Interpersonal Touch and Compliance with a Marketing Request

Shoppers in a supermarket were approached with a request to sample a new food product. Half the shoppers were touched during the request and the other half were not. Touch increased the probability of both trying the food sample and buying the product. The touch and no-touch groups did not differ in their taste rating of the product. The probability of sampling or buying the product was not related to the gender of the shopper or the experimenter.