Giving away free samples of your products,whether goods or services,has its up and downsides. At first, your reaction is “how may I (re)cover the cost of the free samples I am giving away?”That’s the question that creates knowledge!
With great potential of freebies marketing to boost your sales (up to 2000%) what then matter most? It is how to send the freebies to those customers that meet your requirements so you can achieve a successful freebies marketing campaign..
In business,you use freebies to get something back in return at little or no cost to the receiver at initial time. Before you start giving away free samples, try get why freebies hook and how it can give you free leads to more sales.
How Free Samples Help Customers Make Better Buying Choices
Customers go through what’s called a buyer’s decision process before, during and after a buy.
First, they realize that they have a need for something they can’t push down on their scale of preference of buys or,
-they develop a desire to buy a product or pay for a service they need or
-they have a problem that particular product or service can solve.
Then they consider a solution and its options.
This ‘pre-buy’ process is not easy even though sometimes go so quick that most customers can’t recall it.Why?
Most businesses have greatly reduced the time you decide to buy and eventually buy.
The dilemma still remains. Businesses provide tonnes of information to the customer to influence the customers. To influence the customers’ choice, businesses have considered what customers prefer as price. They also control the supply of the product to maintain price. Most times,businesses have factored in customers’ preferences into their products or services. In this age of data and internet, there are now algorithm that match buying pattern of an individual.
You must have heard the popular saying that “Respect is reciprocal”. Same applies to giving out free stuffs. When you give respect, you receive much more. Likewise, when you give, let’s say free sample of your product or service, you get more sales.
On personal level, when someone does something nice to you, it creates an urge to do something nice in return. This phenomenon is called Reciprocity.
With your free samples,you:
▪Earn attention for your brand.
-
Study the behavior of those likely to buy from you.
▪Introduce your product/service to new audiences and locations.
▪Foster relationships that inspire customers to be loyal to your brand.
▪Increase the buyers’ knowledge and experiences about your products/services.
▪Encourage repeat customers and get more purchases even from new customers.
▪Boost your sales by as much as 2,000%.
-
On platforms like FreeStuffsNg, you get free testimonials archived for you in perpetuity. This will improve your online PR. Yet everything FREE!!
Giving of free stuffs can actually drive your business into debt.
So there are important decisions you need to make before giving out free samples. The quantity given out must not be too small or too much. However, it must be enough to give customers a tangible experience of your product or service . Giving too much of the product gives too much information away lest you lessen the value of your product. For example,in economics,the concept of marginal benefits explains it. Highest price a consumer is willing to pay for an additional good or service tends to decreases as consumption of the good or service increases. Too much supply of the free samples decreases the amount customers will be willing to pay.
So don’t shoot your campaign in the foot by oversupplying too much of the product or service. Same with supply of info about your product or service;when it’s too much,it ends up confusing customers.
Also,you need a very good platform or logistics partner to help you ensure a transparent and successful campaign. Choosing those qualified for your freebies, delivery of freebies and collection of testimonials. Each of these process are vital to a successful freebies marketing campaign.
You also need a written plan for the product samples you want to offer. Like you have in a business plan, in your freebies campaign, write down answers to these points:
A. “WHAT” questions start with the successful end in mind.
• What is the purpose of offering free samples(refer to my list above on what you can use freebies for)?
-
What do you hope to achieve?
-
What do you want to offer as freebies?
-
When will the freebies be given?
-
Through what channels,
-
How long will the campaign be on and
-
How will testimonials be collected and archived?
B. “WHO” questions help you understand what you need to do to make sure the product gets to the right customers.
• Who do you want to try your product?
-
What amount will the person be willing to pay for the actual product or service?
-
What are the personal biases of the individual?
C.“HOW” question help you track your sample campaigns and what defines its success or failure.
• How will you measure your success?
How To Send Freebies to Your Potential and Existing Customers.
The most popular one is to ship it to customers directly through courier companies. Since that adds to the cost,you will need to factor that cost into your campaign from the onset. For some Chinese companies,they request you to pay for the shipping cost and promise to refund it when you buy.
Some businesses out-source whole process to a third-party to handle and give reports. These are platforms that would have worked with the businesses on the goals and how to achieve them.
Some platforms sign exclusive contracts with manufacturers. They use such freebies to get loyalty from users by undertaking the delivery of the freebies. This is not popular with freebies websites but very popular with giants like amazon.
Sometimes,freebies are redeemed in exclusive locations or drop off area. Some businesses use this method to encourage to visit their locations. So on special days, you bring friends and families to their outlets. It also saves them cost of shipping the freebies to you.
Offering free samples isn’t just for physical retailers. You can run one on your online stores too! This can be possible through the following ways:
1. Deals
One of the most popular is “Buy One and Get One Free” (BOGOF) but not the only deals you can offer to your customers online.
Sometime,it’s outright giveaways for completing a task. On important dates, like July 4, you can give discounts or bonus points. These bonus rewards points can build up to the point it can be exchanged for a good or service for free. Some platforms like bonanza have a section dedicated for freebies only. So as you sell from your online store,you can sign up and register your freebies in the freebies section. You can also register and post your free samples ad campaigns on freebies websites.
2. Provide a free support
There is always that thing you or your businesses can do better than most people or businesses. Sometimes it could be because you can do it quicker or easier than others can. This help or support should be valuable enough to attract your potential customers? You can reach such people through popular and active online forums or communities. As you become active in such environment, you are soon seen as the ‘go to” for every thing related to that business. Encourage those who benefit from your free help to share your ad messages.
“Offering free help, analysis or quotes are great ways to convince people to trust you and your brand”
This is common with Dentists. They give free dental tests and, if it turns out a customer needs more, they sell their products to the customer. Depending on what you sell, there is always an opportunity to help customers online. Afterwards, use the value you provide for free as a tool to draw them into your own sales funnel.
3. Promote a free trial
Free trials is very common with services. When you give potential customers chance to enjoy a bit of your service,they feel more confident to pay. Those who buy or don’t buy will still tell more other people about their experiences and the freebies .
Your trial period should be fun,engaging and actually deliver on the promised value. The customer not convinced can very easily walk away from your brand and never return. After all, the prospective buyer hasn’t invested any money, so there’s nothing for them to lose”.
4. Offer a free eBook to create an email list
Writing an ebook could take sometime and effort. However,it is offers great chance to get email addresses of your potential clients. As they sign up to get your free ebook,they supply their email addresses and you draw them into your sales funnel.
Your choice of what to title to write on depends on the interests of your prospective customers. Whatever meets their fancy and free is sure certainly going to get their attention. Ensure the ebook reflects the quality in your brand and don’t forget to place your own ads inside the free ebook.
5. Make Shipping and Delivery free
When you take away delivery cost, customer pick your products or service over others. So one sure way to get the attention of prospective customers is to take away the stress and cost of delivery.
Executing this strategy will need you to know how to cover the cost or you just run it for a period your budget support. It is better to work out what your least amount would be to offer free delivery entirely and use this as leverage to encourage bigger purchases.
When planning delivery strategies,add a bonus point or how much buy they need to do more so they can spend more. This kind of prompts help them know how much they need to spend to qualify for free shipping.
6. Free How to Self-Help Videos
Create free how to Self-help videos that will interest your prospective customers. It could eventually end with how they cna use your product and how your customers can get them. This would go a long way in helping to bring new customers into your sales funnel. It equally saves them time to find out about your products and how to buy from you.
7. Free Online Classes
Online classes are effective promotion of digital courses, e-classroom,coaching etc.
This is one of the most lucrative yet cheap means of gaining audiences and potential customers presently. Digital schools like Udemy, Coursera, leverage on this to generate leads.
8. A free App
Create a’ freemium’ app for your customer . These apps can serve as a easy access tool to get your freebies or experience your service for a limited period. Some businesses immediately credit you with point once you download their apps. So you can use the free app to promote your business. Also,you use it to let customers see features they can benefit from if they choose to upgrade to paid version. Some free apps come with addictive features that enable the users to use them more. If frequent usage increases the revenue earned on commission,then you need such apps!
Ways to send Digital Freebies to Your Customers
1. Link it to every mention of it.
Once you have a freebie in small downloadable form, link its url everywhere you mention it in your posts. If you have old posts that can be edited, go back and edit them and include update that show you now have freebies. If you’ve already written related content, optimize it with your new freebie. Don’t forget to share and request others to share too.
2. Create a blog for your freebie.
This kind of websites are one-paged but you can make yours more interesting with more pages. Write blog posts on the areas of needs the your freebies solve and promote. You can send traffic from your main websites or online promotions to this blog to get your freebies. For facebook campaigns,use the facebook pixels to count the people who sign up for your freebies.
3. Create a Pop-Up
Create a pop-up on your website to promote your freebie as well. I used to hate pop ups on websites but if there is value in the freebies,I will take it!
