
Scarcity and urgency are valuable concepts in business, and
how you incorporate them into your campaigns could be the difference between a
success and failure.
Scarcity is the understanding that a product or service is
in short supply or that it will become unavailable to purchase in the near
future. This often encourages action. For example, when there is a hot, new toy
out on the market, parents race out to ensure they get one for their child.
Urgency is the understanding that a sale or offer will expire. It is more about
the amount of time someone has to complete something.
Think about it for a moment… When you see big sales flashing
in a store or online, doesn’t that “almost-too-good-to-be-true” offer tempt you
to spend more? Having a limited time sale is a great way to create a sense of
urgency.
However, faking urgency or scarcity can lead to customer
distrust. Your audience can usually tell the difference between what’s real and
fake.
Using Urgency and
Scarcity
When it comes to the underlying mechanics of why people buy,
urgency and scarcity are strong driving forces.
While there are likely hundreds of small ways to include
urgency and scarcity into your campaigns or sales funnels, here are the top 5 ways:
1. Include urgency in
your titles, headlines and text
There are certain words that compel people to act – they
create urgency. Including these words and phrases will drive more sales by encouraging action.
It’s important to remember however, that these magic words
should always be followed by instructions for how to act. For example, if you were to say ‘Hurry! Act Now!’ it should be followed by something like click here to sign up now.
Here are some other examples of urgency words and phrases:
- Deadline
- Closing soon
- Offer ends on ______
- Today only
- Limited time offer
- Don’t miss out
- Price goes up on ______
2. Utilize the loss
aversion technique
People are often driven to act when they think they’re going
to lose out on something. Sometimes it works better to flip the script and
focus on what they could lose versus
what they could gain.
You can frame almost any offer in terms of the fear of loss
and making it risky. When you test this method, it’s best to be as specific as
possible.
Here are some examples of the loss aversion technique:
- Your spot is reserved! Don’t miss your chance to learn!
- Hot rental alert! We predict that this home will rent in 3
days!
- Inventory running low! Buy now before supplies are gone!
Each example imparts a fear of loss and increases urgency.
3. Place limitations
on your offer
Here’s the truth. When there’s plenty of something, no one
wants it. When there are very few of those same things, everyone wants it.
That’s the power of scarcity.
The way to use this is to first limit whatever you’re
selling, whether it’s a physical product or it’s access to a certain program. Stores
do this with inventory online all the time. You’ll often see something like
‘Only 8 books left!’
You can also create scarcity by saying, “Limit 2 per customer”, which invokes
scarcity by indicating there is a limited quantity.
4. Create a deadline
and set a timer
Some of the best ways to induce both urgency and scarcity is
to use a countdown timer and a deadline. This lets the prospects know that the
offer is ending very soon.
Make the countdown timer very big and place it in a
prominent location in order to invoke that sense of urgency. Pair it with the
proper text to help convey the right message and not look manufactured.
It’s okay to reopen an offer at a later date as long as you
actually close it down for a period of time. By ensuring that you do this, you
won’t lose the trust of your prospects.
5. Set up a flash
sale
Flash sales are limited time sales for any product or
service and they’re a great way to create urgency and scarcity. These types of
sales are quick and compel people to take action knowing it will be brief.
For these sales you can employ the countdown timer, mentioned above as well as
several of the other methods in this article.
However, if you’re manufacturing flash sales out of the blue
to target cold traffic (people who don’t know you or your product/service), it
might not work as well. That’s because they often don’t know the real value
associated with your product or service and might perceive this as just a
stunt.
Try out one of these methods that create urgency or scarcity
in your sales funnel. If you need help
creating a sales funnel or creating campaigns for your products / services,
contact Sales & Marketing Technologies by calling (407) 682-2222 for a free
strategy session.