in Copywriting by Les Tatum

Scarcity, The Great Motivator. Do You Use Scarcity In Your Copy?

Scarcity in your copy and on your offers is by far the best motivator for someone to buy your product. People want what they can’t, or soon may not be able to have. It’s a fact! Why do you think as soon as you have a steady girlfriend, all the other girls you have been chasing for months are suddenly calling you? Or, why do you think people buy one time offers and upsells so readily? Scarcity!

If you tell someone, “here is my offer, the price will never change, the product will stay the same, and you have forever to buy it” they will do exactly that, take forever to buy it. When you don’t build scarcity into your offers you are doing just that, telling everyone they can come back years from now and get the same thing for the same price. A majority of buyers will simply put it off.

If you tell someone, “here is my offer, now the price is gonna double here in 5 days, no joke, and starting today I’m gonna take away 1 bonus from the package every day until the price goes up, then no bonuses anymore”. People will be chomping at the bit to give you their money! They want to get something at a bargain and you have to give them a narrow window do do that in order to motivate them to take action right away.

Whatever you do, when you build scarcity into your offers, stick to your word. If you say the price is doubling in 2 days, then double the price in 2 days, no exceptions. If you say only 50 people can get in, then close the doors at 50. You may initially tick a few people off but you will be training them to believe you when you give them a deadline. They will be more likely to buy sooner next time. If they don’t buy, you didn’t want them on your list anyway.

Now, you may be saying, “…but I want to sell my product indefinitely, how can I use scarcity and still keep my product alive for the long term?”

Here are a few suggestions:

• Remember, even if you completely close an offer at one price, you can always open it back up later at a higher price.

• You can always update a product or add to the package to make it more appealing at a higher price.

• If you close an offer at 50 seats, you can always open it back up to more, later on, at a higher price.

• If your scarcity is that you are pulling the bonuses after so many sales, you can always offer different bonuses for a short time later on as part of another scarcity incentive.

• You can always relaunch a class or product as an updated product with new info and new features.

• If you offer a live class at one price and your scarcity is that the recordings will be sold at a higher price later, you also have scarcity for your next class, because people will want to be a part of the live class next time to get the benefit of live training with the lower price point. If the recordings are cheaper than the live class most people will wait around for the recordings. Always reward your original buyers and train future buyers to buy faster next time.

Can you see the pattern here? You offer something then take it away. You offer a lower price up front with more bonuses to make the sale a no-brainer then start to take it away a piece at a time. People want what they can’t have, so make it so they only have this opportunity right now to get it at this price with these features. Always include scarcity in your offers and your sales will increase exponentially.