How to build the perfect sampling campaign for your full funnel

Letting someone experience your product is one of the most powerful ways to win them over. It builds trust, sparks excitement, and leaves a lasting impression.

Too often, brands treat sampling as a one-off tactic tied to product launches or special events. However, when thoughtfully integrated throughout the funnel, sampling becomes a powerful tool for driving engagement, lowering acquisition costs, and deepening customer relationships.

Let’s explore how a full-funnel strategy transforms sampling into a high-performing growth channel.

Drive results at every funnel stage with smarter sampling

Sampling is most powerful when it’s incorporated throughout the customer journey, creating momentum at every stage by offering clear, meaningful value.

This closed-loop approach also makes it easier to measure the true value of your sampling investment by enabling direct attribution without the complexity or cost of traditional marketing mix modeling (MMM) methods.

Let’s break down how sampling drives impact at every stage of the funnel, with tactical strategies to turn trials into loyal customers.

Awareness: Making memorable first impressions

Sampling during the awareness stage is about creating memorable, meaningful first experiences that contribute to brand recognition and recall. It’s one of the most effective ways to introduce your brand and products to new audiences, especially in crowded marketplaces.

At the top of the funnel, digital sampling campaigns should be focused on finding the high-value prospects most likely to engage. With tools like pre-qualification surveys, you can ask questions about lifestyle, preferences, or past purchase behaviour for precise targeting from the start. When the right product reaches the right person, you reduce product waste and preserve your brand’s image while filling your funnel with high-potential customers.

Laughing Dog tested this strategy for its premium dog food and saw standout results. They ran Meta ads targeting dog owners interested in competing products and pet communities. With SamplMatch’s pre-screening technology, they identified 10,000 high-potential leads from a pool of 18,000 requests, which ultimately delivered a 56% opt-in rate and a 14% purchase rate.

Interest: Deepening connection through targeted experiences

Once customers are aware of your brand, sampling is a powerful way to deepen their interest and move them toward consideration. The goal is to capitalise on initial curiosity and deepen the connection through targeted samples and thoughtful messaging.

Instead of generic mass emails, follow up with content that reinforces the sample experience, like educational guides about your product’s features, behind-the-scenes production content, and reviews from real customers. Social proof is particularly compelling here as user-generated content (UGC), like photos and unboxing videos, often carries more weight than brand claims.

That’s the approach NIVEA Soft took when looking to appeal to Gen Z audiences. The iconic skincare brand used SamplMatch to run a sampling campaign across Meta and TikTok. They collaborated with influencers to create educational content that showed how their products were a natural fit for Gen Z routines. This drove 150,000+ new marketing opt-ins, with 8% of sampled customers purchasing within 2 weeks.

Consideration: Building purchase confidence

Once curiosity becomes genuine consideration, sampling provides a hands-on experience that builds purchase confidence. When customers are comparing options, sampling can help set you apart and give a tangible reason to choose your brand over others.

Personalisation is key to making this moment count. Sample kits, product recommendations, and offers are all opportunities to customise your customers’ experience, showing you understand their needs and preferences. This deepens the connection with your brand, positioning you as top of mind when they’re ready to buy.

That’s the strategy skincare brand The INKEY List used to launch their new serum. They segmented new and lapsed customers using CRM data, then sent each group a personalised series of well-timed emails. These follow-ups included product reveals and sales messaging linking directly to the serum’s page on Boots and Sephora. Their approach delivered impressive results: 42% of US recipients opted into marketing emails, and 76% indicated purchase intent, turning trial into measurable demand.

Conversion: Removing final purchase barriers

Sampling at the conversion stage removes final barriers to purchase and turns prospects into loyal customers. For those on the fence, giving them a chance to try your product builds the confidence they need to commit.

The key is a memorable sampling experience that reinforces their choice. Creative packaging, thoughtful instructions, and surprise gifts deliver a special moment that, combined with limited-time offers or exclusive deals, creates a sense of urgency that encourages faster purchases.

This approach proved highly effective for Bio&Me’s new granola product. By leveraging NearStore’s technology, the gut-friendly food brand included coupons directly in the sample pack and guided customers to nearby stores. Their media plan also featured a branded microsite designed to capture high-intent customers, all leading to an 18% coupon redemption rate and 81% purchase intent.

Loyalty: Deepening satisfaction and driving repeat purchases

Following up a purchase with a sample is a powerful way to deepen satisfaction and build brand loyalty. It also introduces customers to complementary products and new launches, driving repeat purchases.

There are many ways to use sampling as a loyalty driver. Think surprise-and-delight gifts in online orders, VIP-exclusive mini sets based on past purchases, or sneak peeks of upcoming launches. These touches feel personal and exclusive, encouraging customers to stay loyal and spend more over time.

Sephora nails this strategy by offering free samples with every online order. These samples are going to already-engaged buyers, the ideal candidates to pitch new (or new-to-them) products. By giving customers tangible value and a low-risk way to explore more of the range, Sephora builds a loyal following and drives repeat purchases.

Advocacy: Turning enthusiasm into word-of-mouth

Once customers have tried your product, the goal is to turn their enthusiasm into advocacy. You amplify your reach through positive word-of-mouth by nurturing their experience with engaging samples and simple ways to share.

Sampling at this stage should be something customers can’t help but share, like exclusive sneak peeks for loyal fans or extra samples to send through referral programs. From there, encourage advocacy through follow-up messages or social media challenges that inspire UGC, like reviews, photos, or social posts. Design and time your prompts to make it easy for customers to become evangelists.

The perfume brand GHOST Fragrances is a great example. They sent review request emails 14 days after perfume samples shipped, asking customers about satisfaction, purchase intent, and recommendations. These follow-ups boosted review rates by 200% (with 95% of reviewers recommending the product) while also providing valuable feedback for the brand’s DTC channels and retail partners.

Turn sampling into scalable growth with Sampl

Sampl helps you build high-performance sampling campaigns that maximise impact at every stage of the funnel. With our platform, sampling becomes a focused, strategic part of your marketing.

Precise targeting

SamplMatch helps you identify and reach the right audience for each product by evaluating every sample request against your ideal customer profile. Samples only go to qualified recipients, giving you better data, more conversions, and greater impact for the same budget.

Local activations at the point of purchase

Turn trial into action with Sampl’s NearStore technology that uses location data to guide customers who love your sample to the nearest retailer. Brands can add coupons, giving a final incentive to buy. Or, if a customer is too far from a retail location, NearStore can offer online purchasing options, driving conversions regardless of location.

Integration with Bazaarvoice

Automatically syndicate reviews (including those from your sampling campaigns) across retail partner sites with our Bazaarvoice integration. This visibility lets shoppers see a robust collection of reviews wherever they make purchase decisions.

Actionable data at every stage

Sampl gives you real-time dashboards to track everything, from who’s requesting samples to when they engage, convert, and return. With those behavioural insights, as well as survey data, customer feedback, and AI-driven analysis, all in one place, you can validate claims, refine messaging, and make smarter product and marketing decisions.

Ready to build a sampling campaign for full-funnel impact? Book a demo with Sampl today!