This is the second post in a series on sales and marketing tactics. You can find the first post that explores whether you’re Afraid of Marketing or Just Turned Off right here.
Limited time offer! One-day sale! Less than 24 hours! Price goes up in 3 hours! Last chance! Only 12 copies left ! Hurry!
Ugh. If you’ve been around online for a while, you’re probably pretty tired of that stuff. It might make you feel sick or just come off as a high-pressure sleaze tactic to land sales. You probably feel pressured, pushed and manipulated.
But could you – despite your hatred of looming-deadline tactics- possibly be influenced to buy? The answer is yes.
We human beings hate to lose. In fact, potential loss of an item, a loved one or a freedom we have seems to motive people more than the thought of gaining something or appreciating what we have. How many people have suddenly realized how much they love someone while the person is ill in the hospital?
Loss can do some powerful stuff.
In sales and marketing, the potential loss of an opportunity can create powerful action, too. Many, many businesses and companies tap into that fear of loss we all have, and they make a killing. The scarcity principle moves a lot of sales around the world.
Pair it with a lovely little twist of urgency, and you have a cocktail for sales success.
Toss Rational Thought Out the Window
Time limitations (otherwise called the deadline tactic) force us into make immediate decisions. Faced with potential loss, we need to choose quickly whether to buy or not.
That ticking clock makes it hard to think, too. When you’re watching something you want slip through your fingers, you have a physical reaction. Your blood pressure rises. Your heart beats faster. You may even sweat. Fight or flight, which is it?
Feeling like that, it’s damned hard to think straight – and there’s no time left to think, either. “Only 30 seconds left before the sale ends…Hurry!”
“Oh crap.” Your brain starts to scramble. “Should I? Shouldn’t I? What if I don’t and then I can never get it again and dammit I wish I had more time to think and there’s only 20 seconds lef-…”
CLICK. You buy.
The sense of urgency works to scare people into believing they can’t have this great offer/wonderful product/fantastic discount later. That increases the perceived value of the item and enhances desire while fogging the brain with physical effects that make it difficult to decide.
Of course, a week later, someone says, “Hey, you bought that course, didn’t you? What’d you think?” And then you wonder what to say, because you haven’t even looked at it yet. Come to think of it, you’re not even sure why you bought it. You didn’t need it, you weren’t really even interested, and…
“Oh yeah, it’s great!” Ah, rationalization of our actions. No one wants to look silly.
A Killer Sales Cocktail
Urgency alone won’t get you good sales. To be effective as a strategy, scarcity and urgency have to go hand in hand. The discount offer has to expire. The price has to rise. The sale price has to be for a day only. The quantities have to sell out.
The reason goes back to that fear of loss. We want what we don’t have. And if it’s out of our reach, either because of financial reasons, rarity or low stock supplies, we want it even more.
Then suddenly we discover it’s available… and the clock is ticking… and our heart is pounding… and logical, calm thought goes out the window.
Remember the Elmo doll? People went nuts trying to get their child an Elmo for Christmas. Time was running out, supplies were low, and Elmo was hard to find in stores. The situation created fevered panic to buy the doll, and it was a total sales success.
Limit a supply, and suddenly you create desire. Add a sense of urgency – stocks are running low, people are buying in droves, and you’d better hurry to get yours! – and you increase desire.
Can’t Fight the Feeling?
So how do you fight the tactic of urgency? It’s not easy. Your brain isn’t as sharp as it could be, your body is begging for action, and you’re watching people around you flock in droves to get theirs. Unless you work hard at it, you’re going to succumb too.
So back away from the computer. Get away from the store. Remove yourself from the situation and do everything you can to regain a calm mind. Take a break until you don’t feel that sense of urgency pushing you.
Now ask yourself: “What do I really want from this ONE thing?” Do you just want to own it? Remember that scarce items don’t necessarily perform better, look better or taste better. Would you just be buying because everyone else is? What will you get out of owning this, beyond possession?
Is it truly that urgent to buy this item? Probably not.
See you next Friday, when we discuss Scarcity in more depth. In the meantime, remember, young Sales Skywalker. Shun the Dark side and wield your saber for the Power of Good, not Evil.
This comment is for Melinda. Now she’s not the first commentator. I am
Recently I’ve been purposefully waiting on the limited time offer things, especially ones that say “by midnight tonight!” because all too often I go back the next day and it’s still the same price, still available, still going to change at midnight…
I’ve also done a new subscription to a site and gotten an autoresponder that told me of a special sale that was only happening for three days, but it was the same email to each account created several days apart.
In both cases, that’s lying and that’s as you said in the last post the Dark Force use of the power of marketing.
In my own marketing, I have limited numbers because I limit my coaching time. I walk my own talk and balance out my life so I have limited coaching hours available. When they’re full, they’re full and everyone else goes on a waiting list.
Now perhaps I need to hire you again to tweak the sales page to up the urgency and get people contacting before I run out of spaces…
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome´s last blog post…7 Ways to Make Regret-Free Decisions and Overcome Insecurity
James, you’re a dork! LOL!
I really dislike the “Only 3 left” when it’s a digital product. And the crazy thing is that people buy it! (pun intended)
There can be a genuine time limited offer, for instance a three day sale where the special pricing ends at a certain time. That’s fair enough, when there’s a reason for the sale. There needs to be a reason for the sale AND for the time limit. Pre-launch. Birthday sale. New Year sale. Not just a sale for the sake of having a sale, and the time limit needs to be enforced.
I’m sure we’ve all seen ‘sales’ where everything is always on sale, for some reason or another. When it appears that the sale price is actually the real price, and the price that was originally on the item was inflated to make the sale look real. Dishonest and unethical.
Melinda´s last blog post…Do You Have Permission to Market?
I had a feeling that many people here would be very eager to comment on this post.
I just launched a product, as a promotion I offered 50 copies (it is digital) for a promo discount. However, I take the time to count the orders and reduce the number to reflect actual stats.
I think the whole OTO and buy now launch stuff is getting old. For one, the people that buy that type of stuff are not the educated consumer that I want to have as a customer, but I also don’t really feel good providing those types of sales.
The problem is that it works, like all the rest of the IM stuff does. The task for me is to figure out where I can position myself to still use marketing that works while also not selling my soul in the process. It isn’t easy and I am struggling with this every day.
For instance, Brian Clark pitches launches all the time, but people probably don’t consider him a bad guy. However, get on some of these IM lists and you’ll find a bunch of people that certain crowds revere (not sure why) and crowds like this one would absolutely hate.
This is why being a marketer is extremely difficult.
Nathan Hangen´s last blog post…Welcome Twitip Readers
@Melinda – I can think of a few reasons why there might be only 3 left for a digital product, such as a system that can’t afford to be used by more than a certain number of people. The problem is that when people say “only 3 left” many of them don’t mean it.
@James This is a truly rockin’ post. Why? Because you go beyond the pros of using urgency, you throw in the cons (“Oops I’ve gone and bought something I don’t need”) and then on top of that a how-to on overcoming that sense of urgency.
I can attest to taking a break to calm yourself down when that sense of urgency bites and it does work. I can recount a number of times where I’ve stopped myself from purchasing something and 24 hours later the thing I *absolutely must* have was no longer that appealing.
In a sense we’re throwing up the barriers that the marketers are keen on removing.
Thanks James.
@Mel Another example of limitations on “digital” products are the training programs like Brian Clark’s Teaching Sells, Aaron Wall’s SEO course and so on.
I understand what you mean though.
Marc – WelshScribe´s last blog post…The Rhydian Roberts Guide To Successful Freelancing
I’m eager to learn how these tactics can be used for good. I’ve been working hard on my impulse buying, and recently took my time investigating a course I wanted to buy. I was warned that the price would go up substantially after two weeks, but like Alex said, so many times that’s a lie that I assumed I didn’t have to worry. Then the price actually went up. However, I found an affiliate who offered the lower price. Impulses remained checked, and I liked the course when I finally bought it.
Dot´s last blog post…Spring Has Sprung
In my experience the few times when I end up paying a higher price by taking my time, i making balance well thought out choices are massively outweighed by not rush into buying things that I really don’t want or need.
James,
You’ve created a sense of urgency about firsties! Good for you!
(Love the article, too.)
Nathan,
That’s SO true, and often gets forgotten— When urgency is used with the “power of Evil,” as James says, you’ll attract a totally different customer. I’ve seen it happen time and again. “The quality of my customer has changed. Why?” Because the character of your sales tactics has changed. Great point.
Regards,
Kelly
Kelly´s last blog post…Let’s Not Sell Anything! Let’s Sell It to Other People, and Let Them Sell Stuff!
@ Alex – Ahh, you. I was going to discuss that in Scarcity, but you beat me to the punch.
I often see that on sales pages – “Hurry, because in 12 hours, we’ll be taking this page down!” Really? I’ve been checking for three months… That’s just dumb, period. If you’re going to do it, DO it.
@ Melinda – I’m not sure there does need to be a reason for the sale. If that were true, then grocery stores and their weekly specials would flop, totally.
Speaking of real price/sales price, it reminds me of WalMart. They use a roll-back technique to make people think items are going on sale.
@ Nathan – It only gets old because we see a lot of it on the internet. We become desensitized and the technique becomes ineffective. That’s why switching marketing strategies often revives dying campaigns.
As for Brian Clark, he uses *all* the great tactics. But what I appreciate about Brian’s strategies is that he conveys a strong message. “I think it’s good; I don’t care if you buy.” No push. “If you were going to buy this anyways, you should get in our bonus offer.” Nice, thanks. He uses the techniques but downplays the pressure so that you feel as if it’s YOUR choice.
Again. Nice.
@ Marc – Ahh, thank you. There are pros and cons to everything in life, even the shitty stuff. And there are always ways out. I’d be remiss if I didn’t cover the three.
@ Dot – I think the best way to demonstrate when a tactic is used for good is when there is a genuine benefit to a purchase. When you *know* the person would be better off buying what you sell, *not* marketing it means that you’re withholding people from a better life.
@ Maree – Same here. I tend to be an impulse buyer. “I WANT!” I’ve learned (to the benefit of my finances) to give EVERY impulse purchase (yes, even a pack of gum) 24 hours rest period.
If I still want it in 24 hours, then okay. Go buy. And if I don’t… Then I didn’t really need it, now did I?
@ Kelly – That’s a very good point. The type of tactics you use in marketing and how you use them can shift your customer base. Case in point:
“You guys just do Rev sites, right?”
“No! No, we do ANY site!”
“Oh. Well… I didn’t know that.”
We changed our marketing strategies and downplayed our Rev customization greatness, boosting up that we can work with *any* WP site… and voila. Now we’re not just Rev great, we’re overall rockin’.
(See, kiddos? That’s marketing right there. *points up at self-promotion*)
Very good post James. It reminds me of Johnny Carson when he jokingly told his NBC Tonight Show audience that there was a toilet paper shortage (1973). People horded, draining supplies. Johnny then said, “just kidding,” but the store shelves were out of toilet paper, so people thought he was part of some shortage cover-up scam, and they horded some more. As far as I know he didn’t make any money from this “incident” but I will never forget it. He was just classic and one of a kind. A good old mid-western boy who never forgot where he grew up.
As a buyer, there’s a way to play coy and get even better deals. For example, there’s a paid dating site that gives you 10 days free as their default offer. If you sign up and don’t pay, they will start sending you emails. If you wait it out for two weeks, they offer you nearly double the amount of free time.
Geek’s Dream Girl´s last blog post…Dilbert Says Darwin Favors Geeks: Turn Women On With Your Smarts and Stable Income!
I usually end up feeling the urgency, waiting anyway, …and the price goes up. I’m the type to wait for it to go back on sale (or figure I’ll find something that does the job just as well).
I just love to shop “sales”, but I’m slow to break out the wallet.
April, the ispecialist´s last blog post…Get Out…Again!
Geez, my e-book is scarce, because I’m the only one who wrote it, and it’s urgent, because if you don’t buy it I’ll die.
Seriously, I’ll die.
No, seriously, how do you make digital content scarce and urgent?
Kaushik´s last blog post…The Paradox of Effort
@Kaushik Time limited sale or bonus offer.
@ Nathan & Marc. I understand that some digital products are TRULY limited. I wasn’t referring to them (see – I shouldn’t comment on blogs late at night after a few glasses of wine!). I was referring to digital products that are not really limited, it’s when a false scarcity is used as a sales tactic. IMO it’s dishonest.
Melinda´s last blog post…Do You Have Permission to Market?
You know, I know this stuff but you guys just spell it out nice & clear. And I love your approach about marketing being good & ethical. And we are marketed to and sold to all the time…all day long. And I’ve fallen for these urgency tactics more times than I’d like to admit.
But for me in my biz, I’m not sure how to implement it yet. I need some physical products, but the thought of telling people “only 5 more left” leaves me a bit uncomfortable. But guess the more I do it the easier it will get, right? Like anything in life.
I’m enjoying this series. I’ve studied a lot of marketing, and even taught it at a University here near Boston. I can teach it, but doing it myself is another thing. Thanks for making me see more of what I need to do. People need me & my services, and by not marketing I’m not helping them.
Dinneen – Eat Without Guilt´s last blog post…UPDATE: One Hour That Could Help Change Your Life
Ok James, here’s my two cent’s worth. Well I could go on a real tangent about this subject but I’ll try and reign it in enough to just say I have succumbed to this ‘ICK’ tactic myself – several times!! But no more. I refuse to be pressured in this way ever again. But..if nothing else it has taught me what NOT to do as I plan the launch of my own business – I will be doing the opposite and put myself in the shoes of a potential customer/purchaser. I think if you have something worth saying, selling, etc. it just does not require the ‘ ick’ factor hard sell. Maybe naive of me, but we’ll see. I for one am sick to death of endless squeeze pages and don’t even skim them any more. In fact, for me, it does the opposite of sell me something. Seeing all that text, testimonials, time-limited offers go on, and on, and on, I simply click out. I have better things to do than read all that garbage. And some are just soooo sleazy don’tcha just wanna run for the shower? I have resolved to never incorporate the ‘ICK’ factor in my business. @AlexFayle I totally get the limitation on the coaching – that’s your time so you have to put limits on that!
James, perfect timing. I am in the middle of Brian Clark’s Teaching Sells program, and I am SOO very glad I signed on. But here’s the rub: Before I clicked “buy now or you’ll regret it and your children will regret it” I waded through every last email, every last ploy, not only because it’s my personality, but because I wanted to analyze what he did.
But I have a confession to add: the deadline set my rubber soles ablaze. I called my business partner and said, “We have to make a decision by X date. Are you in or out?”
Is that crazy or what? I think I’m a savvy (cynical) consumer and marketer. But you know what…I’m human. And I don’t want to be the last one to find out. Anything.
@ Lisa – Nothing crazy about being a normal human being at all. We do all kinds of irrational things because we’re made to, we’re supposed to, in the name of caveman survival. That hard-wired instinct was well laid.
@ Deb – Think of it like makeup. You can lay it on thick or just give a dusting – but you can’t blame the makeup. The makeup’s just a tool. Blame the brush wielder if there’s three inches of ick
@ Dinneen – If this strategy doesn’t resonate for you, don’t do it. Period. But if you ever decide to give away pens and only buy 500 because they’re pricey, you’ll know which tactic to use to get people grabbing them up
@ Melinda – Don’t Drink and Discuss.
@ Kaushik – Say your digital product involved your maintenance – you knew you could only handle 50 people, not 500. So you’d have to limit it. Or you were giving away a free hour of consulting with a purchase – you’d have to limit downloads again.
@ Geek – Ahh, another beautiful strategy when urgency fails!
@ Mark – Oh, that’s too funny. And I can so see it, too.
Great post once again James, you always make me think even if it is on a Friday.
I have recently made a promise to myself that I will never buy anything online until I have thought about it for 24 hours. I apparently am very susceptible to the scarcity tactic because several times I wasn’t even interested in a particular product but I ended up buying it when I thought the offer was going away.
Often times within a few minutes of clicking away from a site I realize that the burning desire I had really isn’t there any more. It is really amazing to me how a good copywriter can manipulate me so easily but that is their job and they spend all day tweaking each word to get the best response.
I appreciate the information you provide on this site and always enjoy your thought processes.
Andy@hair plugs´s last blog post…The Best Thinning Hair Treatment Is Hair Restoration
Spot-on post! Another way people can limit digital downloads is when the offer is coupled with a premium membership/inner circle – there are only so many hours in the day where you can spend supporting your clients.
And the tip that Geek’s Dream Girl shares – totally true indeed! The mindset from the marketer is, okay, you’re not going to buy at price ABC, let’s see if half that intrigues you. Any money is better than no money at all!
What bemuses me are the follow-up one time offer pages that knock off an immediately $20 from the initial price – I imagine that would really annoy a buyer at the full price!
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach´s last blog post…20 Times 101 Ways To Earn Money Online! Part 1
Great article!
Thanks for sharing… This is quickly becoming one of my favorite sites to visit. I am wondering how you change the post URL to have just the one word in it /urgency as apposed to the whole title. Curious to know, so I subscribed to this comment feed.
Cheers
Thanks
Jonathan EnlightenYourDay.com´s last blog post…Yes, I love all things Social Media.
@ Jonathan – I forget which one does it, but I believe it’s SEO Title Tag. When I’m adding the post, I can add a custom url name.
James´s last blog post…Did You Hate Our Black Background?
This is where handmade and artistan items have the edge: built-in scarcity. One-of-a-kind is the scarcest there is.
For digital products, a limited number at a discount is only false in that it isn’t needed, which is totally different than whether or not it’s effective.
If the first 50 people get a price break, that’s hardly an evil sales tactic. I mean, yay for the first 50, y’know?
However, volume scarcity and unavailability are hardly believable for digital products that require no real-time support, such as live coaching time.
Also, scarcity will hardly help a mediocre offer.
Michael Martine´s last blog post…How to Set Up A Blog (For the Long Run)
@James @Jonathan I believe that field is part of the All in One SEO pack for WordPress
re ‘makeup’ analogy, you’re right. Re-reading this article and all of the great responses from everyone giving me lots to think about.
Thanks. D.
Thanks for getting back to me James. It looks like a great feature, I will have to check out. Much appreciated
Cheers
Jonathan
Jonathan | EnlightenYourDay.com´s last blog post…Meditative Thought Blog: E.Y.D a year in review
I market myself so I can market other people. Since I write online dating profiles, my all family support me very well.