An eye-catching jar label can help you secure the sale. Product presentation does more than just identify what you have for sale. It establishes your brand identity, communicates product information, and attracts customers. If you’re displaying your merchandise at a farmers market, storefront, craft fair, or convention, then you need packaging that draws people to your table instead of your competitors. Regardless of the quality ingredients inside your jar, the visual appearance is often what convinces people to take your items home. Use our guide to create effective and appealing custom jar labels or canning labels.
What Do People Sell in Jars?
As a versatile, eco-friendly container, glass jars can contain a wide variety of items. Food products such as jam, honey, salsa, BBQ sauce, jelly, and fudge can be sold in jars with airtight seals. Beverage-making sets, like a hot chocolate kit and a cocktail kit, can come in jars. Other than food, jars can artfully display homemade beauty and bath products, including bath salts, body scrubs, facial creams, and lotions.
How to Make Your Own Labels for Jars
First, measure your jar to figure out what label size will work best with your vessel. Popular label shapes include rectangle, square, circle, and arched. For a more elegant appearance, rounded rectangle and rounded square roll labels have smooth, curved corners. Your jar shape will also determine what sticker shape to use. A short jar won’t have the space for a tall rectangle. A square label will perfectly fit one edge of a hex jar. For the standard round jar, you can’t go wrong with oval and circle labels.
Include Your Business Branding
Branded labels help make small businesses stand out from the crowd. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling; you should have a cohesive visual style across all your products. All your jar labels should include your company logo and name. Keep the fonts and colors you use across your products, marketing materials, and online advertising consistent. Additionally, the colors you use should match any related themes. A Christmas tree scented candle label, for example, shouldn’t feature Halloween colors. A lavender-scented body scrub will likely include that same color on the custom label sticker. Jam labels might include images of the fruit that the preserve is made of. Make sure your logo and other images unique to your company stand out. You want people to recognize your brand just from the label stickers the next time they’re out shopping.
Describe Your Product
When selling products, following the labeling requirements is crucial. A variety of products, like food and beauty items, have to list the ingredients. Plus, people trust companies that are upfront about their ingredients. Before selling any consumable items, make sure your labeling adheres to local rules. California, for example, requires any food made and sold from a home kitchen to have “Made in a Home Kitchen” in 12-point type on the main label.
To fit all the important information, many business owners will print two types of product labels. The front of the jar will have the basic details, like your business name, what type of product it is, and any scent or flavor distinctions. A second label on the back of the jar provides more information about ingredients and nutrition. Make sure the text is in a clear, legible font. Customers won’t be able to read a black script font printed on a navy blue background. Instead, use a simple font printed with contrasting colors.
Pick Your Label Material
One of the more confusing aspects of labeling is the different sticker materials. BOPP and Estate Paper aren’t words commonly used outside of labeling. Understanding the different label materials is important, as you want to find the one that best matches your brand and products. BOPP, or Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene, is the most commonly used jar label material. It is water resistant and features a permanent adhesive, so it’ll stick to your jars. A silver foil BOPP label or white BOPP label provides an attractive backdrop for your label design. A clear BOPP label provides a transparent backdrop, so the see-through sticker lets whatever is in your jar stand out. A white vinyl label also has a glossy finish, but it is slightly more durable and is a great option for wet products, like sauces. For a luxe label, the white textured label – Estate #8 or the white laid textured label provides a high-end feel with a matte finish.
Set Up Shop
With your labels ready to go, it’s time to start selling. Many small businesses start locally. Farmers markets, conventions, craft fairs, and any other local event are great places to get started. To really get your product out there, you can try approaching other local businesses with storefronts to get your items inside. Otherwise, you can sell your goods online. Many people use Etsy and TikTok Shop to reach a wider audience.
Free Jar Label Templates
You’re focused on making the best products out there, and you might not consider yourself a professional graphic designer. If that’s the case, GotPrint has customizable templates to get you started. Choose a sticker shape and size, and then choose whichever ticket best matches your style. Our high-quality label maker produces bright colors, crisp lines, and easy-to-apply labels.
Bold text against a honeycomb pattern will grab customers’ eyes. Customize the text to be red, blue, yellow, or brown.
A cartoon chili pepper pairs with a fire pattern along the bottom of this template. A red, blue, or tan background can match the spice level of your homemade hot sauce.
A colorful oval border surrounds two cute tomatoes and your customizable text. The border can be green, blue, or orange.
This simple jar label features a cute bee design and honeycomb pattern. Choose an orange, green, blue, or yellow background color.
Customize a salsa label with this flaming template. The fire underneath the custom text area pairs with the large cartoon pepper.
Sell jarred candles decorated with this simple, black and white candle label. The illustrated leaves make the template look sophisticated.
Use this colorful candle label to get eyes on your products. The pink, green, and blue abstract design surrounds the space to upload your logo.
Mustard seeds in white spoons line the bottom of this mustard jar label. A woven mat brings texture to the image in the background.
A section on the template states that your barbecue sauce is organic and homemade. A photo of meat underneath your product title and business name stands out against the black background.