Going to your favorite perfume store only to find out they are handing out free, trial, and travel-sized products will just make your day, won’t it? Knowing that you have got your hands on a new or pre-launched product will definitely capture your interest when the actual product comes out, even if you weren’t familiar with the brand first. These are the clear benefits of product sampling, especially if you retail in products and not just services, because with a free sample, not only are you giving your audience a testable proof of your product, but you are also opening up a window for feedback, communication, and building interest among the people receiving the sample.

Thus, we shall now understand how this experiential marketing strategy works, along with the ways to implement it to get a better hold over your consumer base by retargeting, and even reeling in newer ones by offering them these samples as benefits and rewards.

How is Product Sampling a Part of Experiential Marketing?

When it comes to experiential marketing in NYC, the whole city is full of people willing to buy a product for two reasons: first, if it serves a purpose for them, and second, which is more important, if they connect with the product or the brand. Thus, by handing out free samples, not only are you giving them your product to test before they buy, but you also get to share the vision and motivation behind it and the brand as you hand it out or have them test it. 

As we already know, experiential marketing relies solely on having your customer live the vibe your products create before converting your client. Product sampling goes best with it because with it, you are not creating an ad for your product or business, but are giving out the product itself for them to try and see if they want it. Plus, they didn’t have to spend anything on buying the sample, which reels them further because of the rewarding feeling that comes with it.

Strategies to Bring Out the Benefits of Product Sampling

Below, we have shared some common, widely accepted, and well-performing strategies that most businesses use to distribute their free samples to their audience to test out the product, or gain feedback, or even to promote an upcoming or pre-launched product:

1. In-Store Sampling

If you have local stores of your own or have partnered up with stores that are familiar with experiential marketing in NYC, you can ask them to hand out samples to the most inclined customers or the ones that resonate most with your brand and its core values.

2. Event Sampling

This method allows you to leverage the benefits of product sampling at buzzing venues and events that support the value and vibe of your business. If you have beverage samples, a concert or music festival can do justice, similarly for a makeup product, a beauty store launch can be the right event, among more such scenarios.

3. Mail Sampling For Loyal Customers

In the case of returning customers, you can always be assured of their interest in your brand or product line, and they will always be returning to buy more and newer products. Experiential marketing can be made through product sampling, where they can get free samples by means of newsletters, VIP programs, or with the purchase of their new product, to cement an already existing relationship that they have with you.

4. Digital Sampling

Sometimes you can offer free samples to even attract new customers by giving them away in online challenges, or as an add-on deal, or even by allowing them to share their contact details and spin a wheel to claim their reward. This fosters exclusivity and a feeling of being rewarded for filling a form or even for choosing your business for certain products or services.

5. Influencer and PR Packages

With this attempt, your brand or business can choose influencers aligning with their business with an audience that resonates too, to send them new products and samples even before they are launched. What this does is create a premium, exclusive, and insider hype around your new products among an audience that is already very likely to make the purchase.

6. Street Sampling

This approach means distributing samples in a busy and noisy place where your target market already gathers, like in a shopping center, park, marketplace, crowded streets, or shops. In case you have a line or a group of coffee mugs, you can also distribute them to busy offices or stores, since there is a greater likelihood that they will be interested in the product.

7. Partner Sampling

This strategy allows you to gain the benefits of product sampling by partnering up with another brand of business that isn’t a competitor, but whose products go hand-in-hand with yours. For instance, if you own a hair care brand, you can offer your product samples by partnering with a combined packaging with a hair color brand.

What Are The Benefits Of Product Sampling As A Business?

The reason product sampling is so important for any business, that it needs a newer customer base, to test out new product lines, or even to retarget their existing consumer base. The overall benefits of product sampling range from getting feedback, building a relationship of credibility with the consumer, and brand awareness, on top of so much more, as detailed below:

1. Trial and Conversion

No matter what the niche of your products is, trial before purchase is one of the most effective ways to help your audience convert. This is because after using a sample of your product, their doubts about the quality, effect, texture, ingredients, and more just vanish, bringing them to a clear decision of making the purchase or not.

2. Trust and Credibility

Upon launching a new brand, it is not likely for your ideal buyers to come swarming in right when you drop the first product line, but to make it happen, you can start giving out samples of your range to build the audience’s trust in your brand and products. This way, when your audience sees that you are offering something new and for free, they will grab it the first chance they get, and repurchase if they are satisfied.

3. Brand Awareness

Upon putting yourself in a place where people will try your product, you are also taking your brand public to spread awareness about it, whether you are introducing the whole brand, launching a new line, or just trying to expand your reach in offline markets, too.

4. User or Customer Feedback

To see how well your product will perform in the market after launch, you can use a series of product testers, distribute them as a part of experiential marketing in NYC, to see how well your clientele and consumer base react to it. Their feedback and reactions will tell you the success of your product or whether you can make adjustments to it pre-launch.

5. Customer Loyalty

Samples will support your consumers’ trust in your product or business, because with samples, you approach changes from pushing sales to offering solutions and benefits to the audience. This will help them see you as more than just a sales-driven brand, as one that cares about their consumer, asks them for feedback, and even provides free samples just to prove the worth of their product to win trust. 

Product Sampling As A Product-Centric Approach Of Experiential Marketing

The benefits of product sampling are endless after recognizing your target audience and market to understand where they are more likely to be taken away with free samples. Being a direct way for the customer to try out your product and understand the values it is built on, product sampling has proven to be highly effective for brands whose products require more of an experience than advertisement, such as skin care, fragrances, packaged food, and more.