45 Sell your own samples

45

SELL YOUR OWN SAMPLES

Telling people about your brand can get them interested, but letting them experience it can win them over. The argument against is always going to be money. It’s your fi nancial manager’s job to ask you to justify giving away free products free experiences in terms of the benefi ts they will see in increased sales. The answer to that is to test it, either by product or by location or by another measurable split, allowing one side to test your brand and the other side not to and keeping track of the results.

The idea The perfume companies, who do give samples to customers when they launch a new fragrance, have come up with a good way to sell customers their samples. Both Penhaligon’s and Ormonde Jayne do a small boxed set.

Penhaligon’s set of samples comes in an elegant reusable tin rather like a cigar box. They are priced affordably so their potential customers can spend much less than the price of a single 50 ml bottle, and take their ten scents home with them to try over time and decide which they like before they splash out on their favourite. The boxed sets also make a neat little present so happy customers will buy them and help to do your sampling for you.

In practice • People are accustomed to being given samples for nothing, so in order to sell them and make customers feel good about your brand at the same time, your sample set should be attractive and of good value. • If they are presented well enough, customers will buy your samples as gifts. • You can also put an incentive voucher inside the box to encourage people to come back to visit.