Phenomenally! That’s how use of freebies can increase your sales.
Let me explain.
Free Samples Obey the “Rule of Reciprocity”
You must have heard the popular saying that “Respect is reciprocal”, same applies to giving out free stuffs. When you give respect, most often than not, you receive much more respect in return, likewise when you give free sample of your product or service, you get more sales based on the “Rule of Reciprocity”
What’s this?
That’s what is known as The Science of Free stuffs.
On a personal level, when someone does something nice to you, it creates an urge for you to do something nice in return.
This phenomenon is called Reciprocity.
This is exactly what happens when your business offers free samples to customers.
In exchange for receiving something free from you, those receiving freebies from your company count your action as a gesture of kindness you have shown to them and somewhat feel compelled to pay back your “nice” gesture in return.
For free, they can do any or all of the following;
- buy your product/service as a “thank you”
- give great reviews and testimonials
- share your ad messages and promos,
- recommend your product/service.
- endose public policies that favour your company/ industry and speak against policies against your company or industry
- vote your company for awards and special recognition that gives your brand great visibility.
Now each of these ‘Returns On Investment’ on your free samples given to grow your brand visibility and increase sales can lead to sales increase of geometrical proportion.
How does Psychology explain this?
In social psychology, it is agreed that ,in addition to the people with whom we are currently interacting, we are influenced by people who are not physically present but who are nevertheless part of our thoughts and feelings.
So when people take your free samples, they open up their personal experience to you and your brand and your brand connects to their feelings.
It is like a goodwill account you can draw from in perpetuity!
On a broader advertising level, this is a form of Engagement/Experiental Advertising; a form of advertising strategy that focuses on helping consumers experience a brand.
It is different from traditional advertising strategies that broadcast brand and product benefits to a wide audience and then literally wait.
Free samples can generate a lot of sales for you over time. In some cases, free samples can boost sales by as much as 2,000% or more!
Is it in all cases Freebies Increase Sales?
No! In fact, if care is not taken, it can drive you and your business into bankruptcy!
To achieve that you don’t lose out from giving freestuffs to increase sales and brand visibility, ensure that you have factored in the cost of the freebies under advertising budget, create a strategy that alligns both your economic benefits and those of the winners (link to how to get winners for giveaways) and you have platforms that can help you ensure the success of your freebies sales promotion; to achieve great sales over time!
My personal experience using freebies to drive sales.
Years back, I organized a free training, spent a lot to get people registered and even more to make the training a success; all FREE OF CHARGE!
Few days after the training, we hit the biggest sales boost from recommendations of the trainees that benefited from our free service.
Afterwards, we hosted a bigger training but this time around,paid and fully subscribed with more people calling to register for subsequent batches.
One of my pain point then was getting feeedbacks.
It was cumbersome getting trainees to give their feedbacks and testimonials,when we eventually did, we could not archive the goodwill for online PR in perpetuity.
Reason;there was no such platform that time to meet my kind of services as most freebies platforms are largely biased to products.
So what did I do?
I created one, partnered with others in awin and now share my experience through my posts like this one you are reading right now.
However,our success was made possible through the science of free sample and you can do same to achieve massive sales and brand awareness.
What else?
Giving out free samples will help you or your organization to:
Introduce your product/service to new audiences that were hitherto unfamiliar with your brand.
Foster relationships and inspire loyalty with existing and returning customers
Expand consumers’ knowledge about the products/services that you offer.
Increase frequency of purchase by repeat customers and more sales of new products/service.
Bring attention to your brand at or leading up to an event.
Finally,remember that in some cases, free samples,with the right strategy of execution, can boost sales by as much as 2,000% or more.
If you have used Freebies as sales strategy, what is your own experience?
