This stat whacked me across the tête this morning: According to Edison Media Research and Arbitron, nearly one in three shoppers who try a sample will buy that product in the same shopping trip. That's way higher than I thought, and sort of makes me wonder why more salespeople aren't stuffing brownies down my throat every time I'm at a supermarket.
I have one theory for this, and it involves the dichotomy of choice. On one hand, we all adore choosing one thing over another, and find a lot of fun and and psychological satisfaction in customizing our own product experiences. On the other hand... have you ever been to Super Target? The toothbrush aisle is enough to make an Emerson out of me, and if someone was there to even suggest one brush over the other, God knows I would take it and run. In other words, people love making decisions, but they need more help making them than we think. So, when packaging quits talking, it's good to pass that responsibility back at an actual person - at least while we're responding to them at a rate of 30%.
Read more on sampling's glory here.








