Product Sampling Immediately Boosts Awareness/Sales and Increases Influence Over Consumers Future Purchases
More than one-half of customers who accept samples intend to buy the sampled product in a future shopping trip
NEW YORK, September 29, 2008 – Product sampling successfully reaches 70 million consumers every quarter and secures considerable results in both brand awareness and loyalty, according to the Product Sampling Study by Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB).
One-third of customers who try a sample will buy the sampled product in the same shopping trip. In addition, sampling overall influences future purchases of a product. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed reported that they would buy the product again.
Consumers were grouped into three categories: “Acquisitions” are those who were new to the sampled product; “Conversions” are those who had heard of the product but had never bought it and; “Retentions” are those who had previously purchased the product.
While 85 percent of the Retentions and 60 percent of the Conversions said they would purchase the sampled product in the future, sampled products encouraged nearly half (47 percent) of the Acquisitions, those who had never heard of the product before, to purchase the product again.
“This is exciting news for marketers and advertisers who are looking for alternative ways to make an immediate as well as long reaching impact on consumers with a high return-on-investment,” said Carol Edwards, Senior Vice President, Sales, Out-of-Home Media. “This study enforced that the sampling approach is both effective in making new customers aware of products, while also establishing a firmer identity with those consumers who have considered the product before.”
Highlights
• Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed reported that they have been offered product samples within the past three months.
• Sixty-four percent of those surveyed claimed they had accepted product samples. Sixty-six percent of the customers characterized as Acquisitions accepted samples, as well as 63 percent of the Conversions, and 63 percent of the Retentions.
• Thirty-five percent of those surveyed claimed they purchased the sampled product on the same day. Twenty-six percent of the Acquisitions bought the product right away, as well as 19 percent of the Conversions, and 31 percent of the Retentions.
• Twenty-four percent of those survey claimed that a sampled product had specifically replaced an item that they had planned on buying: Twenty percent of the Acquisitions were planning to make the switch, as well as 33 percent of the Conversions, and 18 percent of the Retentions.
How This Study Was Conducted
Arbitron and Edison Media Research conducted a national telephone survey from January 18 to February 15, 2008. 1,857 respondents, ages 12 and older, were selected at random from Arbitron’s 2007 fall diarykeepers. In geographic areas where Arbitron diarykeepers were not available (representing 8% of the population), a supplemental sample was interviewed through random selection.
About Arbitron
Arbitron Inc. is a media and marketing research firm serving radio broadcasters, cable companies, advertisers, advertising agencies and outdoor advertising companies. Arbitron’s core businesses are measuring network and local market radio audiences across the United States; surveying the retail, media and product patterns of local market consumers; and providing application software used for analyzing media audience and marketing information data. The Company has developed the Portable People MeterTM, a new technology for media and marketing research.
Through its Scarborough Research joint venture with The Nielsen Company, Arbitron also provides media and marketing research services to the broadcast television, newspaper and online industries. Arbitron’s marketing and business units are supported by its research and technology organization, located in Columbia, Maryland. Its executive offices are located in New York City.
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Portable People MeterTM and PPMTM are marks of Arbitron Inc.
