Envision you’ve just stepped foot into your favorite store: be it a bakery, cafe, chocolate shop, or even your everyday grocery store. A friendly store associate at a small table offers you a cup containing a sample of a newly available food item. Giving in to your curiosity, you eagerly accept the chance to try something new from one of your favorite brands. After finishing a few delectable morsels, you feel oddly compelled to purchase more of the product you’ve just consumed, and find yourself reaching for one of the neatly stacked, shimmering boxes sitting just inches from the sample station.
What caused you to react so impulsively? Product sampling is a proven way to grow product sales, thanks in large part due to the psychological concepts that propel its effectiveness. By understanding the psychology behind sampling, businesses in the consumer product goods (CPG) industry can harness its power as a brand-activating marketing tactic.
The Psychological Concepts Behind Why Product Sampling Is So Effective
Research suggests there is a strong link between free product samples and purchase behavior. One popular study involving chocolate samples found that 84% of consumers given a chocolate sample proceeded to make a purchase, while only 59% of those who weren’t given a sample made a purchase. Experiential marketing agencies claim that as high as 65% of consumers who sample a product will purchase that product during the same shopping outing.
In many ways, the efficacy of product sampling is unsurprising; it is, after all, a timeless practice that is documented happening as early as the 14th century (and likely occurring even before then). But while it is straightforward on the surface—a vendor provides a free sample to a potential customer at a point of sale— behind the scenes a system of complex psychological processes are working together to achieve the desired mercantile effect. Here we’ve highlighted four of the most important psychological concepts that make product sampling such an effective experiential marketing method.
Power of Experience
Possibly the most important psychological reason behind the effectiveness of samples is the power of experience. This refers to the idea that once a consumer has tried a product via a free sample, they will be more likely to recall the trial experience in the future when they encounter the product again. If consumers have a positive experience with the product, it can greatly increase the chance of them making a purchase.
Minimizing Risk Aversion
The fear of spending money on something unfamiliar is a common psychological barrier that many people face when making purchasing decisions. This leads to individuals adopting a risk-averse approach to shopping and avoiding new products out of a fear they won’t be satisfied with the product once they get it home. Studies show that around 49% of customers tend to avoid taking risks. Product samples help overcome this by providing a low-risk or no-risk opportunity for consumers to try a new product. By mostly eliminating risk, a brand can increase trial activations for consumers who are skeptical of trying new products.
Principle of Reciprocity
Reciprocity is a social norm that dictates how we respond to a benevolent action bestowed upon us with a reciprocal, or mutually equal, reaction. When a business gives out a free product sample, the principle of reciprocity encourages the consumer to reciprocate by purchasing the product. Other motivating factors influence the effect of this principle, and while it doesn’t guarantee a purchase it does often provide a positive experience that can significantly increase brand recall.
Availability Heuristic
The availability heuristic is a cognitive bias that uses recent experiences or information to form a decision. Things that are top of mind and more recent will be perceived as more important when making a selection between available substitutes. Because of this phenomenon, product sampling can be a boon to product sales, allowing a consumer to experience a product firsthand; the next time they are choosing between brands, it’s much more likely they will go with one they have already tried.
Choose Nautical For Your Next Product Sampling Activation
If you are convinced that product sampling is the right marketing method for you, it’s time to find the right partner. Unlike many other product sampling companies, Nautical doesn’t just stop at marketing production services. In addition to our robust selection of marketing production capabilities, we have all the 3PL services that your business will need along the way. And by working with some of the biggest brands in the world, we have proven experience delivering on these services every time.
