Suggestion: check out the Business Forums here. There are quite a few label design topics with many hot sauce company owners and industry experts lending advice. The iterative processes are interesting to see, and you can identify a pretty clear set of "critical requirements" for a label.
My own labels were a work in progress my 1st 6 months in business, and I tripped over quite a few things as well. Even with the help of the sharp folks here who were generous enough to lend their feedback, I still made critical mistakes. I've improved since, culminating in winning #1 Label Art and #1 Overall Marketing at this year's Scovie Awards, so I guess that lends a little credibility to my thoughts (though I still wouldn't claim to be a "marketing expert")
I emphasize all of this because it's much better to address these things now,
before the labels are stuck to 1000s of bottles. I know that feeling very well - it's a really,
really sucky one. It involves hundreds of customers asking you questions that make you go
and feeling far less clever than you once did when you thought you had a really clever idea to change the way to market a product. The short answer is, you don't. There are standard marketing techniques for a reason: they work. And they don't always = "clutter". I went through this personally - I thought "I don't need a detailed product description on the front of my bottle - it's all on the romance panel. I want to keep it clean, and color-coded. People will get it!" - and then I had a color blind reviewer, and hundreds of customers who couldn't tell the difference between my sauces from the front label. And it was 100% my fault because I neglected to tell them.
jmengel said:
One thing I didn't mention on the previous response is that the side panels on the labels have more details on the sauce in addition to the mandated FDA info, UPC, etc. The front is kept spare and uncluttered like a universal laboratory warning sign. The linked photo really over-emphasizes that since they are staggered such that you can't see any of the sides. When the next round of labels gets back from design in a week or so I'll post an example flat so you guys can weigh in.
Oh, I understood this without explanation, caught the imagery/analogy, and I still think it is a mistake. Being innovative or clever at the expense of putting out an intuitive product is a flaw that I've seen in many failed ventures over the years. "The label so clean it becomes an inside thing that only you or people you explain it to understand." Not a highly recommended marketing strategy.
Honestly the flat form label version with side panels is not going to help anyone understand anything better - this comes up again and again on the business forum. "well I told them it was hot sauce on the romance panel" or "I say it's a sadistic tropical sauce with mango on the romance panel so that explains the hula girl with the flaming pierced nipples!" - except the front panel is what's visible on a store shelf. And the impression the front panel makes will determine whether a consumer is compelled to pick up and read the side panel or not.. And without even the most basic description (hot sauce, brand name, primary pepper, or basic flavor profile/style), you will have a very, very hard time even getting these on any store shelves, much less getting consumers to pick them up.
I always assume the consumer won't read my side "romance" panel until after they've already purchased the sauce and brought it home. I've seen evidence to support that. I do 6 farmers markets every week, and have for 3+ years now. I watch consumers pick up the bottles. They read the front. Some turn to the nutrition panel. Very very few bother with the romance panel. Maybe 1% of consumers read the romance panel. And that's at a farmers market where people get more into the things they're purchasing, and mine are the
only products in front of them. In the grocery store with a dozen or more hot sauces in front of them, good luck with that.
jmengel said:
We're flavor-centric sauce lovers and built these sauces for flavor, striving to avoid the vinegar and heat pigeonhole. The peppers come through, but not like a single-species puree or ferment. The backing spices combine with the peppers at each level to give each sauce its own variation on a theme. Maybe a bad marketing move, but we're giving it a shot. Worst case we'll fold up like a tent and the current cadre of addicts who have been getting it for free for years will get a case each instead of the customary handful.
-Jon
Live or die with a bad idea rather than experimenting with some ideas that might better communicate the product to the prospective consumer? Hmm....not a very scientific approach, IMO.
I dunno - like I said, check the business forum for Bottling, Packaging & Marketing - there's an awful lot of folks much smarter than I am contributing there. Probably worth reading up a little and getting a few ideas for label tweaks. As-is I don't see you being very successful with your "clean" label idea. I'm sure folks here will lend their $.02 - some will be helpful, some won't be, but if you can improve even .0001%, isn't that still an improvement?
Again, all of this is intended as constructive - sorry if I come off as overly harsh/blunt. Sugar coating never helps anyone and I'm only on my 2nd cup of coffee.
I wish you the best of luck with your venture.
Ps - I missed that you said you're addressing some of the things I mentioned - I'll look forward to seeing the next revision. Suggest posting on the Bottling/Packaging/Marketing forum & it's a great way to get feedback from a large number of industry experts on your changes.
Believe me - it's much easier to get constructive criticism now than when your labels are stuck to the bottles. That's a classic "horse out of the barn" scenario.
Thanks for all you do, keep it hot.
yea, but true. If someone with a concern doesn't see the ingredients list, they probably won't order. Hopefully you are up to speed on all the allergy alerts that have to be called out. 
