There's no better way to capture the attention and taste buds of potential customers than successful product sampling.

Most people have been hooked by at least one warm sugary almond, a single bite of pound cake and strawberry, or a sip of something rich and flavorful.

Indulgence comes naturally when you're already in a good mood. Samples enhance a person's natural hunger, frivolity, and desire for impulsive luxury and this process is fun for everyone involved!

The keys to a successful product sampling event are targeting and preparation.

In order to get the most out of your promotion, you want to be in the right place at the right time to catch people while they're relaxing and ready to try something new.

The following five steps will help you get organized and in the right mind state turn tasters into enthusiastic new customers.

Step 1: Know Your Audience

When considering a product sampling event, the find the right audience for your product to gain the maximum positive feedback.

The place and time of the event has an enormous effect on who will pass by your booth and how interested they'll be in your samples.

Grocery stores, a common place to see product sampling tables, are a great place to sell deli, desserts, entrees, and hydrating drinks.

Bars and restaurants, on the other hand, are great for alcoholic drinks, but what kind of drinks to each restaurant? Should your product be sipped appreciatively by candle light or would it be better enjoyed enthusiastically in a sports bar? 

Step 2: Collaborate With Your Venue

When your venue is cooperative and supportive, your product sampling can go a lot further.

Ideal locations, in store promotions, and staff involvement with the promotional event can all be a big boost to your customer appeal and final sales.

Find a venue that both matches your target audience and wants to work with you on the promotional event. When your promotion puts customers in a happy buying mood, this is good for the venue and helps their sales as well. Get the manager and staff of your planned venue involved in and excited about your event. The more they want it to go well, the more they'll collaborate with you to direct customers to your table or product and encourage them to enjoy the festive atmosphere. A fully successful product sampling event can form a strong bond with favorite venues and even leave you with a long-term offer for event hosting and partnership.

Step 3: Tell Everyone About It

Your marketing campaign begins long before the day you set out your sample table.

When you share where you'll be and build up hype for an upcoming event, you are essentially inviting people to seed the crowd for you. Fans of your product will come out to support you, taste their free sample, and most likely buy a few cases before heading back home. Their enthusiasm will act as a selling point, encouraging new customers to check out the samples, enjoy the event, and buy a few of the complete product for themselves.

Social media is currently the go-to way to spread the word about promotional events, so tweet and post joyfully for at least a week before the event. Include the event in your newsletter, if you have one, or create a special invitation to all your registered customers in the area. Your venue can also help you by advertising the event with flyers and staff suggestions during the countdown days.

Step 4: Rock Your Product

Product sampling events are a blast because of the high energy, personal connection, and delicious opportunity to try new things.

If you love your product, the customers will too, and they will enjoy sharing that with you.

When the promotional staff hosting a sampling event bring energy and fun to their venue and new customers, everyone has a great time and products fly off the shelf.

Selling a product with samples invites your customer into a personal experience, and their positive response to the product and the salesperson are inherently intertwined. When people want to be friends with their salesperson, they will also think more highly of the product, likewise if someone hands them something tasty they're more likely to consider that person a friend.

So when you're selling samples, rock the customer's socks off with your enthusiasm and joy for the product. It will definitely show in your results.

Step 5: Get Feedback

Want to create lasting, loyal customers from every event?

Show them you care by asking for feedback and to keep in touch.

People love to give their feedback, and are often willing to do so both in person and through an app if given a friendly opportunity. By having a quick, easy, and enjoyable feedback solution ready at your sampling table, you open the path to having real customer contacts after the event.

You are more likely to get long-term customers, newsletter subscribers, and recommendations to friends when you show a long term investment.

The best way to arrange for quick-and-easy feedback, available when the customer has time to complete it, is with a small phone app. Custom apps are a highly effective and inexpensive way to interact with customers, even if you don't have an online service. A simple feedback interface, pretty picture, and perhaps a newsfeed are more than enough for most production businesses but go a long way toward customer satisfaction.

A great product sampling event is so much more than a table with tidbits.

Each event needs to be carefully targeted for the intended audience, and the features of the event decided. Between you and the venue, confirm who will play the music, how outgoing the event will be, and how best to appeal to the customers who will arrive and get involved.

By planning with these 5 steps in mind, your product sampling event will soon be fantastically fun and deeply rewarding for everyone involved.