In a world full of different forms of advertising, is send ing out free product samples a cost-effective means of getting your message across? There is no doubt that, from the company’s point of view, free samples are costly. Machines have to be recalibrated to produce a smaller size, packaging has to be redesigned, and many thousands of dollars spent on sending out huge volumes of product that brings no direct revenue.
So why send out free samples, when you can just tell people how great your product is with clever use of imagery and sound? After all, the more classical forms of advertising reach a huge amount of people at once, and a sample reaches only one.
A 1988 study shed some light on the issue. The study found that when a consumer has only been given a sample of a product, their belief in that product is higher than when they have only been exposed to exaggerated advertising for that same product.
This was illustrated by the fact that when, later on, a consumer had a negative experience with that product, their negative reaction was stronger if they had only been exposed to exaggerated advertising, than if they had only been exposed to the product directly.
It makes a lot of sense if you think about it. If you have been bombarded with words about the high quality of a particular brand of chocolate, and when you eventually get around to buying one you find a hair in it, you are quite likely to feel betrayed and lied to. If, however, your only experience with that chocolate was the delicious free sample that you received for free, you are already well-disposed towards the brand and more likely to forgive a negative experience. After all, you were given a gift, and you enjoyed it.