Triggers, sprayers and pumps
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For a spray cleaner, the customer interacts with the trigger rather than with the liquid, and a bad one sinks a good formula.
The dispenser is the product experience
A trigger that is stiff, that drips, or that stops priming is the thing a customer remembers, and they will attribute it to the product rather than to the closure.
It is also the most expensive component in a spray cleaner, frequently more than the bottle.
Trigger sprayers
Ordered against the bottle's neck finish, and the dip tube has to be cut to the bottle's height: too short and the last inch will not dispense, too long and it kinks against the base.
Output per stroke varies, and so does spray pattern. A fine mist suits glass; a coarser stream suits a floor or an oven.
Many have an adjustable nozzle with an off position, which is worth having because it is how a bottle survives being knocked over in a cupboard.
Chemical compatibility applies here too. The seals, the spring and the dip tube meet the formula continuously, and a trigger not rated for your chemistry fails while the bottle is fine.
Pumps and foamers
A lotion pump suits a thicker product, a foamer produces foam from a dilute liquid and is a distinct mechanism that will not work with a thickened formula.
Foamers are specified by the foam quality they produce and by the liquid viscosity they accept. Putting a thick soap in one gives a customer a pump that does nothing.
What goes wrong
Metal springs corroding in an acidic or alkaline product, which shows as rust particles in the liquid.
A dip tube not cut for the bottle.
Failure to prime after standing, which is a seal problem and a common complaint.
And crystallization or drying in the nozzle, which is a formulation issue presenting as a hardware one.
Test the trigger with the actual product for months, not the day it is filled.
