Most People Are Chronic Procrastinators

Why You’re Missing Out On Sales

Opportunity #1 - Urgency

Imagine you’re browsing for a new vegan vitamin B supplement.

You’ve stumbled across a website that has the one you want, but you’re not really motivated enough to actually buy.

But you see there’s a 24 hour limited time offer that saves you money if you simply buy it now (rather than later).

You start to feel the pressure because if you miss this 24 hour window, you’ll end up paying a higher price eventually.

After all, you wouldn’t want to miss out on that opportunity. 

How To Create Urgency

Setting Expectations: Pointing out the normal shipping time so they form their own deadline of when it’ll arrive.

Exclusive Offers: Limited time offers that are only available for that day, week or month. Phrases like "Flash sale for 24 hours" or "Offer ends soon" convey a sense of urgency.

Discounts: That might be here today and gone tomorrow.

Coupon Codes: That a visitor feels compelled to use otherwise they’ll miss out on the deal.

Social Proof: Social proof strategies like how many people have purchased or the apps that show who is buying the products right now.

Countdown Timers: Incorporating a countdown timer on the product page or during checkout can visually represent the limited time available for a special offer or promotion.

Simply ask yourself what time based deadline might move your visitor to purchase now instead of procrastinating until later.

Opportunity #2 - Scarcity

Adding scarcity to a product description involves creating a sense of limited availability around your product.

It is driven by the fact that people tend to put more value on items that are scarce versus those in abundance.

Supreme grew into a billion dollar brand by limiting the amount of product they release and creating buzz around the “drop” of those products which creates tremendous FOMO (fear of missing out) for customers.

Creating scarcity can be as effective as listing how many products you have left.

How To Create Scarcity

Limited Stock: Mentioning that there is a limited quantity of the product available can create a sense of urgency. For example, "Only 20 items left in stock – act fast!"

Limited Quantity Offer: You could decide to only sell a limited number of products during a particular promotion so you can create more buzz and excitement.

Exclusive Release: Emphasizing that the product is part of an exclusive or limited-edition release can make it more desirable. For instance, "Be one of the few to own this exclusive edition."

Low Stock Alerts: Implementing a feature that displays low stock alerts, indicating when the inventory is running low, can prompt customers to make a decision sooner rather than later.

Opportunity #3 - Discount Strategically

Some ecommerce websites take urgency and scarcity to the extreme and literally put everything on sale all the time.

This might work if you’re a fly by night business that never expects the visitor to return.

But if you’re building a real business with repeat customers, then they’re going to figure out your strategy pretty quickly.

Remember, in every market there is only room for one low cost leader and it's very dangerous to compete with them unless you have very deep pockets.

Create A Reason To Act Now

You can use a mix of urgency and scarcity to give visitors a reason to act now.

But just remember to be careful with these tools.

And don't forget you have opportunities to use urgency and scarcity through your ads and emails.

While you leave the evergreen reasons on your Shopify store.