Six little words that can kill a sale in a heartbeat…
It’s well understood among most professional sales people, and especially among direct response copywriters…
If a potential customer walks away before the purchase is made, because they have to “think about it”… There’s a 90% chance that we just lost that sale, forever.
Sometimes they may want to think about it so they can try to find a better deal somewhere else.
Other times it may be a simple matter of them thinking “yeah, this looks good but I’m busy right now, so I’ll get back to it later”.
It might even be because they feel like they genuinely need to weigh the pros and cons before making any decisions.
Whatever the reason, we don’t want it to happen.
Because the truth is… Even if someone is interested in our offer, once they walk away, daily life comes rolling back in. And no matter how interested they were in the moment, your ad is no longer top priority compared to everything else going on in your customers life.
Like the old saying goes… “out of sight, out of mind”.
And that’s why we need to give people a reason to act NOW.
The most basic urgency mechanism is a limited time offer. (only available until midnight tonight… only 10 more left in stock… the price goes up tomorrow… etc.)
One note of caution here… limited availability offers work great, as long as they’re genuine. But false urgency will make you look dishonest and manipulative and can backfire, destroying all your credibility. (i.e. – A countdown timer showing that time is running out for the offer, yet the timer magically resets every time someone visits the page. Or a limited number available for a digital download, when everyone knows that digital downloads are inexhaustible.)
One of the best ways I’ve found to add a genuine sense of urgency is to give a “reason why” it’s limited. (i.e. – The manufacturer raised their prices, so when our current supply is gone we’ll need to raise our prices with the next shipment)
The reason you give for a limited offer will vary with the offer, but when we start with a “genuine” reason, the integrity of our offer will remain intact.
Limited time offers, and limited quantity offers are excellent ways to get some customers to act now. Especially for customers who may already be sold, but still need a little extra incentive to take action immediately.
Because remember… When someone walks away and says “I have to think about it”… There’s a 90% chance we just lost that sale.
