Samples
Link samples to full-size products, track each shopper from the sample order to the full-size order, and write customer tags your email and SMS flows can use.
Tile and paint are bought in two steps: the sample first, the full order later. Shopify sees two orders and nothing in between. Tile & Paint Calculator connects them: it knows which products are samples, which full-size product each sample belongs to, and for each shopper whether the sample led to a full order, how long it took, and whether they are still deciding.
How samples are set up
Two setups exist, and the app supports both. Pick yours once in Samples, then Settings:
- Separate products: the sample is its own product ("Sample: Saffron Zellige"). Each full-size product is linked to its sample on the Products page; that link is what the buy box uses for the sample button and what the tracking uses to match the two.
- Variants: the sample is a variant of the full-size product, picked by an option value ("Size: Sample"). Tell the app the option name and the values that mean sample, and the counterpart is the sibling variant with the same other options.
Sample groups
A sample group is the set of products the tracking watches, with its own conversion rules. One group ("All tile") is enough for most stores; a store with tile and paint might want one each so the reports stay separate.
A group is built from a matcher: products in a collection, with a tag, of a type, from a vendor, picked by hand, or matched by title, handle, SKU pattern or option value, and the editor previews what the matcher catches. In the separate-products setup the group also has a matcher for the sample products and an ordered list of ways to find each sample's counterpart: the link from the Products page first, then rules on SKU, handle and title, then your own manual picks.
The review table
After an index run, the group editor lists every sample with the full-size product the app resolved for it. Samples it could not match come first, marked for review, with a picker to link them by hand; your manual links stick across re-indexes. This is where a catalog of two thousand tiles becomes bulletproof: every sample has exactly one parent, and the catalog health rule with the sample requirement tells you which parents have no sample at all.
The index runs every night and whenever you change a group; Index now on the Samples page runs it on demand.
Journeys
When sample tracking is on, every new order is checked against your groups:
- A sample order opens a journey for that shopper (matched by email, so guest checkouts count). More samples join the same journey and reset its windows.
- A later order of a full-size product in the group converts the journey. The app records how many days it took.
- A journey with no full-size order after the nurture window (45 days by default) is lapsed. A full-size order that arrives later still counts as a late conversion for 180 days, kept apart from the conversion rate.
- A cancelled or fully refunded order reverses what it caused: a cancelled full order reopens the journey, a cancelled sample order closes it.
- A shopper who samples again after converting or lapsing starts a new journey, marked as a repeat sampler.
The Samples page shows sample orders, journeys, the conversion rate and median days to convert, cohorts, the most-sampled products and the products that get sampled but never bought.
Customer tags
Three tags are written on the customer record so your email and SMS tools can segment on them without any integration:
| Tag | When |
|---|---|
sample-ordered | The shopper has an open journey (they ordered a sample and have not bought the full size yet) |
sample-lapsed | The nurture window passed with no full-size order; stays next to sample-ordered until they convert or sample again |
sample-converted | The full-size order arrived; removes the other two |
Tags need a customer account on the order. Guest checkouts carry an email but no customer record, so they get no tag; their journey is still tracked and still reaches Klaviyo, where the email is enough.
Importing history
Import the last 60 days on the Samples page reads your recent orders once and replays them through the same rules, so the reports start with history instead of from zero. The replay never fires Klaviyo flows. Recalculate replays everything the app has stored after you change a group's rules.
Free or discounted samples
The sample allowance gives every order its first few samples free, or an amount off each, as an automatic discount at checkout, counted across the groups you choose. The Sample quick-add block puts the sample button on product cards so shoppers collect samples from the collection grid.
What the app never does
It sends no email or SMS of its own. The follow-up is yours to build, on the tags or on the Klaviyo events.
Catalog health
Rules such as every product in the tile collection needs coverage, pieces, dimensions and a sample. The app audits the catalog and lists what is missing, with a fix field on each row.
Sample allowance
The first few samples in every order free, or a fixed amount off each, applied automatically at checkout. Set once in the app, shown next to every sample button and on the cart page.