Beyond Sampling to Consumer Engagement

In-store and key-venue sampling (KVS) have traditionally been effective at increasing store-level sales. It brings consumers closer to the purchase by offering free product samples, reducing uncertainty, and increasing the propensity to buy. However, in-store and KVS lack targeting and measurement and provide minimal information about the profile of the person who received the samples and if the recipient would buy or recommend the product.

Digital technology has greatly and swiftly influenced go-to-market strategies and the market dynamics in the last 5 – 10 years. Sampling programs now target audience, reach consumers digitally and measure consumer feedback. Digital product sampling builds on the benefits of traditional sampling by filling the targeting and measurement void. It also expands the scope of sampling from the store to a national level. Also, brands can monitor and measure the performance of their digital sampling programs to get a better idea of the ROI and discover pivoting opportunities. It’s surely a step forward from traditional to digital.

Moving forward, information technology, social media, and smartphones will continue to affect how consumers communicate and engage with brands, and consequently buy and recommend brands. There seems to be a total transformation towards digital advertising and activation leveraging firm-generated content (FGC) and user-generated content (UGC) as key tools in marketers’ repertoire. UGC has a strong relationship with awareness and satisfaction, while FGC has a strong connection with consideration and purchase intent (Colicev, Kumar, and O’Connor, 2019, International Journal of Research in Marketing). Together, the FGC and UGC are proving effective in taking consumers through the marketing funnel – awareness, consideration, purchase intent and satisfaction.

Digital sampling is rightly positioned to leverage consumer data for producing the FGC & brand experience and influencing the UGC to reach and connect with the right consumer and at the right time. It facilitates smart segmentation and combines personalized communication and brand experience (sampling) to build consumer engagement and brand loyalty. Digital Sampling is a strong add-on to most marketing mixes. It’s up to savvy marketers to embrace it and take advantage of it.