Building sampling into a successful brand strategy
If someone tells you they don’t love free stuff, they’re probably lying. Sending free product samples to your target audience is an easy way to win over new customers, build brand loyalty, launch new products, and breathe life into old ones. Whether you’re shipping free samples or offering cashback for a trickier to ship product, sampling is your golden ticket.
While your user-generated content (UGC) needs to be new and fresh, the products in your sampling program don’t. Over a third (34%) of shoppers are open to sampling both new and hero products.
For new product launches, sampling lets you stock your product pages, social media profiles, and digital campaigns with UGC the very first day the product goes to market. Every 10 reviews nets a 5% conversion rate lift. Giving you social proof before your product is out in the wild and boosting sales.
And for hero products, sampling can bring in some fresh new perspectives. You can reinvigorate the love shoppers have for your tried and true staples. Over 60% of shoppers strongly agree/agree that recent reviews (written in the past 3 months) are more reliable than older reviews. Sampling also gives you the opportunity to help loyalists think about your products in a different light, while keeping your pages fresh.