Cheap labels vs expensive labels? How to choose!

Whether you're selling wine, beer, cosmetic products and even candles and bath bombs you would probably need a personalised label to dress your product. When we talk about an adhesive label it is not a matter of information that you need put on the product in order to make customers conscious of what they are buying; it is also about your brand image. A personalised label can be seen as a silent representative. It doesn't drink, it doesn't eat, it doesn't speak in the traditional way we think but for sure it is always there, sticky to your product on a supermarket shelf or even on a table of a restaurant in the middle of your friends. This small, sometimes inexpensive thing, if properly designed and produced, can easily give to your product a very high boost in sales. Of course, the kind of label depends on the product you sell, on your brand image and this could not but be reflected in the label price.

In order to know how to invest your money properly on your product, you should certainly know what's on the base of the label price. Let's get through this!

 

Choosing a cheaper paper doesn't mean having a bad final result. For example, if you choose a simple coated paper or a polypropylene substrate you can play with colourful images without leaving any white space on your label. This kind of label can be totally varnished with a glossy or matte varnish creating two completely different feelings. The first one can help enhancing a really dark background, the second one can give a more refined and modern appearance. These are the cheapest solutions you can choose for your personalised label. On the contrary, if you want to give a more luxurious look to your product you can select a cotton paper. The cotton paper is for sure a beautiful solution, however it’s great quality is translated into higher prices.

 

Do you want to increase the quality of the label? Think about adding some ennoblements. You can choose lots of them such as screen varnish, hot foil and embossing. Each one can give to your label a different look. The hot foil for example is one of the best if you want to give a sophisticated look to your personalised label. You can choose a silver hot foil to create a fresh look or a gold one to create a more traditional one. What you need to know is that the more finishings you choose, the more expensive the label will be. The cost of the label is indeed determined by the time used to print the label. The most of this time is for setting up the printing machine and make each section to reach the register between them. The more finishings you add to your label, the longer will be the time for setting up and higher will be the cost of it. We always suggest you avoid finishings or to select as less ennoblements as possible if you want to keep your label cheap.

When you need to print different personalised labels together be sure that all their features are same. First of all, they should have all the same shape and dimensions. Second, if you’d like to add some finishings - try to keep the ennoblement on the same graphic elements. Each different finishing will determine extra tools to make it and extra setting up time. Simpler is always better.

 

Don't forget that also sizes can really matter when you're printing a personalised label. If you're doing a very small circular label you will probably pay much less than doing a label with a bigger size. Ask to your printing partner to suggest you the most cost-effective size. Sometimes changing your label size even for a few mm can save you a lot of money.

Something that all printers in the world will tell you is "Quantity Quantity Quantity". Quantity really matters. When you order personalised labels online, the first thing your partner will do is to start setting up the machine. As explained before, this setting time represents the biggest part of the price. No matter if you print one hundred personalised labels, a thousand labels or just a few - this time is always the same. And the material waste too. So, if you're printing 100 labels you will have a unit cost that will be much more expensive compared to printing a thousand labels with the same characteristics. Always pay attention to the number of labels you order and try to batch order them as much as possible.