Capture consumer data and insights

Uncover a goldmine of consumer and market insights through sampling, to refine your marketing strategies in preparation for the busiest shopping period of the year. 

Take Clinique, as an example. We helped them gather key audience insights to power their new foundation launch, and discovered their audience's biggest priority was hydration. We also collected intel on what their usual go-to foundation was.

This helped Clinique sharpen their messaging to address consumers’ most important benefits and gauge a better understanding of their competitor landscape.  

6 holiday sampling strategies for 2024

1. Product bundles

Offer consumers the ultimate sampling experience with exciting product bundles. It's a win-win situation: consumers get a taste of a high-value sample and you can showcase multiple products ahead of the holiday season.

Plus, thanks to the high-value nature of bundles, you’ll find consumers are more than happy to pay a small fee to cover shipping costs. 

That's right - bundle campaigns allow you to give away larger, high-value samples while keeping your campaign's fulfillment costs down.

One recent SoPost campaign for a popular haircare brand offered a bundle of three full-sized product samples and resulted in:

• 100,000 bundles claimed in just six weeks
• The campaign going viral on TikTok, with hundreds of videos and influencers sharing the brand and products
• 77% of consumers saying they'd switch to the brand as their new go-to
• 69% saying they're likely to buy the products in the next six months

2. Virtual try-on

Let's say you're launching a new foundation or lipstick for the holidays. Sampling is the perfect opportunity to amplify awareness and get your product into the hands of your target audience. 

And naturally, you'll want consumers to find their perfect match easily.

Incorporating virtual try-on technology lets consumers find and sample their ideal shade without leaving their screens to go into busy stores. Encourage engagement and create a personalized, seamless sampling experience, all while significantly reducing product waste.

At SoPost, we typically see a 27% boost in shade-matching accuracy and a 57% increase in post-trial purchases compared to campaigns using traditional shade selectors.

So, if you’re looking to boost sales of your beauty products this year, combine sampling with virtual try-on technology for a match made in beauty heaven. 

3. Get One, Gift One campaigns 

92% of people are said to trust friend and family recommendations over brand messaging when it comes to buying decisions. 

And Get One, Gift One sampling campaigns are super effective at sparking word-of-mouth magic, especially when everyone is already in the spirit of giving!

How do they work? The consumer completes their request to claim a sample, then they’re prompted to gift a sample to a loved one with a heartfelt message via email, text or even WhatsApp.   

At SoPost, we’ve witnessed 100% marketing opt-in rates across some of our Get One, Gift One campaigns due to the incredible excitement and engagement they generate. 

4. Sweepstakes and giveaways

Sweepstakes and competitions give consumers the chance to win a product sample, while generating buzz around your brand and growing your marketing database ahead of the holiday season.

And since you're handpicking only a select few as winners, these campaigns also keep your sample fulfillment costs in check.

Utilize influencers and social media to promote your giveaway, and once it’s closed, target your new, engaged leads with tempting holiday promotions.  

This is an incredibly popular tactic for our clients here at SoPost, to help them amplify awareness and grow their database just in time for prime shopping seasons.

For example, we launched a competition for a popular cleaning brand to give away bundles of their new spring collection. It attracted over 56,000 entries in just two weeks, with an incredible 74% signing up to the brand’s marketing database.

5. Email marketing campaigns

Over 50% of shoppers buy from marketing emails at least once a month. For loyal customers, offering a sample keeps your brand front of mind throughout the holiday rush and helps you stand out in a flooded inbox of holiday promotions and messages. 

It's also a great tactic to rekindle relationships with those who may not have purchased from you in a while. 

But why stop at your existing customer base this holiday season? Tap into third-party audiences by sampling through other retailer, publisher and community databases. 

These databases are full of high-intent, engaged consumers waiting to participate in your holiday promotions. At SoPost, we typically see an average of 1 paying customer for every 7 samples through our targeted email marketing campaigns.

Our community sampling campaigns alone also generate average review and feedback rates of 36% – that’s way above the industry benchmark.

6. Create omnichannel retail experiences

According to forecasts by eMarketer, overall retail spending is set to increase by 4.5% to $1.3 trillion for the 2024 holiday season.

Harness an omnichannel sampling strategy to bridge the online-offline gap and engage consumers at every touchpoint during the busiest retail period of the year. Here’s some inspiration:

• Integrate sampling ads across popular retail websites
• Targeted social media posts from popular retailer social accounts
• Influencer video claiming a sample in-store
• Email marketing campaigns to relevant, high-intent shoppers
• In-store QR codes linking to your online sampling campaign

At SoPost, we join forces with leading retailers to tap into relevant, high-intent audiences as they browse online and have helped brands like philosophy generate an incredible 3.2x return on investment through our retail partnerships.

Launch your 2024 holiday sampling campaign

Holiday sampling can be extremely powerful when executed strategically and with the right experts behind it. 

As you gear up for the holidays, think about your overall objectives this year, what’s going to resonate with your audience and where digital sampling fits in.

At SoPost, we’ve mastered the art of strategic digital sampling over the past decade, helping the world’s biggest brands accelerate their sales and marketing goals through our innovative sampling technology and expert guidance.