Providing samples to consumers is an obvious way to evaluate your product. Offering product samples to potential consumers is beneficial as it increases their visibility, gives consumers an idea of what the future holds, and allows them to be confident in their purchases. Getting your product straight into the hands of consumers through a sampling event is a surefire way to increase not only brand awareness but sales as well. Brands have historically relied on a sample of in-store items to tell the story of their wares.
Smart marketers are increasingly using product sampling as a way to increase brand awareness, increase sales, and increase customer loyalty. Delivering your product to consumers and inviting them to try it out while actively interacting with them face to face is an effective way to increase sales and change consumer behavior. In return for added value, a product sampling company, like all personal marketing activities, provides unparalleled access to detailed and thoughtful consumer feedback data. Traditional product sampling allows consumers to experience a brand in person, while digital product sampling provides valuable consumer data that can be used in remarketing strategies.
Sampling digital products allow brands to target different specific markets and consumers, filling in the gaps in traditional sampling strategies. With digital technology, brands can focus on attracting consumers whose lifestyles match the product they choose, significantly increasing their potential purchase volume. Product sampling is the best way to reach a large audience, increase sales, engage consumers, and encourage consumers to access products directly. While product sampling is a key element of any balanced business marketing strategy, it remains important to consumers as well.
Sampling remains the most important way to gain consumer attention in a taste-driven marketplace. After all, sampling allows consumers to try a product without any commitment, future or present. The future of sampling depends on the ability of brands to get the product into the right hands of consumers (their target audience) and learn about their experience with the product. So while traditional sampling is unlikely to disappear, e-commerce sampling is likely to become much more important.
As a further breakthrough in the evolution of sampling companies, we are moving digital with brands reaching out to new consumers via social media and emails with online-only e-coupons and specials. Traditional methods of product sampling, such as grocery store activations, events, pop-ups, or direct mail, have historically been the benchmark for CPG brands to place products in the hands of as many consumers as possible. While the more traditional sampling of in-store shoppers and indirect distributors is still in use, creativity has entered it, allowing companies to open new sampling points. Many consumer goods companies now offer free samples on their websites to encourage consumers to regularly use the products [1] and collect data for mailing lists of potentially interested customers.
Brands such as Sam’s Club and Costco are known for using the power of free samples to build brand awareness and arouse interest in their products. Free samples are a great way to break this association and at the same time encourage shoppers to try new products (they will pay the full price). Even if you haven’t turned the sampler into a paying customer, offering free samples is a great way to gather feedback from those who have tried a miniature version of your product. You also give product samples to potential online buyers, even if you cannot reduce the sample size by providing full-size products as samples within a limited time.
By offering free or low-cost trial samples, customers can try a product from the comfort of their home and decide if it is right for them. The purpose of the free sample is to introduce the consumer to a new product and is similar to the concept of a test drive in that the consumer can try the product before purchasing it. If she offers customers free samples of her moisturizer, they can see the positive results of using it before investing in a full-price product. In addition to free marketing, other positive benefits include new and returning customers and valuable feedback that your product hits the target.
So keep sending customers the latest product information, selective strategies, exciting events, and discount data to get them involved. It’s also very important to collect and incorporate customer feedback to gauge the results of your efforts and gauge whether people like your product. In addition, you must train your employees to be clear about your products, especially the ingredients, the unique flavor, the value of your brands, and the benefits consumers will receive after they try the products.
Whatever your product, you need to be clear about why sampling is a necessary part of your marketing or sales plan. Adopting an effective beverage sampling strategy will affect your brand, your products, and your customers in different ways. These 6 modern methods offer distinct benefits in several ways, including target customers, brands, and products.
We hope you will successfully grow your brand with this selective marketing strategy brief. In the past, we’ve highlighted specific sampling campaigns that work, delved deeper into the psychology behind product sampling companies, discussed strategy, and even gave some suggestions on sample types to get customers. In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at what product sampling means in the eCommerce world and how retail marketers are using it to reach more consumers and sell more products.
Many sampling techniques now require consumers to fill out questionnaires to help brands better understand their motivations for initially trying products, so that brands can get rid of obvious gift hunters. For new businesses, samples allow customers to have a sense of understanding and experience of unfamiliar products before buying.
Experiential marketing is an important part of ensuring that customers buy your product for life and encouraging their friends to also buy your product. Experiential marketing is becoming one of the most effective ways for consumers to buy products. One of the questions they asked consumers was what motivated them to participate in experiential marketing activities.
According to the EventTracks 2015 Consumer Survey Report, 80% of consumers said they were more likely to buy the product after trying it out at an event. According to a survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp. on behalf of the U.S. Postal Service, this may explain why 81% of consumers said they would try products after receiving samples.
Jennifer Kendra, director of sales for First Moments, The Parenting Group (TPG), New York-based Time Inc., says companies are more likely to build brand loyalty through sampling, as this may be the first time the consumer thinks about products that support her and her child. According to a survey by The Mom Connection, TPG’s online mom’s group, 52 percent of moms said a free sample could have a huge impact, prompting them to try something new and different. This is understandable if you are a luxury yacht manufacturer, the product selection may not match your product, but there are still dozens of brands, especially in the FMCG industries, that can benefit immensely from product selection if they choose to use them.
