5 Brilliant Ways to Use Urgency and Scarcity to Increase Your Sales
Are you tired of relying on the same old sales techniques, just to realize that you’re not making progress? Are you ready to experiment with new strategies that can help increase sales?
If you’re ready to give this a try, here are five techniques to implement:
1. Limited Time Only Offer
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you come across a limited time offer? Like most, your answer is simple: I must take action NOW!
Limited time only offers are one of the most common and most powerful ways to use urgency to increase sales. If you want your audience to act now, not later, this is one of the best ways to give them a push.
2. Countdown Timer
A countdown timer helps customers visualize how much time they have to take action. Not only can this speed up the sales process, but in some cases, it can result in an immediate purchase.
It doesn’t hold true with every consumer, but many people respond better to visual cues.
You can use countdown timers in many ways. It doesn’t always have to show how much time is left in a sale.
Tip: there’s a fine line between using a countdown timer and overdoing it. For instance, if you leave a timer on your homepage indefinitely, consumers will eventually realize it’s a sales ploy.
3. Flash Sale
Flash sales aren’t as popular as they were two or three years ago, but many online stores are still using this tactic to create urgency.
There is more than one way to run a flash sale. If it’s a big sale, you can advertise it on your homepage. This ensures that as many eyeballs as possible see it.
If you host regular flash sales, consider adding a special section on your website. This allows you to keep the sale separate from the rest of your website while ensuring that consumers always know where to find it.
To make the most of a flash sale, focus on both urgency and scarcity. Here’s an example:
- Urgency – Make it clear that your flash sale will only last for a limited period of time (such as a couple of hours or one day).
- Scarcity – State that once a certain number of units are sold, the sale will end. This drives people to act sooner rather than later for fear of missing out.
If your store sells a physical product, experiment with a flash sale. You may be surprised at the quick sales boost it generates.
4. Time Constraints
This formula explains everything: if you do X you will get Y in return.
For example, if you make a purchase before the end of the day you’ll receive free shipping.
Or, if you purchase one item you can choose another of equal or lesser value free of cost.
5. Holiday
There are people out there who always shop far in advance of a holiday. And of course, there are people who wait until the last minute. These are the people who find themselves scouring the internet and local mall on December 23rd.
Holiday sales can create urgency on your online store, especially if you entice shoppers with something of great value.
For example, starting on February 1st, you could offer 10 percent off any order through Valentine’s Day. Not only does this remind consumers to make a purchase, but it gives them a reason to do so now. Furthermore, it increases the likelihood that they’ll purchase from you, as opposed to shopping around.
Some holidays are more popular than others, but everyone provides the opportunity to use urgency to increase sales.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many ways to use urgency and scarcity to increase your sales. Even if you only experiment with one of these tactics, there’s a good chance you’ll see an uptick in sales.
It doesn’t matter if you’re selling a product or a service, consider the many ways you can use urgency and scarcity to take your sales to the next level.
Source: Payoneer’s Blog
