Think Twice Before Polling Your Friends About Your Branding or Packaging Design

Asking friends for feedback on your new branding or packaging feels harmless.
It feels safe.
It feels normal.

You’re excited. You want validation. You want to know you’re on the right track.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth.

Your friends are not your customers.
And asking for their opinions almost always sends your brand in the wrong direction.
Let me explain why.

Your friends don’t live inside your business

Your friends don’t know your target customer.
They don’t know your pricing strategy.
They don’t understand your positioning.
They don’t follow your competitive landscape.
They definitely don’t know the strategy behind the design you paid for.

They mean well, of course.
But they’re responding to your branding as themselves, not as the people you actually need to reach.

Here’s where things really spiral

I’ve seen this so many times.

A founder finally hires a designer. They love the work. They’re excited.
Then they send it to a group chat.

Suddenly ten totally unrelated opinions come flying in:

“I don’t like green.”
“The font feels too serious.”
“My boyfriend says make the logo bigger.”
“Could it be more colourful?”
“My sister thinks the name should sound friendlier.”

And now your brand is being steered by:

• your best friend
• your cousin
• your coworker
• someone’s partner
• a person who once took a design class in university
• and someone who is definitely not your target market

The result:
A brand that’s been edited to please everyone and ends up resonating with no one.

A brand without direction.
A brand that doesn’t look like a business anymore.
A brand that won’t sell.

Here’s the part people never think about

Great branding and packaging aren’t built on “likes.”
They’re built on clarity.

Clarity about who you’re speaking to.
Clarity about what you offer.
Clarity about what matters to your actual customers.

Pretty matters. Of course it does.
But pretty without strategy is just decoration.

Your branding and packaging have work to do.
They need to attract the right people, communicate instantly, and make someone feel confident enough to buy.

Your friends can’t answer those questions.
Your customers can.

This is how brands end up looking like group projects

I’ve had clients come to me with branding that looked like it was designed by six different personalities.
Because it was.

Everyone had an opinion.
No one had context.
And the business owner was trying to make everyone happy.

Your brand is not a democracy.
Your brand is a business tool.

It needs consistency, intention, structure, and guardrails.
It needs someone who knows how to build something that sells, not just something that “everyone likes.”

If you want your brand to work, stop polling your friends

Instead, ask these questions:

• Will my actual customer understand this instantly
• Does this feel aligned with what I sell
• Does this make my business look more valuable
• Does this build trust
• Does this help me stand out
• Does this communicate clearly and quickly

Those answers matter far more than who prefers blue or who “likes circle logos.”

If your brand has been pulled in too many directions, I can help

If your branding or packaging feels inconsistent
If you’ve taken one too many group polls
If your line looks like a committee project
If you want clarity, cohesion, and a system that actually works

Get in touch.
This is what I do all day.