Nov 4, 2023
Why is scarcity powerful?
The girls all get prettier at closing time.
At least according to American country music artist Mickey Gilley
in his 1976 hit. As opportunities, and the items they present,
become scarcer, they are perceived as more valuable.
This principle accounts for studies showing that:
Tasters rated cookies as more desirable when they were scarce
rather than abundant;
Consumers rated phosphate detergents as better once their use was
prohibited by government decree;
College students rated their cafeteria food higher when they
learned that it would not be available to them for two
weeks;
And young lovers rated themselves as more in love with their
sweethearts as long as their parents tried to keep them apart.
Scarcity marketing is the idea of limiting the
supply of a product, whether it be through restricting availability
to a certain timeframe or decreasing production—oftentimes
both.
The principle is sound—we all want what we can’t have and love to
flaunt when we have something others don’t. Scarcity marketing
takes advantage of this desire, creating demand through mystique
and enticement. It’s an excellent way to ensure that a product is
swept off the shelves with the hype that every brand wants to
create.
We tend to associate limited availability with
exclusivity.
If things are difficult to get, we know it’s because they’re better
than the things we already have.
As such, consumers use an item’s availability to decide on the
quality of the product.
People don’t think about the fact that it’s a psychological
reaction that’s causing us to want something. We know we want it.
And because we need to make sense of this feeling, we assign the
item positive qualities to justify our desire.
In his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert
Cialdini argues that the idea of potential loss plays a role in how
we make decisions.
How often have you been more motivated by the prospect of losing
something than gaining something of equal value?
More than a few times, right?
Take Black Friday as an example.
People wake up at inhuman hours. They get in line for hours in the
freezing cold. Why? So they can get their hands on the new LEGO
Star Wars set that’s on sale for $49.99 before it’s sold out. (I
actually have no idea what Star Wars LEGOs cost so don’t take me up
on this).
We know this phenomenon as the fear of missing out (FOMO).
68% of millennial consumers say they would buy something after
experiencing FOMO, most often within 24 hours.
No one wants to feel left out, especially if a good deal is up for
grabs. But there’s more to scarcity and FOMO than great deals.
Now that you know why you should use scarcity, let’s take a look
at...
6 Scarcity Marketing to Try Today
1.The Few-Items-Left Tactic
2.The Limited-Introductory-Price Tactic
3.The Limited-Bonuses Tactic
4.The Order-Before-XX-Today Tactic
5.The Limited-Products Tactic
6.The Device-Limited-Sale Tactic
Use some of these strategies and focus on the exclusivity of your
product. Get people to buy now instead of later (read: never) and
watch your sales soar.