When to use urgency and scarcity in your marketing

I have written in the past about the power of fear in marketing. Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a potent motivator. As such, it's often abused by marketers.

There is a time and place to help prospects understand that an offer is ending. Or that a limited supply is depleting. But it can't be the first and only way you engage with prospects.

As I mentioned, there are a lot of marketers who do that. Does it work? Sometimes initially. But at what price? It can cause a lot of anxiety and distraction for potential customers. That can be destructive for a brand. You become known as that organization that's always pumping up the fear of missing out. Eventually, people just begin to ignore you.

The bottom line is that we need to be careful how we communicate. Here is a look at two drivers that get misused and how we can employ them without alienating prospects.

Urgency

I received multiple cold emails from a person wanting me to purchase a seat at their webinar. Each had a message that I was about to miss the biggest opportunity ever afforded to me.

First of all, cold emails suck. The inbox is a sacred place. You don't get to just show up without being invited. Second, that's how you choose to engage me? To try and scare me into buying?

This is no way to use urgency. I don't know you. I don't trust you. So why should I feel your urgency?

We have to establish familiarity and trust with prospects. If we don't have that, any message of urgency just feels exploitative.

Familiarity and trust come from sharing and caring in your communications. That takes time and work. But once you establish these, your prospects will allow you to communicate urgency – but only if it’s done in an honest and helpful way.

For example, if you have a webinar coming up and your prospects haven't signed up, you may want to send them a reminder.  If you have established familiarity and trust, this can feel helpful to someone who has a busy schedule and would appreciate a reminder of an event they had intended to attend. In other words, this reminder will feel helpful as opposed to annoying.

Scarcity

I don't know about you, but I hate ecommerce apps that use the scarcity tactic. I'll be looking at an item and the app will indicate that there are only 2 left. Only 2! I always have this visceral reaction when I see that. It's best described as a little bit of panic. It doesn't matter that I'm casually browsing. I still feel it. Then I have to remind myself that this is a scarcity tactic.

I usually find myself getting irritated in this situation. Again, it is because the brand has not established familiarity and trust with me. So immediately, it feels like they are trying to manipulate me.

It is okay to communicate scarcity to your prospects. I'll use the webinar example again. Can the organization holding the webinar send me a message telling me there are only a few seats left (scarcity)? Absolutely - but only if they have established that familiarity and trust with me. If it's a webinar I had intended to attend, I'll find the nudge helpful.

Fear is powerful. That's why we need to be careful when we do anything that communicates urgency and scarcity. Those communications have to come from a place of caring and helping. A place built by familiarity and trust.