Why (and when) you should tell your customers to “Bite Me!”

Sometimes, to grow your business, you need to tell your customers to “Bite Me!” Not literally, of course, but figuratively. The “Bite Me” strategy is actually used by some of the world’s most successful companies to get customers to try their products or services and is one that you should consider using to build your business. So, how does the “Bite Me” strategy work? It’s pretty simple actually. The “Bite Me” strategy works by inviting customers to take a free nibble of your products or services without any strings or obligations attached to that free nibble.

Ever been to an ice cream parlor and couldn’t decide which flavor to buy? There’s a good chance that the guy or gal behind the counter will give you the opportunity to sample a couple of flavors to help you make up your mind. This is a great example of the “Bite Me” strategy in action. Chances are that after a couple of samples you’ll decide on the flavor that you’re in the mood for and buy a full cup (or cone) of your favorite frozen delight. Ever wonder why perfume salespeople are so eager to spray free samples on you? You guessed it! They know that if you love how the perfume smells on you, there’s a good chance that you’ll buy the entire bottle.

In my country of Barbados, fruit vendors (especially ackee vendors) use the “Bite Me” strategy by offering up one or two ackees as samples to customers who are interested in buying a bunch of this delicious fruit. When the customer is happy with the sample, this increases the chance of them buying an entire bunch of ackees. I can tell you from experience that this strategy has worked on me many times (read more here ).

Car salespeople use the “Bite Me” strategy when they invite you to test drive a vehicle and take it for a spin – hoping that you’ll fall in love with the car and agree to purchase it. Some car dealerships even offer potential buyers overnight test drives! For instance, Stratstone, one of the UK's largest premium automotive retailers, offers drivers interested in purchasing a particular BMW model a very tantalizing nibble to test out the vehicle. Here’s a direct quote from their website: “Making the leap into electrification could be difficult, therefore you may need to spend more time with the BMW iX 40 M Sport to truly explore how it fits into your lifestyle. This is where the BMW 48-hour test drive comes in. Spending a whole day with the BMW iX 40 M Sport can really make a big difference allowing you to truly test BMW’s dynamic driving, connectivity and practicality as part of your daily life.”

Of course, these aren’t the only examples of the “Bite Me” strategy in action. Technology companies, especially those that offer subscription services, often use this strategy to tempt customers to try their products. Usually, these companies offer a one or two-week free trial of their services so that users can fully explore the features of the service and evaluate whether the tech product adequately suits their needs. Chances are that when the free trial is over, if the product is solid and customers have integrated the product into their day-to-day lives, they’ll sign up for the full paid version of the product. If you’ve ever signed up for a free trial of software and loved it so much that you ended up paying for a full subscription, then you know exactly how effective the “Bite Me” strategy can be!

?Some technology companies use a slightly different variety of the “Bite Me” strategy known as the “freemium” model. As you may have guessed from the name, the freemium business model integrates both “free” and “premium” features rolled into its pricing structure. With the freemium model, customers get to access some important features of the platform for free – forever! If and when the customer needs more premium features, they can upgrade to a paid version of the platform. This “freemium” model often works out to be a fair arrangement for both parties – subscribers get access to the platform’s free basic features with the option to upgrade as their business grows, and the tech company gets the opportunity to build up a captive customer base that is likely to consider their platform as a first option when looking for more premium features.

Overall, using the “Bite Me” strategy is a great way for companies to get potential customers to try their products, onboard new customers and grow their customer bases. Telling customers to “Bite Me” just might be one of the most cost-effective ways of spreading the word about your products especially since people love to talk about their experience when they get free stuff. Once your “Bite Me” strategy is executed well, it’s highly likely that customers who are satisfied with their nibble of your product will engage in valuable (and free) word-of-mouth buzz about products via tweets, snaps, posts, and even podcasts and blogs – lowering your overall cost of customer acquisition.

The ”Bite Me” strategy works especially well when:

• customers are genuinely interested in your products, but are hesitant about making a purchasing decision, and they just need a small nudge to get them to say “yes”
• you are introducing a new product or technological advancement to the market and you want to make it as easy as possible for potential customers to try your products risk-free
• competition in your market is fierce and you want to divert potential customers away from your competitors and towards your own products
• customers aren’t familiar with your brand and you need to give them an opportunity to build up trust in your products.

If you’re thinking of implementing a “Bite Me” strategy for your business, here are a few things to consider:

• ?First off (and most importantly), the product that you are selling has to be valuable to customers and must do a good job of solving a genuine customer need. If your product is low quality or doesn’t meet customer expectations, your “Bite Me” strategy will fail. Remember, no one wants free junk!
• The “Bite Me” strategy works best with customers who have a genuine interest in your products and who would likely use your product in their day-to-day personal or professional lives. Giving a free sample of your best cut of steak or other meat product probably wouldn’t entice a consumer who is vegetarian or vegan to take a nibble of your product – neither metaphorically nor literally. If you want your “Bite Me” strategy to be effective, you have to find ways to reliably identify customers who are actually interested in your products.
• The nibble that you offer to customers should be cost-effective to your business and commensurate with the potential payoff of an actual sale. Giving away a tiny sample of ice cream to a potential customer probably costs an ice cream parlor a couple of cents per sample. But if that tiny investment results in an actual sale of a couple of scoops of ice cream, then the investment would be worth it. Similarly, giving potential customers a test drive (even a 48-hour test drive) doesn’t cost a car dealership a cent, except perhaps a full tank of gas or, in the case of an electric vehicle, a fully charged battery.
• Even small nibbles of your product should be fully satisfying to the customer. If you are offering a free trial of your software subscription business, be sure that the free trial gives your customers full access to all of your platform’s premium features. That way, when the free-trial offer is over, and customers are ready to sign up for a paid version of your platform, they’ll have a hard time walking away from the premium features – making it more likely that they’ll sign up for a high-tier subscription rather than your lower-tier subscription packages.?

If you’re looking for a cost-effective way to pick up more customers, increase revenues and become more profitable, consider telling your customers to “Bite Me!” You may be pleasantly surprised at the response.