Noticing/Remembering Labels

Do you care if people notice/remember your labels?

Seems to me that anyone using color in Brand Labels would answer this question with an emphatic YES.

But many labels (if not most in the global market) used currently are monochrome; so do these companies care if anyone remembers, recalls or even notices their labels?

Monochrome Shipping Label

Frankly, it seems like companies who use these types of labels don’t care if someone remembers, recalls or even notices these labels.  If they did, these companies would change the artwork to get better memory and recall.

In the monochrome, ~$4 billion worldwide barcode printer market, Zebra is the largest selling thermal manufacturer.  If you use a Zebra or any other thermal printer, do you care if anyone remembers, recalls, or notices your labels/

Companies who use these types of printers probably do print labels that matter; and improved recall or attention would support their business.

Influence Of Color On Memory Performance

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3743993/

In the article, Influence of Color on Memory Performance, Color is believed to be the most important visual experience.  Further, Color helps us in memorizing certain information by increasing our attentional level as well as colors have the potential to attract attention. Therefore, it can be concluded that colors have the tendency to capture better attention level, and thus, better memory.  The bottom line:  Information that we pay more attention to is more likely to be remembered than the information that we ignore and do not pay attention to.

 

Monochrome Barcode Labels

Recently, I wrote about replacing Zebra printer with a C6000A printer.

And about the potential for color-coded labels.

But many markets use thermal labels exclusively; and therefore, must not see the benefits of improved memory, recall and attention.  For example, Zebra list these markets as their primary targets:

Receiving Label

Warehousing: Receiving, Put A-Way/Replenishment, Inventory Management, Packing/Staging, Cross Docking, Shipping, Reverse Logistics.

 

Food Traceability Label

Manufacturing: Traceability, Asset Management, and solutions such as Food Safety and Pharmaceuticals.

Shelf Labels

Retail: Food/Beverage Labeling, Shelf Labeling

Prescription Label

Healthcare: Patient ID Management, Pharmacy.

In all of these areas, color and or images even would improve attention to detail and increase attention. And increased attention would….

• Reduce errors
• Reduce costs
• Increase customer satisfaction

All for little to no incremental cost.  For example, it is estimated that 2% of all shipping costs are from errors. With $1.49 trillion spent on shipping, reducing the billions of dollars of errors would seem easy to do by adding color to labels.  

In warehouses, each picking error costs between $12 and $15 each which adds incremental costs to warehousing errors.  

Further, medication errors cost more than $40 Billion in the United States alone.  Color would reduce these costs. 

Colorized ZPL

Replacing your existing Zebra printers with a color label option along with changes to your label templates or software code (to add color, highlights, images, or other mnemonic devices) will achieve these benefits in valuable and large markets/applications.  And colorizingZebra Print Language (ZPL) is easy to do. 

If your company is using monochrome labels from a Zebra or other thermal transfer or direct thermal printer, I ask you to consider the potential benefits of adding color.  I’m convinced this decision will make you money and increase your customer’s satisfaction with your company and products.

Contact us if we can help you add color to your labels.

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670

info@colorlabelsolutions.com