Product Sampling Throughout the Marketing Funnel

As a marketer you’ll be familiar with the marketing funnel - and how you build your strategy around each stage of your customers journey. Although we know customer journeys and relationships are not linear, the funnel gives us, as marketers, a framework for understanding (and communicating) our goals and strategies.

Ultimately the marketing funnel, when used correctly, is a basis for a roadmap of customer acquisition and retention. We want to increase the lifetime value of our customers, while decreasing what we need to spend to acquire them.

Customers acquired through product sampling have a 37% higher repeat purchase rate compared to those acquired through other means (Deloitte) and product sampling can reduce customer acquisition costs by up to 50% when compared to other marketing channels (DMA).

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As product sampling experts, we have worked on campaigns that support our brand partners at all stages of the funnel, and this guide will work through them to show you how product sampling can add value to all areas of your brand activations.

1. Awareness
2. Interest
3. Consideration
4. Conversion
5. Loyalty
6. Advocacy

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Awareness

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At the top of the funnel is awareness. You can’t sell to people who aren’t aware of your brand, right?

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Your aim at this stage is to attract the attention of a large audience, to gain more visibility for your brand. This could include many different channels and strategies, depending on the type of audience you are targeting. But it’s an essential part of your marketing to get right in order to see successful brand growth.

Product sampling is a great tool for marketers looking to grow awareness of their brand and products.

In fact, a study found brand recall among consumers who received product samples was 85% higher compared to those who did not (Journal of Marketing Research).

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Offering a free sample is a very low commitment way for new customers to ‘take a chance on’ your brand. It requires little-to-no financial commitment from them, and the opportunity to engage with your brand and try your product for free.

A free sample can make your campaigns stand out from the crowd in a world where consumers are shown hundreds of marketing messages a day. And capturing attention is what the awareness stage is all about.

Product sampling is especially effective with new product launches, when you may be targeting new audiences and demographics as your product range grows and adapts to the market.

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Interest

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Once people become aware of a brand, they may develop an interest in exploring it further. At this stage, marketing efforts should be focused on providing more information about products or services and their benefits.

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Sampling campaigns that retarget customers that have engaged with your brand (you’ve already conquered that ‘awareness’ stage!) are a great way to build on that initial engagement. Getting your products into the hands of these customers is the next important step in building your brand-customer relationship. 

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Offering samples on your brand D2C site can be effective in capturing an audience who are aware of your brand, but may not yet be close to making a purchase. Getting them to claim a sample is much better than them leaving the site never to be seen again!

Customers who are already aware of your brand will be even more likely to sign up for a sample. And this is also a great time to start learning more about your new audience. This can be through surveys and preference questions as part of your sample campaigns. This data gathering is key to nurturing your new customer relationship as they move further in their journey, allowing you to start personalising communications and marketing efforts. 

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Clear messaging about the product features and benefits is crucial at this stage, which is a perfect backdrop for your sample offering - so they can see for themselves the merits of your products. 

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Consideration

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In the consideration stage, potential customers actively evaluate and compare different options available to them. Therefore, at this stage, marketing efforts should position your brand as the preferred choice, building trust.

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When a customer is considering your product, possibly directly against your competition and other alternatives in the market, offering a product sample allows you to really show them why your brand is the choice for them. Whether it's a new fragrance or a lipstick, the option to ‘try before you buy’ removes barriers to the customer decision making, and continues to build vital brand trust.

Digital product sampling gives customers the convenience of trying your product without needed to visit a store, in the comfort of their own home. This means you can capture this demand exactly at the time when a customer is researching and thinking about your product, when your brand is already front of mind. An opportunity not to be missed! 

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This also gives you the chance to offer samples to audiences that wouldn’t otherwise be reached with traditional sampling campaigns. Digital campaigns can reach your dream customers, wherever they are. 

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Conversion

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You’ve got your customers all the way to the conversion stage - amazing work!

This is crunch time. At this point, customers make a purchase - or they don't…

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It’s important to ensure a smooth and optimised conversion process, with clear calls to action, user-friendly purchase flows, and incentives. And these incentives are where product sampling can help you in the final bit of persuasion needed for your new engaged audience to become loyal customers. 

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Sample products, especially in cosmetics, are a low-commitment way for customers to work out which shade/variant etc of your product is right for them. As more and more beauty purchases happen online, the ability to test out products first is even more important to consumers. 

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For consumers who’ve received samples earlier in their user journey, effective follow-up communications, via email or other channels, can help ensure that you can now convert those into new product sales. 

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You can also use this opportunity to gain product reviews and feedback, which provides vital ‘social proof’ to other shoppers in the conversion stage, helping them trust enough in your brand to hit ‘add to cart’. 71% of consumers who received a product sample provided feedback or a review, with 63% of them being positive (YouGov).

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Loyalty

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The marketing funnel does not end when your new customer makes that purchase. Your loyal customers are one of your brand's most valuable assets, especially if they become true brand advocates - but we’ll get to that. 

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Loyal customers will return to your brand time and time again, generating valuable revenue throughout their customer lifetime. Product sampling campaigns can be used to engage your customer base with a new product launch - or as an offer to tempt back customers who may have lapsed for some time. (Learn more about reactivation campaigns here).

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Personalisation using customer data is key to building and maintaining loyalty, so tailor your communications carefully to get the most out of these campaigns.

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Advocacy

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The final stage of the marketing funnel is advocacy, in which satisfied customers become brand advocates and promote it to others.

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In beauty - word of mouth marketing is crucial to the success of your products and brand. 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family over any other form of marketing (Neilsen).

Encouraging your biggest fans to spread the word, through referrals, reviews and social media channels will amplify your brand message to many more potential customers. Targeting sample campaigns to brand advocates could have a much bigger reach than you expect.

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Happy customers continue to make purchases, but customers who fall in love with a brand help to increase the reach at all stages of the marketing funnel.

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Product sampling can be a part of every stage of marketing efforts, contributing to customer satisfaction and fostering brand loyalty. Odore can help you include samples in your marketing efforts, monitoring and collecting information that can further drive sales and contribute to your company's success. Contact us to learn more.

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