If everything in your business was to be given away for free, you wouldn’t have your business for very long. However, that’s not to say that there’s no value in some freebies here and there – because there absolutely is. Giving away free items or incentives to customers is nothing new, but its effect as a powerful marketing tool is perhaps undervalued. If you plan for giving things away, you can maximise your revenue.
Why give things away?
Simply put, people appreciate free things. You do, don’t you? Free samples give a positive impression about your business to customers from the get-go, whether they’re new or they’ve shopped with you before. They feel rewarded before they’ve even had to buy anything. That means that they’re likely to reciprocate the “favor” you’ve done for them, by buying something from you. It’s clever, really – and yet so simple. You could even boost business by 2000%!
“free samples” (CC BY 2.0) by Robert Couse-Baker
Don’t neglect your online business
Online businesses can get in on the action as well. Your samples do not have to be physical in order to be tried and appreciated. For example, this link offers you free casino bonuses to play scratch cards with. This in itself is an incentive – it allows people to experience the excitement of the game, before committing to spending their money.
You could offer a discount code, a free sample to be sent to their home or even offer to provide your physical services for free in person. For example, a gym website could offer free day passes to trial their facilities for anyone signing up online.
Be strategic
If you are going to offer free samples to people, consider exactly what it is that you want to do. The idea is to entice customers, not to be taken for a ride! If you offer too much, it stands to reason that you’ll devalue your product.
If you offer samples in moderation – for example, a free consultation, a small tester or even a trial run of something, you will pique their interest enough to entice them to actually buy from you.
Focus on the customer
Pay attention to the customer’s needs and wants at all times – this means you’ll be more likely to retain them and convert them into someone who pays. Different businesses will have different audiences – take time to get to know them. This could be through surveys or other market research or by using social media. It could even be something as simple as having friendly staff on hand, dressed in a presentable manner, so that your sample will remain memorable.
In an example in this article, one woman used her jewelry store’s Facebook page to do regular giveaways. People loved them so much that they told their friends to enter, which spread the word about her products. Giving something away, for her, was worth it for the return – people were so satisfied that it made her popular indeed!
The main thing to do is constantly analyse your tactics and always ensure you’re keeping good records. Don’t ever give away more than what you can afford to lose or that you expect to bring in.
