Before I tell you about the amazing technique that will help you sell 10x more via email than you otherwise would, a quick reminder that this post will not be up for long. I am only putting it up this week for a few days (because it’s the basis for a chapter in my ebook which is going to sell for $39.95, but I am road testing it for feedback) so if you are one of the lucky ones to see it then be sure to read it all the way through, especially the last paragraph.
In this post I am going to teach you about scarcity. It’s a magic sales tool that can increase the likelihood that people who take the actions you ask them to, including buying faster, sooner and with more focused intention.
The magic of scarcity in email marketing
So what is scarcity? In the context of sales and email marketing it is limiting the availability of something you are selling such that the person who has received an offer is compelled to act for fear of losing out. Of course if it was just this definition alone it wouldn’t necessarily work. If I told you I have a house for you to buy in Greenland and it costs $20 million and its only for sale until tomorrow at midnight – that alone won’t necessarily have you rush out and buy my offer.
Why not? Well, scarcity requires five key elements to work well in sales:
1) The offer needs to be limited in time and availability. e.g. Offer expires tomorrow at midnight
2) It needs to seem exclusive to the buyer – so only offered once in this current offer. Only being offered at this price to you and your fellow subscribers.
3) It needs to seem to contain great value that may never be offered again. It’s a $1000 value, but we are offering it at $99.99.
4) It needs to fulfilling a burning need for the buyer. The buyer will be on your email list for any number of key reasons. They want to learn. They want to solve a problem. They need help. They have a need of some kind. The reason they are on your list may be solved by the reason they need this product.
5) And it helps as if the buyer has an emotional connection to the opportunity. Their buying temperature needs to be heightened. So they need to be excited, inspired, connect or thrilled about what’s being offered. Or you need to get them there.
So my Greenland real estate offer is going to be much more appealing if you know house prices are skyrocketing in Greenland and it will be worth $4 million by next season. If you know that global warming will make Greenland as warm as the Caribbean within 18 months.And that its the hottest new opportunity in real estate. And you need a house there because there are lots of high paying jobs there…ok now you might be ore interested.
Suddenly my limited time offer will be much more appealing. And my short deadline to buy will be more likely to compel you to buy in the window.
Now the whole world of scarcity also needs one last thing to work well.
This one is the tough one:
The more authentic the scarcity seems is the better it will work.
So what does that mean? You need to justify why there is a short window of opportunity. And it can’t be made up. It needs to be a true and reasonable reason that the person understands and trusts. One whiff of fake or lacklustre scarcity and the whole technique will fall flat on its face.
How to invent legitimate reasons to limit availability
So what reasons can you give for the short offer window?
- The product or service is in development and so you are looking for feedback and offering it at a lower price in return.
- The product or service only has a few left and so you want to sell off the remaining inventory to move on to the next product or product version.
- Perhaps its for a special season so you need sell it before a cultural deadline (Father’s Day, Halloween, Christmas, Summer, Winter, Year end).
- Perhaps there is limited room in course or a hall has a maximum capacity.
- Maybe what you offer is a course and it has a special guest who won’t be back for a while or ever.
- Perhaps you are moving and need to get rid of inventory to save on warehouse or shipping costs.
- Perhaps…well you get the idea. Make the reason real, compelling and convincing.
There is lots more to learn about scarcity and there are further nuances in it’s usage. I will be talking about a lot in future posts as well as in my email list.
One final thing for the folks that read the first paragraph and bought the scarcity pitch. Read on…
The last paragraph:
If you skipped to the bottom from the top of this post then there, know that I’ve used scarcity – the topic of this post – to get you to engage with this post much faster and with great intent than if I hadn’t.
The truth is I won’t be taking this article down anytime soon (though I reserve the right to change my mind!). You have all the time in the world to consume it. But if I told you you did you may not have taken the time to read the whole thing. Now you can leisurely read through the whole piece. But you also now know how effective creating scarcity is. 🙂
