Have you ever walked past a shop with a huge line and felt compelled to find out what all the fuss was about?

If you’ve ever gone shopping or took part in the crazy Black Friday deals. You will have noticed a horde of offers, “insane” deals and once in a lifetime opportunities that “you will never see again”. Or until the next Black Friday deals commence 😉

The truth is, as much as we want to believe that we’re above all of this mass manipulation, there’s no denying that we’re constantly guided by it and enticed to want to take action.

It made me want to investigate further to find out the real reason as to why this is so. And the simple answer is basic human nature.

While I can’t go over the fine details, which would go far beyond the scope of this article, what I can say is that there are 2 main factors that compel us to do something, which I’ve taken straight from Economics.

Supply: How much of something exists in the marketplace.

Demand: How popular something is and whether other people want to buy it.

These 2 factors provide the foundations of basic influence and will give you a firm overview of what makes events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday so compelling.

As humans, we value our time greatly and would much rather save time and money making investments on things that are proven to be valuable through referral and by things around us. Regardless of how expensive it is.

The best example of this is the company ‘Apple’. They release a new iPhone each year, yet they sell a monstrous amount of units despite its high price and perceived value created by their consumer base.

When looking at it logically, the iPhone some feel isn’t the best phone on the market and you could say is arguably inferior to some of the alternatives currently available in the Android space. Yet many diehard customers are quick to upgrade to the next version as of when a new model is released.

It’s clear that the most valuable thing we can do is to create a fan base who love our content and services for this very reason, in that it creates ‘social proof’ and proof of value, to get others to also jump on board. This creates a snowball effect, which then means your products begin to sell themselves.

Of course, this is easier said than done and you have to start off compelling others to take on your products. As new business owners, you can only do this with effective marketing and creating a sense of urgency.

I’ve already provided a hint as to why, but here are some key reasons, which I've taken directly from The LIFT Model that was popularised by Widerfunnel to analyse conversion pages and build test hypotheses:

1) It Builds Anxiety

As I pointed out earlier, in order for a person to develop anxiety for anything, they need to be made aware that its supply is low or at the very least, understand that it will not be around for long. This is a common way in increasing the perceived value of your product.

2) It Reduces Distraction

From a customer standpoint, there are many distractions encountered along the way that will divert your attention from something that may have been good for your needs at the time.

As a business, you will have many competitors who (with effective marketing) will use the same strategies as you to steal their attention away from yours. With a good compelling sense of urgency and the right focus, you will be able to reduce the chances of the distraction your customers will inevitably have when out looking for a solution.

3) You can make more money

Following on from reducing distraction, once you’re able to get your customers attention, you will also be able to increase your value proposition by promoting more products on top of your initial offering, which will increase your profits along the way.

Now that we’ve established why Urgency is so effective at improving your communication and relationships. Let’s now look at how you can practically apply this to your own business, while giving you examples of other sources who are using it effectively.

The use of words can potentially make or break your sales message. There are many powerful words you can use, which can help increase urgency.

Here are a few good ones:

Here’s a limited stock available example from British Airways.

Here’s a great example from an email promotion from CreativeMarket that uses time-related words to signify scarcity in their recent promotion.

The airlines EasyJet show how many other people are looking at the same flight you are looking at.

This creates a feeling of anxiety, as you feel that if you don’t act now you will miss out!

"In a highly competitive marketplace such as the airline industry, it’s imperative that they utilize scarcity in order to make sales."

Letting the customer know that the offer will be taken away is one of the most powerful strategies to create anxiety and urgency.

Here’s a nice example of an email promo by DigitalMarketer using this technique to great effect.

Clearly stating “Last Chance” to make it very clear that you must act now in order to not miss out!

A great technique for building social proof and credibility is to show live sales of your product to indicate that it's in high demand.

Booking.com uses this cleverly by showing live bookings of their offers. We’ve yet to see any stats of its effectiveness, but as an established site who are always testing. We can only assume that it’s working well for them.

If you’re pressed for time when it comes to creating promotions for special events, using Promo Codes can be great for quickly setting up offers for your customers to use and take advantage of.

Here, EasyJet offers a nice limited promo for travellers looking to cut costs on their holidays.

Whichever direction you choose to go with your promotions, implementing urgency is without a doubt one of the most effective things you can apply to your business and getting predictable results.

By taking the right actions, you will be well on your way to making the type of sales you’ve always dreamed of.

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