The following guest post was written by Burgopak CEO Rosie Reardon.
A woman orders an at-home hormone test because she’s concerned about her fertility. The box arrives, she opens it, and inside is a jumble of unfamiliar medical components with no clear starting point. She’s already anxious about her health. Now she’s intimidated by the product itself.
This moment – the unboxing – can make or break trust in personal healthcare. And yet, packaging decisions are often driven by everything except the user experience.
The real cost of “just reducing costs”
When brands approach us about new packaging at Burgopak, there’s usually a headline motivation: A product launch, scaling operations, sustainability improvements, or –perhaps cost reduction. There’s often an urgency to find a solution, and understandably, bias toward the needs of whoever is leading the project.
But here’s what we’ve learned: That initial motivation is rarely the root cause. It’s often a symptom of something else.
When a customer says they need to reduce costs, we don’t simply design the cheapest package. We engage with stakeholders across the business to explore the bigger picture. Could we make fulfillment more efficient? Can we work with the 3PL partner to define size limits that unlock better shipping rates? We examine cost of goods, resource management, and crucially – packaging attributes that enhance, or at least preserve, the user experience.
The alternative? Strip the package down to bare bones. Use inferior materials, limit print colours and finishes, remove usability features. But where does that leave the end consumer and their perception of the product?
Emotional connection, usability, brand impression, and sustainability expectations can directly influence purchase and loyalty decisions. A more holistic, stakeholder-engaged approach isn’t just nice to have – it’s essential.
Packaging as brand ambassador
It’s worth remembering that packaging acts as your brand ambassador. Visual identity, messaging, materials, finishes, shape – they all convey a story. The credibility and impact of that story depends entirely on execution.
A healthcare product needs to convey trust and efficacy. What would a customer think if the packaging arrives poorly printed? For many women’s health products, unboxing is the first physical interaction with your brand. A lack of care and attention in design can be read as a reflection of the product’s quality itself.
Is that first impression one of perceived value and desirability? Or does it raise doubts?
Case study: Rethinking packaging for inne’s minilab
A powerful example of this approach in action has been our collaboration with inne on the packaging for their minilab, the fertility and contraception tool that empowers women through natural cycle tracking. This is a beautifully designed and engineered product, and moving beyond their launch packaging required more than aesthetic tweaks.
Filip von Hauswolff, Director of Industrial Design at inne, had a clear vision for the packaging and was a driving force behind the project. The brief was multifaceted: Reflect inne’s brand values while reducing costs, improving sustainability, optimizing fulfilment, and protecting the device during shipping
User experience informed every decision, a principle inne consistently applies across all their physical and digital touchpoints. The final pack looks elegantly simple, but every detail of its four paperboard components was carefully considered. Instead of rigid overwrap, we used a standard paperboard structure, reducing both cost and weight. The paperboard’s smooth coated and textured uncoated surfaces mirror the device itself – the smooth plastic and soft-touch overmolded parts. Subtle artwork, color-matched to the product, and a debossed logo add a quiet sense of quality.
But functionality shapes perception too. The ease of unboxing, the protective flaps that double as quick-start guides, even the precise coiling of the USB cable – all were refined through multiple iterations, whether via packaging design or in collaboration with peripheral suppliers. These details don’t just serve practical needs. They reinforce inne’s brand promise of thoughtful, user-centric design.
Why at-home testing demands more from packaging
At-home test kits present a particularly interesting challenge. On the surface, they appear to be a simple collection of components: Test materials, instructions, and a way to return the sample to a lab.
But consider what you’re actually asking of the user. She needs to collect a sample accurately using unfamiliar medical devices, outside a traditional healthcare setting, without professional support – all because she has a health concern she’s worried about.
Now imagine she opens the box to find components jumbled together. It’s intimidating. It raises questions about whether she can do this correctly. It may even make her doubt whether she should try at all.
What if, instead, the components were neatly arranged into clear steps – 1, 2, 3 – guiding her through the process? This intervention does more than organize parts. It is reassuring. It supports correct usage. It communicates empathy and care at a vulnerable moment.
The benefits extend beyond user experience. Encouraging correct use reduces the cost of replacement kits and improves customer satisfaction. Well-designed packaging also becomes a marketing asset, featured in online retail, promotional materials, and social media content.
The user experience lens
Whether you’re completely reimagining your packaging or making incremental improvements, important decisions lie ahead. The right packaging partner will walk you through this process and advise along the way.
By using a user experience lens, brand owners can balance internal cost considerations with enhancing perceived value – ultimately driving sales through stronger consumer appeal. This is especially critical in healthcare, where trust, empathy, and attention to detail can be the difference between a product that empowers and one that intimidates.
The true value of packaging is often underestimated. It should be seen as an extension of the total product experience, not just a container. And in healthcare, where the stakes are deeply personal, getting this right matters more than ever today.
About Burgopak
At the heart of everything we do are two core values: innovation and unrivalled service. Innovation means we challenge the status quo and push boundaries to create better solutions for our clients. But innovation alone isn’t enough. What truly sets us apart is our commitment to service that goes beyond expectations. We listen, we learn, we anticipate, and we deliver, because we believe that excellence in service isn’t just about meeting needs, but about exceeding them at every opportunity.
Let’s start a conversation about your next packaging project.
Email: info@burgopak.com
Website: https://www.burgopak.com
About inne
The world’s first saliva hormone test for contraception. Measure your daily progesterone levels with the inne minilab to track your fertility and decode your cycle.
Email: support@inne.io
Website: https://inne.io/
