Why high-quality marketing opt-ins are important (and why they’re so hard to get)

Strong customer relationships start with high-quality opt-ins. They allow you to segment your audience more effectively, engage them with personalised content, and measure what’s working. But these opt-ins rely on granular data, and that’s getting harder to collect.

Consumers are more cautious than ever about sharing their data. Ad tracking is the top reason for growing privacy concerns. So, if you want to build a valuable CRM, your best option is to focus on high-intent, first-party data gathered through clear, fair exchanges like digital sampling.

That’s where Sampl helps. We connect brands with people who are actively interested in their products. And we do it without the usual risks: no compliance headaches, no wasted spend on the wrong audience, and no freebie hunters clogging up your CRM.

High-quality marketing opt-ins offer a better ROI

Opt-ins keep you connected and top-of-mind with your customers, but not all opt-ins are equal. High-quality opt-ins offer a better ROI because they come from high-intent consumers who are likely to engage with your brand. Highly engaged customers mean more sales, consistently driving greater ROAS.

Engaged customers are more likely to convert

Customers who voluntarily opt-in to digital sampling are the ideal cohort for growing your CRM. They’re plugged into what you’re doing and are interested in your product. So, they’re more likely to leave a high-quality review or become a regular customer. You’re not only improving your CRM, but you’re also driving significantly higher ROI.

Estée Lauder was working on revitalising their sampling campaign when they found Sampl. Their pre-qualifying survey sifted audiences who were actively interested in their product to the top, instead of their previous campaign that scooped up anyone interested in a sample. Along with access to live campaign data, these two changes meant that the Estée Lauder team doubled their marketing opt-ins and boosted engagement by 30%. Those opt-ins were all first-party data, meaning they could use that information in the future to better target highly engaged customers who were familiar with the product first-hand.

Better first-party data makes targeting more effective

When customers share data directly with you, it opens up better ways to target and personalise. If someone tells you what matters to them, you can respond with more relevant messages and offers. This is what makes high-quality first-party data so valuable.

Digital sampling makes this possible. You can ask the right questions upfront, through pre-qualification surveys, and use the answers to ensure your samples go to people whose needs match your product. This improves conversion and reduces waste.

Royal Canin is a good example. They wanted to grow their CRM, drive trials, and build stronger connections with new pet owners. Rather than sampling through a third party, they went direct. They collected details like pet name, breed, and age, then fed this into their CRM for personalised follow-ups. It worked. Their opt-in rate hit 65%, and their cost per lead dropped to just €2.09. Direct sampling also meant they could ask for reviews on their own website, building trust among new customers.

More opt-ins, more reviews, more credibility

Better opt-ins also get you more reviews, which are critical for credibility when launching new products. Later, this valuable first-party data can also be reused over and over for brand awareness and other marketing efforts. Your best chance of genuine, positive reviews will come from your well-segmented opt-ins and highly engaged customers.

When Creed wanted a big launch for two new fragrances, they turned to Sampl to create a precise, multi-channel sampling strategy. They sought to raise product awareness with new and current customers while also collecting valuable feedback. Their sampling campaign drove a 20.3% review rate, with a 61.4% opt-in rate.

Stay compliant in a stricter privacy environment

Brands now operate in a complex data environment. Customers expect transparency and control. Privacy regulations like GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California require explicit consent, clear terms, and fair data handling.

Sampling sits in a sweet spot. It gives customers something of value in return for their data, making them more open to opt-ins. But compliance still matters. When Colgate launched a sampling campaign across Italy and Spain, they had to follow strict privacy rules. They worked with Sampl to manage the process correctly and ended up with 40,000 new opt-ins and 8,000 reviews.

Choosing a partner that handles privacy properly helps you collect meaningful data without the risk.

How to clear the barriers to getting high-quality opt-ins

Several roadblocks stand in the way of consumer consent, including weak sampling qualification, consumer scepticism, and low-intent audiences. But Sampl’s proven digital sampling campaigns knock down those barriers and amplify your opt-in rates.

Ask better pre-qualification questions

Effective sampling opt-ins hinge on asking the right questions to the right audience. Pre-qualifying surveys should ensure that your samples get into the right hands: engaged customers who qualify.

The key is to ask targeted questions that provide deeper insights into your ideal customers. Amberen switched up the questions in their pre-qualification survey to better match potential customers to their product and to ensure that potential samplers met critical safety criteria. Their changes led to an 83% purchase intent rate, with 14% already purchasing the product before the end of the trial. SamplMatch increases the quality of your opt-ins so you can avoid wasting products on uninterested, unsuitable, or unqualified recipients.

Refine your targeting

A broad campaign might drive volume, but it rarely delivers quality. Free giveaways and prize draws tend to attract people who aren’t genuinely interested in your brand. These people won’t convert or engage in the long term.

Sampl focuses on quality over reach, selecting customers who show genuine interest and meet your specific criteria. This audience can provide crucial insights that may even direct future campaigns. When Clarins launched their new lip oil, first-party data from their samples revealed that over 70% of participants identified hydration as the lip oil’s standout feature — insights that could help them target future adverts to 8,000+ customers who opted in during the campaign.

Choose better channels

With so many options available, it’s easy to spread your sampling too thin. But channels that deliver poor-quality data waste both time and budget. Instead, focus on closed-loop audiences and direct relationships, where you can measure the outcome and learn from it.

Focus on selecting channels that engage high-intent customers, using demographic data to guide your approach for different generations. Exploring existing media engagement metrics can be a good starting point, but for even more precise results, survey your customers. Ole Henriksen had a hunch their biggest wins would come from targeting reviews on key retailer websites. Sampl ensured that samples reached the right consumers, hitting a 14.2% review rate and 90% purchase intent rate. With data like this, you’ll get to learn which channels are the most effective, and you’ll be able to prioritise those in future campaigns.

Avoid bots and freebie hunters

Freebie communities and bots are a real issue for digital campaigns. They distort your numbers and reduce the number of genuine samples that reach real customers. Some people even use scripts to request samples under fake names and addresses.

SamplMatch blocks this from happening. It checks each request against a database of known freebie users, tracks where sample links are being shared, and ensures each request is genuine. It also prevents duplicates and verifies delivery addresses so your samples reach real customers.

KIND had experienced these problems before. Traditional event sampling meant they couldn’t track who took a sample or what happened next. With SamplMatch, they moved their campaign online, cleaned up their sample pool, and tracked results in real time. They gathered 7,000 reviews, achieved a 4.56-star average rating, and hit an 89% purchase intent rate.

Drive the highest-quality opt-ins with Sampl

SamplMatch improves product sampling by matching your products to the right people. It uses your targeting rules, your data, and our filtering technology to make sure each request is genuine. It also tracks campaign results as they happen, so you always know what’s working.

With Sampl, you can run sampling campaigns that grow your CRM, deliver real insights, and avoid waste. You’ll have a clear view of key metrics like conversion rate, purchase intent, review rate, and opt-in rate, all in one place.

If you want to run better sampling campaigns and collect more valuable data, we’ll show you how Sampl can help.