Sweet like chocolate
Free samples are often used as a compliance tactic to increase
customer purchase rates. In 1991 Lammers conducted a lovely little study in a Los
Angeles chocolate shop to investigate this effect. He asked the chocolatiers of
Ethel M to give half of customers a free sample of their chocolate and carefully
record if they made any purchases. The purchases from the other half of not so
lucky customers were also documanted. The results showed that the free samples
did indeed increase customer purchases. Customers who received a free sample
were significantly more likely to then buy a product (perchance rate of 85%), compared
to the customers who had not been sweetened by the sample (purchase rate of
only 56%). The data also revealed that type of purchase after a free sample was
not restricted to the variety of chocolate that they had tasted. Lammers
suggested that this interesting finding may be caused by the attribution theory
of stimulus saliency. This would predict that by trying a product, all of its associated
cues are heightened such as taste and smell which, assuming that the experience
was positive, helps to increase any product sales of this type.
Lammers, H. B. (1991). The effect of free samples on
immediate consumer purchase. Journal of
Consumer Marketing, 8(2), 31-37.
Ella Mould
I like it. A little short but cool nonetheless.
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