Program overview

A decade ago, HelloFresh set out to change the way people cooked and ate at home. Today, the global company is a beloved pioneer in the meal kit industry, delivering meals to the doorsteps of over 7 million customers worldwide. This year, the team at HelloFresh Canada partnered with Sampler on a mission to reach new consumers, find out more about their needs and preferences, and quickly grow their email database with high-intent active shoppers. Together, the teams have launched several digital coupon programs for both HelloFresh and their Canadian division Chef's Plate, where they send incentivizing offers to targeted consumers. Six high-performing programs later, the teams have gained pivotal insight into consumer lifestyle, shopping habits, and sentiment towards meal-kit services and seeing some impressive program results:

Finding net new consumers

One of HelloFresh’s primary goals for their Sampler program was to reach and engage new consumers that had never tried the meal kit service before and effectively grow their user base. Using Sampler’s targeting features and block-listing options, the team set out to reach consumers in their target age range, deliver an incentivizing digital coupon, and ensure offers were only claimed by new users. 

Sampler claimants who fit the target criteria were offered a free digital coupon during their sample claiming journey, that they could use to get 16 free meals or $90 off a future order on HelloFresh. The result: over 3x their usual redemption rate making it their highest coupon redemption rate to date. 

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Key consumer and competitive learning

To learn more about their consumers and competitors, the HelloFresh team built a post-program survey and asked questions like: “Do you use meal kits regularly?”, “If you don’t, what’s the primary reason?” and “Which meal kits services have you tried before?”. This open channel of communication allowed them to uncover valuable bits of information that today guide their marketing strategies and combat common objections like pricing, dietary requirements, and need for variety. 

“Working with the Sampler team has been incredible for HelloFresh and promoting both of our brands through the platform. We were able to collect extensive insights from a digital offer program, particularly about our competitive landscape, that we wouldn’t have been able to collect elsewhere.” - Kyra More, Partnerships Account Executive at HelloFresh

Boosting email opt-ins

Another major goal for HelloFresh was to attract sign ups and effectively grow their email database. The incentivizing digital coupons were a hit with consumers and drove an overall email opt-in rate of 67% which meant the team has collected over 56,000 emails throughout their programs. 

The deep consumer insights collected during the programs like common dietary needs, household makeup, and most common competitors help fine tune future messaging to better resonate with consumers.

Takeaways

One of the major benefits when setting up a Sampler program is the flexibility to choose between physical product offers (like free samples) or digital coupon offers. In the case of subscription services like HelloFresh or even products that are challenging to ship like frozen or perishable items, a high value digital coupon offer can be an excellent alternative to physical product sampling that doesn't sacrifice engagement and performance. You’ll still be able to target your ideal persona while collecting valuable consumer insights, reviews and email opt-ins to power future remarketing strategies. If you’re unsure which avenue to take, our team of sampling experts can help you determine which of these two types of offers can best help drive your brand objectives and maximize results.