Still in the spirit of helping you make even more sales this Black Friday, today I want to talk about the biggest factor that makes all promos work well.
Usually, promos for special shopping periods like Black Friday are usually just a few hours to a few days long, and for some businesses, with limited stock (especially physical products).
There are actually a few things you can do differently from the norm to get even more sales through optimizing this urgency and scarcity combo this Black Friday. I’ll just state some that are proven to work, from the top of my head.
1. Limit the time
The fact that it’s Black Friday week, followed by Cyber Monday week, doesn’t mean you should keep your promo open for two weeks. You’ll defeat the purpose of the urgency and scarcity effect that way.
One of my favorite organic skincare brands usually does just 2 days of deals whenever they want to do promos and give discounts – whatever the holiday or observance is.
I was speaking with the founder/CEO recently when she told me that in those 2 days (which is nothing more than just announcing to their social media followers that there’s a promo going on), they make more money than they usually would make in a whole month of no promos.
So it’s really not about leaving your promo days for long, hoping more people would get the chance to jump on it.
While that sounds sensible, the truth is…shorter days, or even hours, actually work better.
Two reasons: Firstly, it further speeds up the urgency; and secondly, it makes your brand look like you’re better off without the promo, and that has a way of psychologically making people want to be a part of this exclusive deal more. It also implies true scarcity.
2. Limit the number of units
Let the promo also cover just a limited unit of the products/services available at the discounted price. Don’t just announce a start and end date; also announce the number of units or slots available.
Even though this works almost effortlessly for physical products, you can apply it to any other product or service. You can limit the number of digital products available for sale; you can limit the number of slots for your services.
Promotions that limit quantity are proven to evoke competition amongst customers, against each other, in a bid to secure the limited product.
Just make sure you’re honest about your scarcity/urgency. “Fake scarcity” would only destroy your reputation and ruin your next promo even before you conceive it.
3. Communicate the urgency and scarcity
It’s one thing to announce your promo and the limits (end date or units), it’s another thing to dedicate time to communicating the urgency/scarcity.
Apart from generally saying “30% off my amazing widget till Friday, 27th November,” also let there be social media posts, emails, text, etc. saying things like: “2 days till X goes back to $X” or “3 slots left in our Black Friday 49% off X offer” or “Tomorrow is your last day to take advantage of our ongoing Black Friday promo where you get X% off this and that.”
Actually communicate your urgency and scarcity, continuously.
4. “Embellish” the scarcity/urgency.
Other than just text or the general graphics for your promo, also use graphic elements to further strengthen your urgency/scarcity.
Use countdown timers on your web pages and in your emails. Do separate graphics for just the urgency/scarcity elements of your offer. Post images showing how many more days or hours are left. And any other thing you can do to creatively further strengthen your scarcity and urgency in the minds of your audience.
I strongly believe that applying these tips to your promotions will not just make your scarcity/urgency stronger and offer better, it will help you make even more sales.
Need help?
Would you like an extra eye to help look at your Black Friday offer and strengthen it with not just better scarcity/urgency, but with other tips I’ve been giving you lately?
Simply slide into my DM and tell me about it; I’ll take it from there.
Wish you a successful Black Friday week/weekend!
Oludami
