When does one business consider the point of doing sampling? And is sampling really effective? Some people may disagree and some may agree but let me just run through a few points on the advantages of running a sampling. Once again, always review the objective of your campaign to justify if this activity serves your objective
Introducing a new product to the market
If your product is a fairly new concept then this would be a great way of introducing your product to the consumers. Reason being as its a new concept and something many people are unfamiliar with. Most people have the reluctant to change hence doubts creep up to their mind when deciding if they would like to purchase your product. The barrier to change would be even higher as the need to adapt to the new product is higher.
Introducing a new variant or flavour (line extension) to the market
If you already have a group of loyal customers, they may not mind trying the new flavour that you have launched. However, if you are looking to capture a new base of customers with your new line extension, you would need to figure out of the barrier to change is high. If your product is in a category that consumers are pretty brand loyal you may want to opt trying sampling to get the consumers to try or taste the product to boost their confidence of purchasing your product. If you are launching a me-too product, it goes the same because you may want your consumers to try/test your product so they can decide if your product is worth changing
Re-introducing your product to the market
So your product’s not new so is sampling a need? Only if you would like to gain new consumer base or remind your lapse consumers about your product. Lapse consumers are those that previously purchased your product but somehow over time time stopped buying from you due to various reasons. It would be a good to remind them the taste or quality of your product
So what if you are selling something that is not edible? Its basically the same theory except instead of product sampling, we call it product demonstration. Its always good to come up with a simple product demo which is short that accurately speaks of your product USP
Quick to note also, its always best to run your sampling activity together with price-off promotions especially if one of the purchase barrier is the pricing of your product. Price-off would serve as an additional “close-deal” reason to buy your product when the promoter is promoting your product.
