sample-taste-try-before-you-buy Slideshow

The Try Before You Buy movement describes the concept of letting consumers test a product before purchasing them. This often involves giving away a small amount of the product or service for free, with the confident hope that it will peak the consumer’s interest and buy their loyalty.

Often this type of marketing is disguised as “free” or incredibly price reduced products. Marketers launch campaigns in which they give out free samples of the latest ice cream, for example, to get people to try, and hopefully enjoy, a new product.

While miniature perfume trial bottles go back several decades, newer innovations have built off the concept. One such example is the collection of wine vials, which resemble test tubes, featured below.

This phenomenon has spread to the music industry too. Artists are giving away free music, either via iTunes or streaming from their MySpace pages, in hopes of winning over fans that will ultimately buy their album or purchase concert tickets.

There really are few limitations on the try before you buy concept; you can test anything from marriages to Christmas trees before you commit, as demonstrated by the broad range of innovations you can try, test, taste or sample, seen below.