Pro tip: Giving away free samples boosted my craft sales

I was sure giving free items would just lose me money. At a craft fair last month, I handed out small candle melts. To my surprise, three people came back to buy full sized ones. That little try turned into my best month yet.

3 comments

3 Comments

alexh881mo ago

Your best month yet" from just three return buyers? That's lucky but it sounds like a really small sample. Did you track how many free samples you gave out total versus how many came back to buy? I'd worry the cost of all those melts would eat into the profit from just a few sales.

amy6921mo ago

Totally get what you mean, @alexh88. I tried the free sample thing with my wax melts last fall... gave out like fifty little bags at a craft fair. Only got two people who came back to buy a full sized thing later. The stuff to make all those samples was not cheap either, so I basically lost money when you add up all my time and supplies. It feels great when someone comes back, but you're right, the math usually doesn't work out unless a lot more people buy. I stopped doing free samples after that and just switched to small discount codes instead.

david_lopez131mo ago

Question if losing money on samples is worth all the fuss.

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