5 Ways to Boost Digital Product Sales with Scarcity

When it comes to getting people to take action, one of the most powerful tools in the marketer’s arsenal is FOMO—

Fear of Missing Out.

In other words, “scarcity.”

If you’re not using scarcity in your email courses and promotions, well…

YOU’RE the one missing out.

The best way to do that is not always obvious, though.

Reader Javier asks:

In one of your emails you speak about scarcity to sell your products at the end of the sequence

I know the power of scarcity, but how can i implement the scarcity in emails? It´s difficult to do?

In theory “scarcity” is easy:

You’re simply imposing limits of time or quantity on your offer.

The challenge online is that often we’re selling “1s and 0s.”

Physical products come with real-world limitations that are inherently believable.

When the clearanced TVs are gone, they’re gone.

Ebooks and videos can be sold and downloaded an infinite number of times, and everyone knows it.

So you have to be creative here.

Here are 5 ways of creating scarcity that I’ve seen work well:

– Time-limited discounts or coupons. This is the first option most entrepreneurs think of, and it works well. The downside is you can train your subscribers to “wait for the sale.” So don’t be predictable about these promotions.

– Time-limited bonuses. Often used during product launches and affiliate promotions. I like this better than discounts, because you’re not devaluing your product by lowering the price.

– Adding a physical bonus. This is a great way to bring real-world limits into the digital realm, because “when they’re gone, they’re gone.”

– Restrict sales to a specific window. This is a popular option with bigger products like classes—you have an “open enrollment” period every few months, and once the window closes, that’s it.

– Limited quantity of “seats” or “licenses.” For this to work well with digital products, you have to provide a good “reason why.” Maybe you’re launching a beta version of your product, and you want to get feedback from a select group of early adopters. Or maybe you’re limiting class size so you can give each student personal 1:1 attention.

Bottom line:

Anything you can do to impose limits of quantity or time is fair game when it comes to creating scarcity.

And for best results, make sure you have a believable reason WHY the scarcity exists

Otherwise your subscribers will resent the extra arm-twisting.