Are you familiar with sampling food in grocery stores? I’m pretty sure you are! Do you still remember what brand it was? In this blog I’ll show you the 10 most creative product sampling ideas, so you will be remembered among your audience.
Product sampling is the act of handing out your product(s) to consumers in a store, on the street, at festivals or any other event.
These samples can come in the form of a miniature version of the product, trial sizes or single-use portions. This type of marketing strategy is usually done to showcase newly launched products or to increase brand awareness and boost sales.
Its effectiveness is even shown in multiple studies. One study claims they found an average cumulative lift of sales of 74% over 20 weeks for the sampled items. This lift included a 475% increase on the day of the sampling event! To accomplish such results, it’s imperative you use a combination of the best product sampling ideas.
If you want to give a try to product sampling marketing, have a look at some of these creative product sampling ideas used by other brands.
The most common sampling campaign you’ll see, is the classic in-store product sampling strategy. The benefits of this approach are that you can gather immediate customer feedback and influence impulse purchases.
A great example of successful in-store product sampling is Costco. Costco is well-known for its extensive use of in-store sampling, and they’ve successfully boosted sales and customer loyalty through this strategy. Visitors enjoy free snacks and subconsciously link positive experiences with Costco’s brand, resulting in more brand loyalty and higher sales for participating brands.
Online sampling is a strategy where companies offer customers the opportunity to try their products for free or at a reduced price. This type of sampling requires that you already have some leads or interested customers because they will come to you for a sample instead of vice versa.
Warby Parker does this in an innovative way by letting their customers try out frames at home, for free. Customers get five days to try out the frames and send them back. In a world where online shopping is prevalent, this let’s customers try out products from your online store and experience them in person, before making a decision.
A pop-up store is a temporary retail space that’s typically used to introduce new products in a fun way. Research shows that consumers respond favorably to experiences they encounter while shopping in an offline setting, because it stimulates senses and social interactions that you will not experience when shopping online.
Back in 2019, Glossier opened a pop-up store in London, which caused lots of buzz. Over 100.000 Glossier fans visited the store over the course of two and a half months. The store - designed in classic British social club style - showcased Glossier’s best selling products and of course had exciting rooms full of ‘Instagrammable’ photo-ops. The pop-up store was so successful it remained open for an entire year.
Partnering with subscription box services is a strategic way to distribute sampling products, enhance brand awareness, and drive sales. For example, Birchbox’s collaboration with Arrow Cosmetics exposed their products to a large customer base, leading to increased website visits and positive feedback. This partnership proved beneficial for both brands, highlighting the effectiveness of targeted product samples
Including samples in your loyalty program can boost sales and enhance customer relationships. For example, Sephora’s Beauty Insider Program offers good free samples with purchases, allowing customers to try new products without a full commitment. This approach increases order value and encourages future purchases and strengthens brand loyalty.
Want to modernize and automate your sampling campaign? Check out vending machines that can dispense free samples. Equip the machines with QR-codes, touch screens, and integrate social media to engage users and collect data.
The Coca-Cola Happiness Machines were designed to surprise and excite people by dispensing more than a single can of Coca-Cola. The machines gave extra bottles of Coca-Cola, or even flowers! The machine allowed users to create custom beverage mixes from a variety of flavors, making this vending machine both a sampling opportunity, and a personalized experience. This approach enhanced user engagement and fostered brand loyalty.
This sampling idea requires your brand to take on the road and drop off samples at offices or university campuses. KIND Snacks did campus drops across the United States. With a colorful setup and eye-catching booths in high traffic areas on campus like libraries, dining halls, and student unions, they reached thousands of hungry students with their treats.
The free, healthy snacks campaign led to high engagement and buzz among students, increasing brand awareness. Students appreciated trying different KIND bars and the brand's commitment to health, leading to positive word-of-mouth and social media mentions.
Allowing customers to choose their own samples boosts satisfaction and future purchases. Graze, a UK-based company, offers customized snack boxes based on individual preferences and dietary needs. This approach reduces waste and enhances customer happiness. Consider adding a sustainable twist to your sampling campaign for similar success.
Partnering with charities to give out samples can be an effective way to reach new audiences, demonstrate social responsibility, and create positive brand associations. TOMS Shoes does this with their One for One campaign. For every pair of shoes sold, they give away a free pair to people who are in need. Their global program has reached over 70 countries and supports many initiatives such as clean water projects and providing vision care.
Another approach is selecting some lucky people and giving out your products in return for an honest review. People actively look for companies that give away free promotional samples in return for their opinion. The downside of this approach is that it can result in biased reviews, which is something you’d want to avoid as a brand.
Influenster does this with their VoxBoxes. People can sign up and receive perfectly curated boxes of products based on their interests. The brands included in these boxes are both established and emerging brands, and it’s totally for free - except for the agreement you will write a review. No wonder this is a successful business model considering people are always searching how to get companies to send you free things!
The first step you’ll make is to define the objectives of your sampling campaign. Do you want to increase brand awareness, collect customer feedback or boost sales? Make sure you set clear goals and identify your ideal customers based on market research.
Select the product that has a high potential for repeat purchases and decide on the best distribution method. You can choose to add multiple products in the sampling campaign, and you don’t need to use only one distribution method.
It’s paramount you have a detailed plan with timelines, budget, and assigned responsibilities. This ensures full alignment between involved departments, which results in a smoothly executed campaign.
Let’s be honest, creative and attractive packaging will make it much easier to distribute your samples and get participants to engage. Include a compelling call-to-action such as a discount code on future purchases, or any other incentives that will help you reach your objectives.
Launch the marketing campaign across multiple channels to promote your sampling initiative and distribute the samples according to your plan.
Once your sampling campaign has concluded, take enough time to analyze its success. Follow up with recipients for feedback, encourage sharing on social media, and track the KPIs you set at the beginning of the campaign. This helps you to refine any future campaigns.
Depending on the KPIs you set at the beginning of your campaign, you’ll want to look at different metrics. These are some factors to consider evaluating to gauge whether your campaign was successful:
Curious to see what a successful sampling campaign looks like at Attack? Check out some of our favorite brand activations.
Beefeater is among the world's most well-known gin brands. With their rich history that dates back all the way to 1863, we took on the challenge to generate more awareness around the brand and its awards. We were tasked with the mission to drive in-store sales of Beefeater and its premium version - Beefeater 24.
In collaboration with Fever-Tree tonic, we offered samples of Beefeater in stores whilst simultaneously educating consumers about the brand’s history and the interesting blend that gives Beefeater its distinctive flavor. This campaign generated an increase in sales of 19.5%, and an average of more than 4 bottles sold per hour for each activation!
Remember Nesquik’s original and most well-known product - the chocolate flavored powder mix, that can transform your boring glass of milk into chocolatey goodness. Our goal for the Nesquik brand was to reintroduce its milk products to adult consumers who grew up with this product.
Our efforts led to a yearlong campaign that featured hundreds of Nesquik sampling events, strategic guerrilla PR stunts and including interactive games, competitions, and sweepstakes to drive social media engagement. The campaign was a massive success and resulted in an increase of 20% in market share, and expansions to 10 additional markets over 5 years.
Humm Kombucha is a brand of Kombucha that stands out in the market for its commitment to quality, health benefits, and community values. In order to increase national brand awareness, gather data for campaign optimization and increase sales sustainably we developed a custom reporting portal that provided real-time access to all the data.
All activations were optimized to focus on increasing store sales, which among others included retail demos and event solutions throughout the States. With store sales increasing by 19.5%, we’d call this a phenomenal success.
Boxed Water, a sustainable beverage company, needed a national in-store and event sampling campaign due to rapid expansion. Attack! streamlined support with a single-entry request system, developed training, and created a demo program focused on product sustainability. We organized 24 events and distributed over 12,000 Boxed Waters, emphasizing how simple choices can reduce carbon footprints and reinforcing the brand’s environmental commitment.
The main reasons to run a product sampling campaign is to give potential customers firsthand experience with your product, lowering the threshold to buy the product and increase sales. You’ll see positive results implementing some creative product sampling ideas and exceeding your target audience’s expectations.
There are 5 benefits to giving out free samples:
To choose which sample product to use, start with selecting items that will appeal to your target demographic. Preferably you choose an item that is new or improved, as these do very well in free sample campaigns. Lastly, ensure the sampled products represent your brand well - meaning they’re the best your brand has to offer to leave positive impressions.
Always thank your customers for feedback. Then address the complaints or comments quickly and professionally to show you value customer input. Use all the received feedback to identify common issues and make improvements where necessary.
Yes. Ensure your samples are properly labeled with ingredients, allergens, and any other necessary information. Your samples must meet safety and health standards, just like your full-sized products do! Ensure you follow local, state, and federal regulations to avoid liability issues.
You can get sample products if you do a Google search to find companies that are willing to send free product samples. If you’re lucky you can get free full size samples.
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Christian Jurinka serves as the CEO and oversees the business development and strategic vision for the agency. Attack! connects brands with consumers, driving loyalty, purchase and velocity through comprehensive, ROI-focused field marketing services.
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