January 9, 2024
2 mins
It’s never been an easy time to get attention. Especially in a market that essentially defines the ‘art of brand’. But one key area where beauty brands may be missing a trick is crossing the digital border and translating incredible online experiences into exceptional, experiential ones for customers.
The way to do it is sampling.
In the beauty industry personal experience is paramount, sampling is promising your customers tangible quality and effectiveness, and helps them navigate towards their new favorite products.
Imagine walking into a bustling store, bombarded with a cacophony of products and buzzing energy. What makes you pause? What makes you try?
It's a delicate balance to get customers to commit their cash to something new. However, a sample offers the allure of experiencing something new without commitment. That’s why they shine as a secondary channel, rather than a directly competing one. It’s risk free, explorative and fun. Kind of like a great first date without any awkward pauses or dull chat.
And in beauty, sampling is essential. The texture of a cream, the scent of a perfume, the shade of a foundation – these are intimate experiences that cannot be fully understood without getting a bit tactile. Sampling allows consumers to touch, feel, and see their new favourite products within the context of their unique bodies.
In the digital age, its evolved beyond brick and mortar stores. You can order samples delivered right to your front door. Which means brands can reach a global audience but also the barrier of resistance is lower. Because instead of trying in-store, they will get to experience it in the comfort of their home, at a moment of their choosing.
Recent studies found that sampling was really effective and essential particularly for beauty brands. An impressive 92% found them useful to their shopping experience, but even more telling is the 75% who found digital sampling indispensable to their shopping.
That’s 75% of your customers who are clamouring to try new products. It’s a huge segment you can’t afford to skip over.
And then if you add in that 80% found digital sampling to be their preferred method of finding new products (60% for in-store), you can see the huge opportunity ready for your brand.
To put it into context, it was nearly double that of reviews (46%) and advertising (40%).
Effective sampling is a fantastic way to get brand exposure, but also to allow your products to cross the digital divide and start building delightful experiences for your next generation of brand loyalists.
If you don’t, you’ll leave 75% of shoppers who found digital samples indispensable, plucked up by other brands that manage to get their product there first.
It’s a proven strategy, how are you going to implement it?
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