constructing a great sampling report form

21 Jul

In this article we are going to give you some advice on how you can put together a really effective sampling report form, focusing on an in-store sampling activity. But before we delve into the detail, there are a few really important things to consider:

1. Be clear on who is responsible for completing the report form, and outline reporting deadlines at your training session.

2. Make sure your promotional staff, event manager, or whoever is going to be completing the report not only knows that this is their responsibility, but has sight of the report form before  the sampling activity commences. It would be unfair to expect your team to come up with specific figures that they didn’t know were required, and it only encourages inaccurate reporting.

3. How would you like your sampling report form submitted? Do you have a paper form or would you like everything by email? Our preferred method of reporting at eventeem is by online form – it’s easy to set up, can be tailored to requirements, it’s easy to complete and can be done on the move. This way your event manager can complete the form as soon as he/she finishes work, whilst the information is still fresh in their mind.

 

 

 

Constructing The Form

So once you’ve decided on the above, you’re ready to start constructing your report. Really, you as the client are the best person to specify the reporting fields as you know best what feedback you require but if you are a bit stuck, here are some suggestions to get you started:

 

The Basics

If your team is reporting on a one-off event, then this information is probably not so important. But consider that you may be receiving reporting results from numerous staff, across numerous events – things could get very confusing if you don’t include the following information:

  • Staff full name
  • Sampling date
  • Sampling location

 

Sampling Statistics


The figures are probably the most useful pieces of information that you can get your hands on in order to evaluate the success of your campaign. Ask your staff to keep a tally throughout the shift to ensure that results are as accurate as possible, and always provide them with relevant and helpful information if you have it; knowing the number of samples per box for example, will help them to keep track of their distribution figures and reconcile any discrepancies at the end of each shift. Why not include the following fields in your sampling report form:

  • Number of customer engagements
  • Number of samples distributed
  • Number of vouchers distributed
  • Number of sales achieved from the sampling unit

 

 

Location Information

Knowing a bit more about the surrounding location will help you to evaluate the results in context, and could act as a useful reference when organising further activity in the same location. Ask your promotional staff to feed back on the following:

  • What was the footfall like?
  • How was the weather and did it have any effect on the sampling?
  • Where was your stand positioned and was it a good spot?
  • Was there any other promotional activity in the area and if so what was it?

 

Demographic Feedback

Ask your staff to provide feedback on the types of customers that they engaged with. It’s so important to make sure that you are booking your sampling activity locations where you can reach your target audience, so be sure to cover the following:

  • What percentage of customers were male and female?
  • What was the prevalent age group? Did this fluctuate throughout the day?
  • Was it a good place to reach your target audience?

 

 

Customer Feedback

Don’t overlook the opportunity to gather anecdotal feedback, straight from the customer. Ask your staff to record as many customer comments as possible in relation to your product, and remind your team that negative comments are just as important as positive ones!

It’s also a good idea to ask your promotional staff to estimate the percentage of customers that were already aware of your brand, prior to engaging with the sampling.

 

Event Manager/Brand Ambassador Feedback


Your on-site promotional staff are the live event experts.  They work on numerous experiential, sampling and in-store activities every month and the chances are, they’ve seen it all. Utilise the benefit of their experience to glean as much useful information as possible about your sampling event and ensure you put this to good use.

They will be able to tell you what worked well and what didn’t, and they may have suggestions for improvement next time.

Ask your team to include in their evaluation any problems that were encountered and if relevant, how those issues were resolved.


 

If you are using a reputable promotional staffing agency then end of campaign reporting is likely to be part of the service. And if you are still looking for your staffing agency then please contact us – we would love to chat about how we can help you.