Sampling the Samplers
April 16, 2008
“Please help yourself” … Why don’t the sample tables at your local mega-food-warehouse just put out signs that say this instead of manning it with a little lady in a hair-net? Because they’re not crazy about just giving away free stuff for the heck of it … thats why.
If we could sample the wares without having to consider buying anything, Costco would be full of messy-faced soccer moms running willy-nilly from the organic rice pilaf table to the juju-berry juice stand with no regard for lines or or how many samples they take “I am taking one for my husband, he’s over in the power tools section…” yeah right.
The wisdom behind their method of manning the table with a warm body isn’t for crowd control completely. They are representatives of the vendor’s census bureau; their job is to walk you through your experience of sampling the product. To make sure you get as much of the ’story’ as possible to help convince you that committing to a purchase might be worth it.
Similarly, many businesses have demo’s or samples of product/content available in a similar fashion; on their website, or on a counter in their office, completely free and un-monitored … the soccer moms start circling.
This kind of un-controlled free sampling can be a veritable leak in your company’s potential profit machine. Demos or samples that are distributed without any mechanism in place for tracking or continued communication with those sampling the product aren’t a loss-leader … they’re just a loss.
Consider the products or services your company gives away freely; this could be tangible goods or even the time you give away in free consulting. Ask yourself these questions to determine if you are maximizing the return on your efforts:
- Are we tracking the distribution?
- Yes
- What are we doing with the metrics we are producing?
- Can we quantify the new business relationships we have generated from those who have sampled?
- Who is following up with the samplers?
- No
- How can we begin to track it?
- To close the loop, once we start tracking it, how can we use the data?
- Who’s going to be in charge of tracking it? quantifying it? communicating back to the sampler?
- Yes
- Why are we offering this for free again?
- Is it smart?
- Is it leading to a ‘next step’?
- If so, how successful are we at the transition?
- Are we motivating the sampler to take the next step?
- When they sample, are we expecting anything in return?
- Are we hurting our efforts by limiting the features or access offered to the free user?
- Are we offering too much for free?
- Could the ‘next step’ be reached more efficiently if we scaled back the free features and left them wanting more?
Care should be taken when offering anything free to your audience.
Your brand is on the line if the process and the rewards aren’t well defined.
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Nice work, Sam! Always a pleasure to peek into your mind!