Ever walk past the perfume stands in the mall? If you have, you’ve been attacked by an army of perfume spraying sales clerks. It clearly frustrates most passerby’s. So why are they so insistent on getting that “spray bouquet” on your arm? Because of The Sampling Effect.

Here’s how it works. A passerby is going to be a passerby anyway, so it is (to some degree) OK if you frustrate them. But in the mix are a few potential customers. The only way you are going to get their business is if you speak to their behavioral side.

Behaviorally speaking, consumers (that means all of us) automatically have a greater affinity to something that we experienced than something we haven’t. It is kinda obvious. If you never knew that something existed you would never buy it. I mean, duh! But once we experience something directly, we have a great awareness of it, and the probability of us buying increases exponentially.

Over and over, samples have proven to be the best way to market products. Let people use it and they become aware of it. If they have a positive experience, they will likely buy it.

It sounds expensive to do this, but due to its high conversion (prospects to customers) it is in fact not. It is typically more expensive to advertise and market to people who rarely buy, than to offer samples (just like the perfume army) to the interested folks.

So, the next time you see the spray girl running at you don’t take offense. She isn’t trying to upset you, she simply is trying to speak to your behavioral side.