In his latest column for MAD//Insight former Director of Growth at Natures Menu, Adam Wright, who is now at Sampl explains that giving free stuff away works. It works so well that 58% of consumers are more likely to purchase after receiving a free sample.  But yet, he argues, it still feels risky for a brand.

I’ve spent over 20 hours interviewing brand leaders in fast-growth companies over the last 2 months. They all use high-volume sampling to drive their growth. But, most of them had CEOs and CFOs that needed convincing. They don’t like giving away anything for free (apart from their opinions on marketing).

There seems to be a collective poor opinion of sampling en masse. Visions of teenagers handing out swathes of products in the street, at festivals, and in gyms give “spray and pray” tactics a bad reputation.

However, not all sampling is created equal.

Sampling can be more than just a freebie. When done properly, it’s a chance to gather actionable data that tells you who your best (new) customers are and what makes them tick.

I would argue that if you’re a beauty or FMCG brand and not using sampling to learn about your audience, you’re missing out.

I’ve seen first-hand from these high-growth brands how it accelerates their success.

Back to its roots

Sampling has been around for thousands of years. “Try before you buy” started with early market traders, and has since evolved into the many options we have today.

Underlying it, there’s a powerful psychological principle of reciprocity. This is the tendency for people to feel obligated to return a favour when someone does something for them, as described by Robert Cialdini in his seminal book Influence.

It was Cialdini’s first “Principle of Persuasion” for a reason. Reciprocity works magic when used properly. 

It helps make product sampling one of the most effective marketing levers. 

However, we know things are never simple. There is an interesting data story behind it. Sampling effectiveness has a strong correlation with the method that’s used.

Put simply, one-to-one works far better than one-to-many.

The power of being personal

When someone can look you in the eye and give you a sample. When they can explain and sell that sample to you. You are far more likely to buy.

Studies in Costco (the kings of sampling) have shown it to increase product sales by up to 600% by demonstrating and trialling the product in-store.

Being personal massively raises your chances of success. But this is tricky to scale for most brands.

However, as sampling has become digitised, we can now replicate this cost-effectively, and at scale. Personalisation and education can be automated and delivered directly to a person's home (and inbox). This is where it becomes really interesting for marketers.

I joined Sampl a few months ago, having seen the power of digital sampling first-hand at NIVEA. We were able to finally move beyond surface-level metrics like “how many samples were distributed”, and instead track real-time actions and measure customers through their whole journey. It was a game-changer. We managed to significantly grow one of our core product lines for the first time in years, using digital sampling.

For many high-growth brands I’ve talked to, this is the holy grail. You can drive brand awareness, you get first-party data, and you can measure the impact every step of the way.

It makes their CEO’s very happy.

A word of caution

Before you run off into battle, I have one word of caution. You need to make sure that you have a plan for freebie hunters.

It’s a big movement, and it’s only getting bigger.

r/Freebies has 900K members on Reddit. The Freebie Guy has 3M on Instagram alone. A quick Google tells me there are over 30 different websites solely dedicated to it! 

Thankfully you can stop them, you just need to plan for it. Make sure that you have a validation partner helping you qualify them, ane sure that you use unique links.

They are a determined bunch.

It’s why we spend a large chunk of our engineering budgets on technology to validate and match customers correctly. To stop brands from wasting budgets.

Conclusion

Sampling can be a superpower. High-growth marketing teams love it for a reason.

Just remember, 3 key things set you up for success;

  1. Did the sample get to the right person
  2. Did they use it (and what did they think)?
  3. Are they going to buy it

If you can understand these three things, you have an insanely powerful tool for growth.

Trust me. When budgets are tight and growth is mandatory, this is what your boss wants to hear.

Adam is the Growth Marketing Director for Sampl, partnering with leading brands to deliver highly targeted, trackable product sampling campaigns. Reach out to him if you have any questions.