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Sampling is a strategy with which brands can meet their audience. In this way, it will be easier for them to design their strategies for marketing, reducing the margin of error and giving you the data or information that most interests you about your products.
Go ahead that users already knew the existence of the brand, but they used competitive products or services. With sampling It is intended that these users become customers of the brand, and allows obtaining the necessary data to attract this sector of the population. For this, there are several types of sampling.
Stratified sampling
We talk about the most accurate type of sampling, which allows us look exclusively at a sector of the population. As the name implies, the total selected is stratified by characteristics as different as the geographical location, family charges or socioeconomic status. With sampling, the characteristics of each group are studied separately, which at all times are treated independently of the rest.
Sample by representative structuring
Although it does not refine so much in the selection of the participants in the sampling as the previous one, it is said to be the most effective type of sampling in a market study. The reason is found in the method of selecting the participants in the sampling: they are chosen from the probabilistic method. In this way, it will go through sampling a selection with the most appropriate participants to apply a specific study.
Zone Sampling
If you want know if a product will work in a specific geographical area or introduce it in it, this is the right type of sampling. It is based on a geographical location, so that, depending on the objective, we can develop sampling in a single neighbourhood, on a city street, in a town or city, in a province or community, etc. We should not limit ourselves exclusively to that geographical area, since we should open the sampling to the participation of residents in border areas to the main selection, for example, the metropolitan area of the chosen city.
Random sampling
His name says it all: we make a random selection of people who will participate in the sampling, for example through a raffle. Chance is the key factor since there is no rule or guideline to follow about the qualities of the public. Surely be the riskiest modality of all, because if chance offers us a bad selection we will be wasting economic, human and time resources.
Semi-random sampling
We could say that it is a mixture of the first three types of sampling we have seen with the random component of the room. We have a group with certain characteristics, which can be geographical, socioeconomic, professional, personal, etc., and from that total, a random selection is made which will be the one that will participate in the sampling. The big difference between random and semi-random sampling is that in the first one the participants are heterogeneous and in the semi-random one we make sure that share at least one feature that will be the key.
Although these are the most effective types of sampling, we have other options that well used can be of great help, although they have the handicap that we lose their control. For example:
- With the snowball sampling We need word of mouth between users to work very well.
- The convenience sampling it consists of pulling the individuals that best come to us, which are closer.
- In the discretionary sampling we choose individuals directly;
But in none of the three cases are we guaranteed to obtain reliable results, and the margin of error is greater.