We’ve had some fantastic examples of great sampling campaigns in this market. A particularly successful illustration that springs to mind was an online sampling drive run by Grey Worldwide and Griffins for a mint flavoured toffee pop some years back. Banners were run online and users were encouraged to enter an email and physical address to share some packets of the new flavour with work colleagues. 

The campaign was so successful that another container of product had to be ordered. Over thirty two thousand packets were delivered in total and market share for ToffeePops rose significantly as this case-study can attest. 

Some recent data from Media Post’s – The Centre for Media Research

In the study, consumers were grouped into three categories:

1. “Acquisitions” are those who were new to the sampled product
2. “Conversions” are those who had heard of the product but had never bought it  
3. “Retentions” are those who had previously purchased the product

While 85% of the Retentions and 60% of the Conversions said they would purchase the sampled product in the future, sampled products encouraged 47% of the Acquisitions, those who had never heard of the product before, to purchase the product again.

Carol Edwards, Senior Vice President, Sales, Out-of-Home Media, says “… this study enforced that the sampling approach is both effective in making new customers aware of products, while also establishing a firmer identity with those consumers who have considered the product before.”

Highlights of the study:

1. 28% of those surveyed reported that they have been offered product samples within the past three months
2. 64% of those surveyed claimed they had accepted product samples. 66% of the customers characterized as Acquisitions accepted samples, as well as 63% of the Conversions, and 63% of the Retentions
3. 35% of those surveyed claimed they purchased the sampled product on the same day. 26% of the Acquisitions bought the product right away, as well as 19% of the Conversions, and 31% of the Retentions
4. 24% of those surveyed claimed that a sampled product had specifically replaced an item that they had planned on buying. 20% of the Acquisitions were planning to make the switch, as well as 33% of the Conversions, and 18% of the Retentions.