Urgent: urgent action or attention that is required immediately. Shoppers often act with a lack of urgency when browsing online stores. Customers like to act like they have everything globally, with multiple tabs open for comparing prices and reviews. It means that your online store will be in a race for customers’ attention by offering low prices. It can also devalue your products and reduce your profit margin.
If you instill a strong sense of urgency in your customers, you will be able to stand out from the price-slashing competitors. Moreover, if you do it correctly, urgency can be a powerful motivator for your store. Let’s take a look at effective strategies for using this psychological strategy. But first, let us see why urgency is so important in eCommerce.
Why urgency drives conversions
Shipra Gupta, a researcher, presented a detailed theory on how scarcity creates a psychological environment that encourages shoppers to act. This idea of scarcity led to shoppers acting more impulsively and making decisions based on less information.
Gupta points out that even a well-curated, artificial feeling of scarcity can impact consumer psychology. This suggestion of scarcity is key to creating urgency in the minds of your shoppers.
Digital shopping often gives consumers a sense of power. With so many options and resources available to help compare, they are empowered to make informed decisions. This psychological state of urgency can be instilled by reminding customers that they are limited on the delivery options, products, and deals they want. It will result in more customers clicking on your store’s buttons.
Make eCommerce mistakes that will cost you money
Making mistakes in an online store can prove costly, even for professionals.
Online shopping has made it easy for clients to be extremely cautious about spending their money. But, unfortunately, a simple mistake could lead to a client switching to your competitors.
Here are three simple errors that can cost you money.
Strategy is lacking
Although giveaways and promotions can be a great marketing tool, many professionals fail to follow up with their clients. The result is often forgotten. Your giveaway or discount should be used strategically. Remember, a giveaway is a promotion that you create on social media. If you don’t, your client will be happy with the freebies or discounted products.
Don’t pay attention to the competition
ECommerce interface is simple, so clients can browse the site to find the best prices and promotions. But, first, analyze your competitors and see what their prices are. Also, look at which deals are attracting clients away.
Adding no value
Clients can find it irritating when companies talk only about themselves. It should be about the client. Would you please get to know their demographics and psychographics? Show them the benefits they can receive.
Tips to create urgency in your online store
You know that urgency drives sales. So how can you create urgency on your eCommerce website or online store? These are seven ways to do it.
1. The language of urgency
You can use deadlines and deals to create urgency in your online store. You must incorporate urgency language into your copy to create an online store that instills this feeling in your customers. Your shoppers’ emotions drive urgency. The copy you write creates this feeling and is a foundation for your short-term urgency-inspiring tactics.
Keywords and phrases like “last chance,” “hurry,” and “don’t lose out” are keywords and phrases that communicate urgency. You can also use exclamation points in your copy to create a sense of urgency and high tempo.
2. Leveraging the holidays
Your shoppers are motivated by deadlines, so it is important to create them artificially whenever possible. However, sometimes deadlines are necessary for a reason. When holidays like Valentine’s Day and Christmas arrive, the urgency is global. Black Friday and Christmas are the peak times for eCommerce sales, so ensure your store is ready to capitalize on these holidays. Specialized sales can increase demand. A ticking clock that counts down the hours until the big day reminds shoppers that the days are quickly passing.
These holidays offer the opportunity to incorporate delivery deadlines into your urgency strategy. Your users should know that their window is closing due to the increased strain on the postal network. For example, a banner might indicate that they have X hours left to buy to guarantee delivery by the 23rd of December.
3. Remind viewers that they are not alone
You can induce scarcity in many ways. For example, you could suggest that there is a limited stock of a product. Scarcity is not a function only of product quantity. It’s also about how much product there is to go around. Your shoppers will be reminded that they are not the only ones in their area, which can create a sense that competition is highly relevant to urgency. It will encourage them to buy immediately rather than risk missing out.
This strategy has been used by car hire companies to great effect, showing information about other users browsing the site. You could, for example, say that 15 other people are looking at this product. A dynamic view counters that increase as customers browse the site is a powerful motivator.
4. Show dwindling stock
Stock numbers can highlight the fact that there is limited stock of the goods customers want. However, this strategy can cause a store-wide rush for casual shoppers. Instead, target specific products using a tag that implies low stock numbers to make the most impact. This strategy has greater credibility in the eyes of the viewer. So tell your store employees that a product is down at the last five or one.
5. Use delivery options to instill urgency
There is an inevitable delay in receiving your product after you purchase it online. Many shoppers value delivery time as it is crucial to their purchase of a product. Online shopping is all about instant gratification, so waiting is not an option. These appealing options can encourage shoppers to purchase quickly, as logistical networks now allow next-day or even same-day delivery. This impulse can be leveraged by reminding customers about the deadline to access these delivery options. It creates a strong sense of urgency.
You can also make delivery a limited commodity to create urgency. For example, you can offer free delivery to the next buyer or for a limited time. Everyone will be tempted to take up the offer if the next three buyers receive free delivery.
6. A day for charity
Giving back can sometimes create urgency. Its powerful marketing strategy combines community spirit and charity giving. Customers will see the added moral value of buying now over waiting.
7. Pop-ups
Your store can feel more urgent if you use artfully crafted urgency-inducing copy, targeted deals, and deadlines. Pop-ups are a great way to remind your customers that they must purchase your products. It is often the last push they need to purchase your products.
Pop-ups can be seen as intrusive and annoying, but they can help build urgency by being essential prompts. For example, pop-ups can tell customers that the product they’ve seen is sold out or remind them of the deadline for next-day delivery.
Sign off
The power of urgency is a motivator in eCommerce. Therefore, it’s important to tailor your store around this ideal. Incorporate the language of urgency and scarcity into all the copy on your store, including the landing page and product details. There are many ways to instill urgency, ensuring that every discount and deadline is targeted towards this psychological strategy. It’s not a matter of delay: it’s urgent.
Disclaimer. The opinions and views expressed in this article are the authors Shalom Lamm.