Smart marketers are increasingly turning to product sampling as a way to increase brand awareness, increase sales, and build customer loyalty. That's because it does what no other marketing effort can: it puts a physical thing in the hands of the consumer. In this article, Giaiphapdonggoi.net will give an insight into what is Sampling? What it means to deliver samples in the world of e-commerce and how smart retailers in the retail industry are using it to reach more consumers - and sell more products.
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1. What is Sampling?
Sampling can be understood as giving out sample products when companies promote their products by letting consumers try before they buy. With product sampling, you offer free samples of new products to your target audience to drive traffic and awareness.
What is Sampling?
2. Sampling Forms
There are two types of product sampling methods:
An indirect prototyping strategy is one where there is no physical interaction between you and the customer. That is, providing free samples of a product to consumers when they purchase another product.
The direct prototyping strategy is the opposite. You create a connection with your consumer and keep that relationship. That is, provide free samples by sending them to their home.
3. The Psychology of Sampling
There are three important psychological constructs that can explain why demos are such an effective marketing strategy for your business:
Psychology of Sampling
The first is the concept of risk aversion.
Remember that we often make irrational decisions because if our brain tried to drill down into every decision we make, it would use up a lot of energy. To save energy, we make decisions on a whim.
Most of the time, we choose familiar products over unfamiliar products that can be more sustainable, eco-friendly and better for our lifestyle.
That makes sense because why would you spend money on something you can't be sure of? Thus, sampling the product minimizes the risk to the consumer as they do not have to pay anything while being able to try the product.
The second concept of psychology is reciprocity.
Recent social psychology studies have shown that waiters who give free candy to customers receive more tips than waiters who give nothing at all.
Note that these customer service agents don't actively ask for anything in return and are still rewarded for it.
This is a way of reciprocity that can also be applied to sample distribution. Free products that you let consumers try out may even get them to buy your product in the future.
Finally, once you've made a good impression on consumers subconsciously, they will have a relatively good feeling about you and your product.
4. What are the Sampling methods?
There are different ways to target consumers and hand out your samples to them. However, all these different ways can be classified into two main Sampling methods.
What are Sampling methods?
4.1. Distributing traditional product sampling
You often find this marketing method at stores like Costco or makeup stores. Stores offer samples of products they already have in stock in the hope that consumers walk out with more items than they originally intended to buy.
Traditional product marketing has been shown to boost sales, especially if the sampling counter is well placed in the store, but it also has its downsides.
Advantages and disadvantages:
With traditional product marketing, you can hand out your sample product to a large number of consumers without doing any research first; However, this makes your marketing campaign ineffective as many of the people you sample may not be interested in it.
While you get the benefits of face-to-face interaction with this approach, as soon as customers walk out of your store, you'll no longer hold them back.
With Traditional Sampling, your insights are limited to what you see at the moment and depend on the accuracy of the person recording them.
Therefore, this is not a suitable method for products that take a
days or a week to try and review, like a shampoo or skin care product.
4.2. Distributing digital product sampling
The digital age has created favorable conditions for both businesses and consumers to connect with each other. Digital Sampling is a natural evolution of the traditional Sampling method in the modern world.
Advantages and disadvantages:
With Digital Sampling, you have to research your target market first and therefore cannot offer your sample without a specific plan.
With this technique, you are targeting specific audiences, not a large number of random passersby.
Digital Sampling campaigns take longer to set up, but they deliver higher consumer satisfaction scores and drive sales.
Digital Sampling provides a genuine and lasting connection between you and your consumers.
Despite the fact that traditional Sampling provides face-to-face interactions, Digital Sampling provides your users with some form of anonymity that allows them to be honest.
Furthermore, you can always follow up with your potential consumers through this method, but with the traditional Sampling method, you will lose contact with them.
Digital sampling is precise.
The results of your campaign don't depend on your staff's note-taking skills. There is an associated data collection method that helps you track your results and analyze them in different ways.
In some cases, Digital Sampling can be more expensive than the traditional Sampling method.
This higher cost is often offset by creating a loyal consumer base and ultimately a much higher rate of return on investment (ROI).
5. What does an effective product sample look like?
Now let's talk about the details of an effective product sampling campaign:
What does an effective product sample look like?
Know your goals and objectives clearly.
Determine what you want to get from this campaign. Ask yourself the following questions:
What do you hope to achieve by Sampling?
Why do you want to submit these specific samples?
Do you want to do pre-launch news?
Know/Choose your target audience
Make sure that the individuals you are targeting are the ideal audience.
If you know the group of people you want to target, get to know them on a deeper level, and if you want to find the right target market for your product, research your competitor's market and consumer base. painting.
Now your Sampling campaign is right
Start promoting the product a few weeks or even months before it hits the market.
This will help generate reviews and give consumers a chance to familiarize themselves with your product. Also, choose the right time to launch your product.
Example: Try launching a product offering to your school a few weeks before the new semester begins.
Follow up for post-purchase updates after customers receive their samples
You can send email after purchase; submit the questionnaire. However, there are apps and companies that can manage the entire product sampling process for you and even handle post-purchase updates, which is a challenging and confusing task.
Rate and repeat
Sampling isn't just about first impressions. It's about making a lasting impression.
Listen carefully and read the comments. Answer as much as you can and address consumer concerns to the best of your ability.
Sampling is a process, which means there is no end to it. You can always tweak and repeat this process to maintain your product's market fit.
6. How to plan and manage a successful Sampling campaign?
Let's break this down into two parts: Planning and Management.
How to plan and manage a successful Sampling campaign?
6.1. Sampling campaign planning
If you are planning a Sampling campaign and want it to be successful, you must answer the following questions honestly:
Why do you want to launch this campaign? (And please don't say because a competitor did it!)
What product do you want to distribute and in what quantity? (You have to plan the campaign around your new product, not the other way around.)
Who would you like to send your sample to? (Be specific. Answers like "women", "youth" or "pet owner" are too vague and broad.)
How would you like to deliver your samples? (Online, in person, in-store, etc.)
What will your method of interaction with your potential buyers be? (Email, Phone, questionnaire,... Again, be very specific.)
When do you want to launch your new product? (If you think you can do it anytime, think again)
How much time do you have? (If you don't have a deadline, then you need a deadline)
Potential consumers
