A Comprehensive Guide to Custom Mailer Boxes
It is the year 2025, and it is the year to grow your online business further!
In 2023 alone, global retail online sales reached a whopping $5.8 trillion (Statista, 2024), and this figure is estimated to grow by approximately 39% until 2027, when it is expected to surpass $8 trillion!
Woah! That’s almost doubling the size of the global online economy. The market is calling you to grow, and the only thing between you and a successful business is developing a powerful brand image. Long gone are the days when a quality product alone could be enough. In today’s hypercompetitive markets, the only way to grow is to outshine your competitors.
Do that by packing your product in a box that screams “I am the best” to your customers. A customized mailer box can work such a wonder for you.
If you’re new in the business and are only starting to look for packaging manufacturers in the US or packaging manufacturers that ship worldwide, let us start by briefly explaining what customized mailer boxes are.
What is a Mailer Box?
A mailer box is a packaging design that is intended to send products through courier/mail. A well-designed mailer box must have the following features:
- It should be strong/sturdy enough to keep your products safe during transit,
- It should be compact and lightweight enough to make the transit efficient and,
- You should be able to customize it according to your design requirements
Mailer boxes are one factor supporting online businesses, but their customizability is the cherry on top. There are several structural types of mailer boxes, along with unlimited design and add-on options. You can read more about the different add-ons for mailer boxes here.
What options do you have to Customize a Mailer Box?
The first step in achieving the custom mailer box you envisioned is to select a packaging manufacturer that has the vision, talent, and resources to strategize your packaging needs. The Mailer Box, for example, is one of the leading packaging manufacturers in Utah and is a significant packaging manufacturer in the USA. We have partnered with some of the finest talents in the packaging industry, which helps us provide our customers with the best custom box options for the best prices.
Once you have partnered with the best packaging manufacturer, you can customize the structure, material, printing, inserts, and add-ons for your mailer box.
Types of Custom Mailer Boxes
To understand the mailer boxes and their structural customizations a bit better, let’s have a look at the various types of mailer boxes:
- Tuck-Top Mailer Boxes have an open-top design with a bottom tray that securely closes using a tuck flap. They have a double-sided wall construction and extremely convenient, glue-less assembly. Read more here…
- Adhesive Tear-Strip Mailer Boxes feature an adhesive tear strip, which allows for a quicker box opening experience. The customer simply has to rip apart the perforated strip, eliminating the need for ripping tape cutters or scissors to open the mailer boxes. Read more here…
- Mailer Boxes without Wings choose this mailer box for local deliveries where protection of the products inside and a double-walled construction are not the primary concerns. They are more budget-friendly but still offer great versatility. Read more here…
Creating your Custom Mailer Box
It’s likely that if you are looking to get custom mailer boxes manufactured, you already have at least your product prototype ready and you have some idea of the kind of packaging you’re looking for. The first step from here is to measure your product and provide the measurement you need for the mailer box. Providing accurate and precise measurements to your packaging partner may sound straightforward, but we can tell you, based on decades of experience, that incorrect measurements are very common and often result in waste, the extra cost of redoing the box, and/or the compromised appearance of the box.
So, how do we get the measurements right? Have a look at the process below:
If you have a mailer box already available in the right size, then simply measure the box and convey the measurements. The process in that case would be:
You can also read in more detail about how to measure a mailer box here.
Once you have an idea about the mailbox’s size, selecting the mailbox’s type of structure and deciding upon a print design will go hand in hand. You can choose from one of the three main mailbox structures discussed above or talk to one of our packaging experts for further customizations.
In discussing the print design ideas, the packaging graphics design team will be able to assist with recommendations on colors, design, and whether elements are possible. The print design will convey your brand’s message to your customers and is a critical packaging component. Even if you have an in-house design team, your packaging manufacturer’s graphic team will set up the final print file in the die line. Die lines are a technical blueprint of your box that both teams see a mockup of the final box. These are developed on vector-based graphic designing applications such as Pacdora.
Several printing methods can be used for custom mailer boxes at the printing stage, and each impacts results, lead times, and cost. While the debate on Offset vs. Digital Printing is the most well documented, other printing options, such as gravure printing, flexographic printing, and screen printing, can also provide some high-quality and fun printing techniques.
Most Popular Posts:
Material Options of Customized Mailer Boxes
Mailer boxes are quite versatile in material selection, and each type of material offers different levels of sturdiness, print result, and cost-effectiveness. After discussing your requirements with your packaging manufacturer, it is best to decide on the right material for your custom mailer box. Some of the most commonly used materials for making mailer boxes are:
- Corrugated Cardboard
- White Cardboard
- Recycles Cardboard
- Kraft Paper
- Chipboard
Your custom box manufacturer can offer up to two different types of materials for a mailer box. This is an added layer of customization that can further help balance the outlook and the cost of the boxes. You can choose one of the three ways to use the material:
White Inside and Outside | White and Kraft on Reverse | Kraft Inside and Outside |
Benefits and Limitations of Customized Mailer Boxes
There are several packaging types and styles, and mailer boxes are just one such type. Let’s compare the mailer boxes with other packaging types. This will help you decide whether mailer boxes would suit your requirements.
Like all custom-printed boxes, mailer boxes can be printed on all sides. This allows brands to add key elements and several valuable pieces such as scannable QR codes to social networks or special promotions, personalized messages, entertainment elements, and others. With such elements, a well-designed mailer box can provide the end customers an engaging receiving and unboxing experience. You can significantly leverage the beauty of your box for social media campaigns and use the box as a tool to drive further customer engagement.
Another point of parity between customized mailer boxes and other packaging types is sustainability. The Mailer Box endeavors to produce 100% recyclable boxes made from 100% recycled raw material.
In comparison, the most significant advantage of mailer boxes vs rigid boxes is that custom mailer boxes are collapsible and are manufactured and shipped flat. This significantly increases the quantity of mailer boxes shipped at low transportation costs. For your brand’s operations, this also means that thousands of mailer boxes can be stacked in a quiet corner to be used as and when needed.
Compared to rigid boxes, mailer boxes are affordable but still strong enough to keep the products inside safe. The reason for its durable nature is its structure. It has a double corrugated wall and roll tuck-in flaps that hold the box tightly together. With all its durability, the package is still lightweight and highly stylish.
Finally, mailer boxes may not be the choice of packaging for more high-end or luxury products such as perfumes, watches, designer shoes, bags, etc. Such products fit better in rigid boxes that can also be customized in various ways. You can read more about customized rigid boxes here.
Most Popular Posts:
Ayesha Khubaib
Ayesha has a diverse experience in areas of marketing and management. Over the years, Ayesha has been involved in the packaging sector in various capacities and now aims to share packaging market insights with her readers
Ready to think outside the box? Let’s get started!
Get in touch with a custom packaging specialist now for a free consultation and instant price quote.
