With so many brands extending their product offerings into liquid formats, demand for precise dispensing solutions is increasing.
For some liquid products, controlled dosing is essential. Thus, manufacturers need a dispensing system that protects the user by allowing them to administer the correct dosage easily and accurately.
At Carow Packaging, we manufacture and distribute the most popular controlled dispensing solutions – EuroDrop® caps and dropper pipettes. To choose the right system for your products, it helps to know why and when controlled dispensing is needed, and the benefits of the different solutions available.
When is controlled dosing important?
There are a variety of reasons why manufacturers choose to provide controlled dosing for their liquid products. The two leading ones are to limit health risks and to improve the user experience.
Some of the most popular liquid products our customers produce are essential oils, beauty serums, tinctures, and flavorings. However, liquid dosing for health and wellness products has become more popular due to its convenience. The format also provides better absorption, is easier to swallow, and offers synergism, meaning the liquid formula allows vitamins or other ingredients to work better together.
One of the drawbacks to liquid dosing is accuracy. For example, giving kids medicine can be complicated, and many parents feel the pressure knowing too much or too little could cause side effects.
Health risks aren’t limited to medicine. According to WebMD, getting too much of a particular vitamin can lead to some health consequences. For example, Vitamin D overdose symptoms can contribute to bothersome health issues, although perhaps temporary, including nausea, vomiting, alternating constipation and diarrhea. Probably one the most widely known and one of the most dangerous vitamin overdoses, particularly for children, is an iron overdose. While iron is necessary for red blood cells and the prevention of anemia, an iron overdose can lead to death. Too much iron in the blood is actually the leading cause of fatal poisoning in children younger than 5.
So, for manufacturers and consumers, it is essential to get just the right amount of liquid in each application. To get the right dose, you need the right dispenser. For example, EuroDrop caps are designed to dispense by the drop, while pipettes are a good fit when dosing in milliliters.
For safety and packaging solutions like child resistant and tamper evident closures, check out Dispensing Product Packaging, When Safety Matters.
Another important reason-controlled dispensing of liquids is important is to deliver a positive customer experience – less mess and less waste. The primary focus for the sales of liquid products must always be the end user application. If customers are receiving a smarter type of packaging that controls dispensing, there is less mess and less waste. Less wasted product saves the customer money, not to mention the frustration of untimely spills.
When you are working with essential oils, particularly those that are expensive, dispensing them accurately and efficiently is key. Some oils, such as argan, sandalwood, and vetiver, are more viscous and take a long time to dole out drop-by-drop. On the other hand, oils like peppermint, lemon, and tea tree will pour like a fountain.
It’s important that your liquid products pour or drop as desired, so purchasers become repeat customers.
How do you control dispensing? It all comes down to choosing the right packaging system components to get the flow rate right.
What is flow rate and why is it so important?
The flow rate measures how quickly or slowly a liquid drops from a dispensing system product.
- Too fast: the dispensing will be messy, wasteful or provide too much product causing a potential health risk
- Too slow: your customers will assume it does not work or get frustrated
- Just right: your customers are happy and return for more
A dropper insert is highly effective for controlling the flow of a liquid from a bottle. To get the optimal flow rate, you need to match the orifice size of the dropper insert to the viscosity of your product. At Carow, we offer our EuroDrop caps assembled to dropper inserts in 6 different orifice sizes, ranging from .55-1.2mm, to provide precise, controlled dispensing.
Want to please your customers? Get the flow rate right.
What are your liquid dispensing options?
The two main packaging systems for liquid dispensing are EuroDrop and dropper pipettes.
With dropper pipettes, you can offer your customers measured dosing. Dropper pipettes are ideal when there is a need to dispense a small, controlled amount of liquid or if your liquid is extremely thick. Pipettes are available in glass or plastic and can be printed or marked with measurements for accurate dosing.
You can download our Dropper Pipette Buyers Guide to get a primer on the different components needed to deliver a great customer experience.
But if you need controlled dosing, getting the flow rate right, or protection against product oxidation, then your best option is the EuroDrop system.
When it comes to essential oils, the EuroDrop system is the preferred primary packaging choice because it offers dispensing by drops, better sealing, and aggressive oils won’t corrode the insert as they would a rubber pipette.
EuroDrop Caps and Inserts, provide an all-in-one precise measuring and dropping solution. The design of the EuroDrop Dropper Insert features a specially formulated drop technique. Air enters the bottle when oil is dispensed, which allows a hydro-static action to control the flow of essential oils.
The right size dropper insert can help customers get exactly what they want when using liquid products, which can build confidence in a brand and bring in future sales. To help you achieve that high level of customer experience, we have gone the extra mile by designing and manufacturing EuroDrop caps, all right here in the USA.
An additional bonus comes from the universal 18DIN neck size of the EuroDrop system. The cap can be assembled to multiple dropper insert sizes and works with any capacity 18DIN bottle. The neck finish also provides an easy transition to other dispensers, including pipettes, treatment pumps, sprayers and applicators, making changing volume and product offerings a breeze.
Bottom line, EuroDrop provides manufacturers with a range of bottle, cap, and dropper insert options that best meet the expectations of specific types of liquids and provide a great user experience.
At a quick glance, this chart illustrates when to choose the EuroDrop and Dropper Pipette Systems.
Additional questions? Need packaging quickly? Please send us a message or give our Account Specialists a call at 815.455.4600. We are happy to help and samples are always free at Carow Packaging1
