Better Conversion Tip #12 – Use Takeaway Selling To Increase The Urgency
When you limit the supply of a product or service in some way (i.e. takeaway selling), basic economics dictates that the demand will rise. In other words, people will generally respond better to an offer if they believe the offer is about to become unavailable or restricted in some way.
And of course, the opposite is also true. If a prospect knows your product will be around whenever he needs it, there’s no need for them to act now. And when your ad is put aside by the prospect, the chance of closing the sale is greatly reduced.
It’s your job as a copywriter or marketer to get your prospect to buy, and buy now. Prevent procrastination!
Using scarcity to sell is a great way to accomplish that.
There are basically three types of takeaways:
1) Limiting the quantity
2) Limiting the time
3) Limiting the offer
In the first method…
… limiting the quantity, you are presenting a fixed number of widgets available for sale. After they’re gone, that’s it
Some good ways to limit the quantity include…
- only so many units made or obtained
- selling off old stock to make room for new
- limited number of slightly imperfect, or a fire sale
- only a limited number being sold so as not to saturate the market
In the second method, limiting the time, a deadline is added to the offer. It should be a realistic deadline, not one that changes all the time (especially on a website, where the deadline date always seems to be that very day at midnight…when you return the next day, the deadline date has mysteriously changed again to the new day). Deadlines that change decrease your credibility.
This approach works well when the offer or the price will change, or the product or service will become unavailable, after the deadline.
The third method, limiting the offer, is achieved by limiting other parts of the offer, such as the guarantee, bonuses or premiums, the price, and so on.
When using takeaway selling, you must be sure to follow-through with your restrictions. If you say you only have 300 sets to sell, then don’t sell 301. If you say your offer will expire at the end of the month, make sure it does. Otherwise your credibility will take a hit. Prospects will remember the next time another offer from you makes its way into their hands.
Another important thing you should do is explain the reason why the offer is being restricted. Don’t just say the price will be going up in three weeks, but decline to tell them why.
Here are some examples of effective takeaway selling:
“Unfortunately, I can only handle so many clients. Once my plate is full, I will be unable to accept any new business. So if you’re serious about strengthening your investment strategies and creating more wealth than ever before, you should contact me ASAP.”
“Remember…you must act by [date] at midnight in order to get my 2 bonuses. These bonuses have been provided by [third-party company], and we have no control over their availability after that time.”
“We’ve obtained only 750 of these premiums from our vendor. Once they are gone, we won’t be able to get any more until next year. And even then we can’t guarantee the price will remain the same. In fact, because of the increasing demand, it’s very likely the price could double or triple by then!”
People buy based on emotion, then back up their decision to buy with logic. By using takeaway selling, the scarcity becomes part of that logic to buy and take action right now.