Why sample?

Ideally, advertising, distribution, packaging and pricing should be more than ample strategic methods of motivating consumers to try a product.

More than occasionally, however, due to consumers perceiving similarity between products marketed by national and international companies, these methods are not powerful enough to break the straight re-buy behavioural pattern of consumers and, hence, trial does not occur through purchase.

In other words - we can't get people to try the product so they will start regularly BUYING the product.

In low involvement products (which FMCG usually are), it is recognised that once a brand is tried, there will be quite a kinetic effect upon cognitive structure.

The consumer has an opportunity to re-evaluate her perception of a product and the experience of trial leads to a positive attitude toward that product and towards purchasing that product.

From the understanding that satisfaction is adequate reason to 'routinize' behaviour, successful trial is therefore critical and the most vital and major stimulation of brand loyalty.

This grasp of consumers behaviour in regard to low-involvement products helps us to understand why the offering of samples is an old and proven method of sales promotion.

By encouraging trial and use, brand loyalty is created amongst new members of the target audience.

How to sample? The success of a sampling program depends upon the following main points:

The product should perform and be competitive. Like any other marketing strategy, sampling will not succeed if the product cannot be accepted as satisfactory in the eyes of the consumer.

The program must be supported by distribution. A product cannot be purchased if it is not offered for sale in channels of distribution where the consumer performs the purchasing ritual (e.g. the weekly shopping trip to the supermarket). The word "trial" means more than a simple experience of product performance. Consumers must have adequate trial to enable sufficient experience which, in turn, allows the cognitive restructuring of perceptions towards the product.

"Trial" extends to the PLACE where the product sample is experienced - as much as the product which is experienced.

A sachet of shampoo, for instance, offers little opportunity of adequate evaluation if compared to the smallest retail cell. Also, the consumer must be able to recognise the product in an impulse purchase situation as many low involvement purchases are made on impulse.

Thus "trial" is just as important with packaging as it is with the product.

Practically, and economically, the successful program should offer a short pay-back period - in terms of increased distribution - and should minimise loss of sales.

Subconscious attribution of value and an attitude of favourable reaction towards the offer that can be projected to the goods in the sampling offer.

If the consumer can project positive experience onto the product involved, greater and more durable brand loyalty can be established.

The most accepted theories of interpersonal communications emphasise and recognise the power of "group opinion leaders" to stimulate information accepted by peer group members. Through product sampling, the marketer creates the perfect "breeding ground" for word-of-mouth advertising to further promote acceptance of this product.

In fact, a recent study was conducted where in-home product sampling increased sales of a product by 60 percent during a sampling program, but 12 weeks after the program was terminated, sales rose by 233 per cent.

Regardless of where a product lies in its life cycle, product sampling should be part of a promotional mix whenever the product offers any performing facet that may be appreciated by the consumer or perceived as different from the product that is currently being purchased.

Product sampling allows competition without price, and often wins the generic user back to a branded product or converts the price-hunting consumer (without loyalty) to becoming quality conscious and brand loyal. Product sampling is a method that is simply used to stimulate the product trial process. This wins sales from competitors and strengthens a brand's position in the market place by enlarging the user base, thus increasing a product's market share.

Since the beginnings of commerce and trade, product sampling has been a guild-edged method of creating awareness while winning a brand loyal user base.

Simply, product sampling is a tool that accelerates the product adoption process. It is a strategy that was employed long before the introduction of mass advertising and communication techniques. For instance, product sampling is responsible for the initial success of many long established and well known brands. It is reported that the most effective strategy in the launch of Vaseline Petroleum Jelly in the USA many years ago was, in fact, product sampling. Vicks Vapour Rub also used product sampling as a major part of its promotional mix. The common denominator of product sampling can be found in promotional mixes of many other long established consumer products.

Perhaps the experience of ever shortening product life cycles in modern day consumer marketing has been caused by the trend to rely on mass media as the major promotional tool.

Would product sampling have reversed that trend? Maybe!

Perhaps the proven tool of product sampling could be used in these times to reverse that process.

A controlled test using Kansas City and Memphis in the USA showed a 6 per cent market share for a packaged meat in the non-sampled market yet the same product took a 28 per cent market share in the area where the product was offered for sample.

Another American test/in a beverage category, showed a 47 per cent usage rate in the sampled market but only an 8.7 per cent usage rate in the control market. Closer to home, Aim toothpaste ravaged the Dental Care category when it was sampled through a mass letter box distribution.

Consumers' perception of sampling?

Consumers see product sampling as an opportunity to try a product with no risk. Trial is necessary before a product is accepted as suitable for long term use.

The long term effect is stronger brand loyalty and accelerated conversion to full revenue purchasing in the market place.

Experience shows that Selective Sampling, properly used, can be one of the most measurably efficient and productive marketing expenditures any company can undertake.

Research and experience shows that an average of only four out of ten people have an active interest in any given product at any given time. By selectively eliminating those disinterested people, money is not lost because product is wasted.

Determining those four "right" homes is the essence of Selective Sampling. Selective Sampling enables marketers to identify their prime prospect and place their products only in the "right" homes. Over ten years of study, through quantitative analysis and market research conversion studies, Selective Sampling is proven to be undoubtedly one of the most powerful consumer conversion tools in marketing today.

Selective Sampling is the sophisticated method of product sampling because it overcomes the traditional problems of random product sampling. Samples are only placed into homes where the product will be used and demanded by that household, yet are not placed into homes already loyal to the brand, thus no subsidising of the franchise and consequent loss of sales occur.

What type of sampling is best?

Three controlled studies on product sampling showed in-home sampling as one of the most viable and beneficial methods of sampling. In Australia, two basic forms of in-home sampling exist.

The first offers mass sampling through "letter box stuffing". This crude method gives a "cheap" image and, although per unit distribution costs are low, the cost of product wastage often makes this form method quite unattractive.

The second method of in-home sampling offers selectivity in distribution. In this case only the prime target segment can be determined and only that particular proportion of the population is sampled without lost sales from sampling to current users.

This method of product sampling is ideal except for the fact that it needs three years or more to cover a large area and the payback is lost through marketing effect by the competition.

The final, and most recent, method of product sampling is Mass Selective Sampling. This offers the benefits of selectivity, while ensuring a massive payback by covering large metropolitan areas (like Sydney) in just a few weeks. Through Mass Selective Sampling, a marketer can convert 15 per cent or more of users of competitive brands to become brand loyal to the sampled brand and all within a few weeks. In summary, Sampling is an often overlooked and underestimated marketing strategy. Whenever used this strategy has been successful and selectivity puts this no-lose marketing tool in the reach of every marketer.

So, how can we help you?

Launch Engineering consultants can contribute to leadership decision making regarding product sampling, all the way down though managerial stages inclusive of budgeting and planning, sales forecasting , into channel management and operational supervision. The benefits are experience, knowing what to watch out for, making the 'right' calls and ensuring potholes and even the occasional land mine are avoided.

Our consultants are so highly respected in product sampling that two of our team were invited to the USA in the past, to present methods and concepts to the likes of P&G, Lever Bros: and Colgate in the USA.

So don't procrastinate... the earlier you call us the sooner we can show you the best methods. Contact us now.