Why product sampling marketing works? Allowing consumers to test products pre-purchase has been a driving force behind increased sales and better brand awareness.
Product sampling marketing through digital platform opportunities has shown a noticeable increase in sales conversions, and it was found in a study by Edison Media Research that 35% of customers who try a sample first will buy the product on the same shopping trip.
According to the Journal of Product Innovation Management, sampling has both an immediate effect and a sustained impact on sales.
Some recent examples
Sephora: With every merchandise order online at Sephora dot com, customers have the opportunity to select two free samples that will be delivered to their doorstep along with their order.
“It’s not enough to just sample, you want to make sure it is smart as a marketing tactic.”
Abigail Jacobs, Vice President of marketing at Sephora
The big-name beauty store has seen a strong boost in sales since implementing the sampling campaign.
Glade: Another interesting example is the story of Glade. Partnering with Walmart, Glade filled the packaging pillows in the delivery boxes with their new air freshener so that customers unpacking their Walmart groceries could get a sense of the fragrance.
Last year, the Scent By Glade campaign brought about a whopping 83% boost in sales of Glade’s fragrances during the first week.
Product sampling marketing practices: advantages and obstacles
Here you can find the obstacles and advantages for different product sampling marketing practices.
A) Direct methods
- Sample hand-outs in store
- Experimental events
- Street corner sample promotions
Advantages: Direct methods can help stores and businesses reach new customers, make their products more visible and engage their consumers through a personalized experience of the product.
Obstacles: There is often a lot of product waste and very little targeting since samples are handed out to those who may have no real interest in this type of product.
B) Mail Delivered Sampling
advantages: This is an effective solution that can help brands ship samples both locally and internationally to reach a wider range of consumers.
Obstacles: Mail Delivered sampling options provide very little or, sometimes, no feedback to the brands.
C) Online influencers sampling
Advantages: This is an effective solution as influencers help build unique relationships between their followers and your brand. This method can also help your business reach a larger audience while achieving better brand awareness.
Obstacles: Using brand influencers makes measuring ROI remarkably difficult. This product sampling marketing method also falls short in the way that little insight or feedback is received from consumers as there is no direct interaction between the business and the user post-testing.
Business innovations: digital sampling solutions
A digital product sampling company like Peekage is a great example of an efficient product sampling marketing solution. Peekage has taken on an innovative approach by introducing a platform that uses AI to match targeted samplers with products.
This allows samplers to pick from a variety of matched samples and order them to be shipped for easy, at-home delivery. By implementing this ‘pull’ approach, it stops brands from pushing products that some consumers may actually show no interest in.
The Peekage App also introduces an interesting and inventive system where users are rewarded for sharing their voices with brands.
Peekage uses sentiment analysis to generate an actionable insight report for brands which gives them a better understanding of how consumers feel about their products based on the feedback that’s been shared.
Digital Product Sampling 