: Seen, Shoppable, Seductive, Selected, to predict packaging success
- Why behavior-based observation is more reliable than aesthetic opinion
- How to weight the framework differently for established brands versus challengers
- What shifts when packaging moves online: hero images, variant clarity, and size cues
- Why post-purchase functionality and ergonomics reinforce loyalty and habit
- How PAC AI and MyBehaviorally enable rapid design iteration using behavioral data
- Why shared metrics and consistent language align global teams around packaging ROI
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Episode Resources:
- Matthew Salem on LinkedIn
- Alex Hunt on LinkedIn
- Behaviorally Website
- unPACKED: Predict Packaging That Sells by Matt Salem and Alex Hunt
- Stephanie Vance on LinkedIn
- The Curiosity Current: A Market Research Podcast on Apple Podcasts
- The Curiosity Current: A Market Research Podcast on Spotify
- The Curiosity Current: A Market Research Podcast on YouTube
The Curiosity Current: A Market Research Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so
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