Listening To The Consumer - sampling - Polling Data

Brian Wansink

A focus group on sampling provides lessons for marketers

Remember this acronym: AIDA. It should be an integral part of all sampling programs. AIDA stands for Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action. Sampling should stimulate all four. In other words, sampling needs to cut through the clutter; provide important information; increase exposure for tastes to change; and make a purchase as easy as possible.

As founder and director of the Food & Brand Lab at the University of Illinois, I've seen the benefits of sampling. I understand how it can accomplish trade and institutional objectives.

But I've also witnessed how misguided some marketers can be in the way they plan and implement their sampling programs. One of the biggest mistakes is that they don't recognize changes in consumer shopping habits. They get wrapped up in "me-marketing." In other words, they don't listen to what consumers want.

We can't look at sampling as -- metaphorically speaking -- "frogs in hot water." But that's what many marketers do. They don't recognize gradual change until it's too late. Once we start saying, "I've been in this industry for 30 years, and ..." or "Like I've said for many years ...," our "frogs in hot water" detectors need to go off.

To understand consumers, we need to talk directly to them. Yes, it's important to analyze data and listen to consultants. But it's also necessary to get input from the consumers themselves.

To do this, the Lab recently conducted two focus groups of eight and 10 people. Members in the group were from the Midwest and between the ages of 23 and 72. Most were females and parents. Based on input from the groups, we developed a list of the Top 10 ways to improve sampling programs. Here they are:

1. Target customers carefully. Ask yourself whether the product matches the consumer segment.

2. Decide whether sampling will really work for your product.

3. Cross-promote samples with in-store point-of-purchase materials.

4. Don't rely too heavily on the Internet as being the future of sampling. Heavy sample users are too busy to surf the Web.

5. Pay attention to packaging. It's more important than the product.

6. Make coupons the right size: no expiration date and good on large sizes and multi-packs.

7. Target word-of-mouth professionals, such as dental assistants for dental products.

8. Try event sampling because it offers multiple benefits.

9. Target kids with kid products.

10. Include coupons.

Each of these can be used to deliver on the AIDA principle. Coupons, for instance, are a great way to stimulate awareness. Even for small amounts, they serve as reminders to purchase a certain product.

At the same time, targeting kids helps to develop interest. If kids like a sample, it becomes a low-cost way of introducing products into a household. Sampling helps to prevent the "cabinet castaway" problem; that is, when parents buy products that kids try once, but never use again.

All successful samples are carefully targeted. That means people who receive a product should be in the market to use it. Similarly, samples should have an aspirational dimension to them, like sampling a razor to a teenager.

AWARENESS

Coupons, even a one-cent discount, can help stimulate repurchase awareness. The effect is even greater when handouts, flyers and ads accompany the coupon.

I did a project a while back for a steak sauce company. We did two in-store-sampling programs. Under one, we sampled just the sauce. For the other, we featured the sauce and also a flyer of ways to use it. The latter program had a much bigger impact on sales because it encouraged multiple purchases.

We also tried a program for an after-shave brand. In some stores, we added flyers (the size of bookmarkers) that featured the Top 10 ways to make dads and boyfriends/husbands feel better about themselves. Like the steak sauce program, stores with the flyer had higher sales.

INTEREST

Sampling heightens interest the most when a category is new; a new brand clearly dominates existing brands; or when consumers are not pleased with their current brands.

If you're trying to get someone to change from Crest to Colgate toothpaste, a sampling campaign probably wont work. That's because the category isn't new, and the brands are pretty similar. So unless a consumer really is unhappy with his/her current brand, a switch won't happen.

There are certain times in people's lives when they're more susceptible to change -- and that's the point to target. This is when we can interrupt consumption and purchase scripts that dominate purchase habits. There are two big points in an adult's life when brands are changed: a move and marriage. Marriage is a pivotal point because it's when people break out of old patterns and rethink purchases. They're open to new things.

DESIRE

Desire is often developed overtime. Because of this, multiple exposures to a product end up being a lot more beneficial than a single sample. This can be done by offering several or larger samples.

If you want to change behavior, one little sample is probably not going to do it. There needs to be some sort of substitution of a behavior -- and that takes place over several occasions. Familiarity breeds desire, so the more time you can get people to use a product, the more likely they'll convert.

Coupons, even for small discounts, can also go a long way toward building desire. In some situations, it doesn't make any difference what size the coupon is. Many coupon users will buy a certain product simply because they have a coupon, regardless of the face value.

ACTION

Coupons stimulate action because they remind people to buy a certain brand. Larger samples are also effective. If a sample lasts long enough, people no longer see it as a sample. Consumers begin to think they bought it and like it.

Likewise, point-of-purchase advertising helps remind people and reinforce the power of the sample. I'm a huge believer in POP marketing.

Now that I've explained what types of sampling tools of effective, let's discuss how each tool should be used. Here's a list of best practices:

BEST PRACTICES FOR COUPONS

Don't have an expiration date. You never know when a person is going to head to their pantry and realize they need to stock up on a certain item.

Make the coupon good for large sizes. Many coupon users have large families.

BEST PRACTICES FOR PACKAGING

Make sure that sample packages are consistent with the product's full-size version. This way, people develop a closer association with the product and may remember it next time they're in the store.

Make samples portable. Though some marketers think samples that consumers can use when they travel aren't effective, my research has proven the opposite. The Lab sampled toothpaste and another toiletry product to about 180 families. Half of the group was asked to use it at home, while the other half was asked to use in on vacation. The latter group developed the best attitude toward the product. Respondents said the product reminded them of how pampered they felt while on vacation. The samples became associated with fun and excitement.

BEST PRACTICES IN-STORE

Target kids in-store because those programs are the most effective. While in-store samples are important, people we talked to said that they didn't have an impact on where they shop.

Employ demonstrators with solid professional credentials. Success in-store often depends on how the sample is distributed. A low-key approach is favored by shoppers over more aggressive tactics.

WARNING!

Our research shows that, yes, trial leads to purchase. For best results, it's critical to target the right audience, appeal to kids, and include a coupon.

As for what NOT to do, members of our focus group didn't like several types of samples. Among them: samples that aren't available in stores; underpackaged food sent through the mail; over-the-counter medications their doctors haven't approved; and vitamins that don't come with information.

Brian Wansink is a professor of marketing, and the director of the Food and Brand Lab at the University of Illinois (www.ConsumerPsychology.com).

Focus on Sampling

Eighteen Midwestern consumers convene to discus product trial and conversion

Do consumers like to receive samples? Do they prefer sampling a product in a store, or getting a trial package in the mail? How do they think sampling can be improved?

To find out the answers to these and other questions the Food & Brand Lab at the University of Illinois conducted two focus groups of typical consumers One panel consisted of eight people. While the other had 10 All of these consumers were from the Midwest and between the ages of 23 and 72 Most were females and parents

Brian Wansink the lab's director and a marketing professor at the university moderated the discussion Here are the responses to his questions

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO GET SAMPLES?

- It's a good way to introduce a product

- There have been times that I've gone out to buy a product that was sampled

- You develop a certain amount of gratitude in getting something for nothing

- I love samples because I used them for travel

- I like getting them because I don't have to pay full price if it's a new product and it's expensive. I Want to try it before I go out and spend $12 on a face cream

- I hate samples that don't work the way the original product does I work in a dental office, and we get lots of toothpaste samples in little foil packages People hate those because they've got to tear off the top and squirt it out A regular tube of toothpaste is a lot easier to use

- Samples let me see if it's something I may want to buy for the kids

- I like to taste products so that I don't waste my time buying something the won't eat

WOULD YOU BE MORE INCLINED TO TRY A NEW BRAND IF YOU GOT A SAMPLE, AS OPPOSED TO SEEING A BIG AD FOR IT?

- Probably, because I don't believe ads.

- Yes, because you may not see an ad I, for instance hardly watch TV any more.

- Yes, because trying it for yourself is different from reading what the company has to say about it.

WHAT CAN MANUFACTURERS DO TO REMIND YOU TO BUY A PRODUCT THEY'VE SAMPLED?

- Put a coupon with it

- A coupon and a sale

DOES A COUPON MAKE MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE TO YOU IN TERMS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOU BUY A PRODUCT THAT WAS SAMPLED?

- I like coupons that say "No Expiration Date," It makes you more likely to buy the product

- If there's no expiration date, you can go out and buy a product when you want to buy it

- $1 coupons help

- I like coupons, especially if the product is expensive like medicine

- I've been persuaded to buy something when, I get a 75-cent or $1 coupon for it

WHAT KIND OF SAMPLE IS THE BEST WAY FOR A NEW BRAND TO BREAK THROUGH THE CLUTTER?

- I like large samples. They make me feel like. I'm getting a bargain. It helps me develop a loyalty to the product

- For me, it's not the size, it's the frequency. If I get several samples, I'd be more inclined to buy a product

- I remember sampling a product in a magazine. If you called an 800 number, you would get another sample only it would be a pack of different varieties of the product. I ended up using several of the products after receiving the sample.

WHEN YOU'RE IN A STORE AND SOMEONE GIVES YOU A SAMPLE, DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE HOW THAT PERSON LOOKS OR ACTS?

- I don't like people who are pushy and say. "Come here and try this"

- I like people who are polite I know it's their job to get you to try something buy I don't like people who say, "Oh, come on Come on." I find that very negative.

- I think they should look clean. If they're cooking they should have an apron on. They should look professional.

WHAT'S THE WORST SAMPLE YOU'VE EVER RECEIVED?

- I hate samples that come in packages that are hard to open, like some of the shampoos. They put them in packages that you can't tear open in the shower because your hands are wet

- I don't like shampoo samples either. They're too slippery

- I throw shampoo samples away I don't even try to open them

WHAT CAN COMPANIES DO TO IMPROVE THEIR SAMPLES?

- Offer samples that provide more than one use

- Provide multiple uses, especially with products like hand cream

- Improve the packaging I hate some of the closures that you have to rip apart

- Put samples in bright not dark, packaging

DO SAMPLES MAKE YOU WANT TO BUY THE PRODUCT RIGHT AWAY?

- Sometimes, but not often

- There are some things I definitely wouldn't buy, like a diet bar or energy bar. They don't go over well at my house

A SAMPLING OF TERMS

Here are some of the latest terms used in the sampling industry:

Assisted Selling - Helping to sell the product on the retail floor [two steps up from sampling or demonstration).

Boxed Media - Trademarked term referring to carton or box carrier for direct mail or alternative distribution of multiple samples, promotions and other offers.

Child Protective Wrap - Somewhat ambiguous term advertisers use to define wrapping samples to prevent a child from accessing the contents.

Consumer Intercept Sampling Distributing samples via person-to-person techniques; that is, event sampling and street corner sampling.

Circulation - Forecasted volume of product samples to be distributed to the public.

Conversion - The number of trial sample users who actually purchase the product.

Direct to Door - Samples delivered via a private delivery force in a local market.

Custom Targeted Sampling - Creating a unique distribution system to target a special user (for example, reaching people with aches and pains by sampling in Ace bandage packages].

DTC - Direct to Consumer.

In-Home Sampling - Samples delivered to homes via newspapers, direct mail, direct-to-door or magazines, among other methods. This category also includes Internet Sampling.

In-Store Sampling - Samples delivered in retail locations.

Internet Sampling - Samples ordered by request over the Internet and fulfilled by mail.

Near-Pack Sampling - Distributing samples on or near a product display.

On-Pack Sampling Placing a product sample on another company's product by using a neck hanger, overwrap or other method.

Out-of-Home Samples delivered at various events and venues.

Point-of-Entry Sampling Targeting consumers in various lifestages (for example, new parents, new movers and newlyweds].

Three-Dimensional - Mailer containing tipped or otherwise enclosed sample addressed and distributed through USPS or alternate delivery method.

Total Awareness - Subset of the total; percent of consumers who stated they were aware of the sample/product.

Trunk Show - Retail promotion in which a brand marketer's representative displays a collection of product samples.

Two-Dimensional - Paper or board stock printed advertisement addressed and distributed typically by USPS.

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