FOMO and urgency in email

We, as humans, are deeply wired to avoid taking risks. When it comes to buying online, avoiding risk means that we won’t make a buying decision unless we feel that the product is worth our money. However, due to that risk-avoidance tendency, we also run a risk of missing out on a great product offer.

This is when FOMO marketing can be used to solve that problem. It provides the hesitant buyers with a little urge so that they can jump over their fear and buy your product. To create this little, but impactful urge, marketers need to frame their message in a way that can evoke this fear in the feelings of their target buyers. You will learn how to do so in this article. Let me give you an example first so that you can have a better idea of what I’m explaining.

Let’s say that you’re looking to buy a pair of headphones, and you have already had an idea of how they’re going to be. Then, you run into an ad on Facebook that shows that exact pair of headphones you’re interested in with an attractive discount, now are you going to open your wallet now? No? What if that’s a 40% discount and it’s the last day? Now, yes? Great! That’s FOMO. If you don’t act now, you will miss out on that great deal. That’s how FOMO marketing works.

13+ effective techniques for a successful email marketing campaign

1. Offer a time-limited promotion:

Emailing your prospects a promotion that’s only going to last for a short amount of time creates a sense of urgency. This time limit can mean the difference between them considering your product and making a decision right away.

The psychology behind this one is simple. People need to buy products to service their needs, and if they are considering you already but are still hesitant for some reason, you need to push them over the edge. A discount can help you do that very well.

It doesn’t have to always be a discount if you want to keep your profit intact. You can offer them a promotional gift, a free eBook, or 15 days of using another product of yours for free.

2. Use Testimonials:

FOMO, at its core, is the feeling of not wanting to miss out on a great thing that other people are experiencing. What better way to let your target audience know that they are missing out on something than by having your existing happy customers tell them directly? Online shoppers are less likely to trust the brand, but are more willing to trust other people who have been there and done that.

Creating an email campaign that includes positive things your current customers have to say about your brand and product will spark the right kind of motivation to act in your potential prospects.

The mentality of wanting to get a product or service that has made other people’s lives better isn’t a new tactic for in the marketing world; it’s a tried-and-true approach that remains effective all the time.

3. Make it Exclusive:

Everybody wants the thing they get to be exclusive as that creates a feeling of speciality. Creating a message that reaches out to your email subscribers and offers them an exclusive promotion. This is a great time to use your email-list segmentation to your advantage, and send exclusive offers to those who have been receiving your emails, but haven’t converted for a while.

4. FOMO – Front and Centre:

Using FOMO may sound like something bad as it seems like you’re trying to manipulate your customers’ feelings. But that’s not the case. As long as you’re honest and stay true to your offer, you don’t have to hide the fact that you’re running a FOMO email marketing campaign. In fact, making it clear with your audience that they will miss out on the deal if they don’t act will make your email campaign even more effective.

Telling those who haven’t yet responded or clicked a link in your email that you won’t be emailing them any longer might make them reconsider how they’ve been engaging with your emails up to this point. They may have just been putting off visiting your site because other things in their lives have gotten in the way. Here, their fear of no longer receiving your offers can encourage the customers to finally click through to your website, or at the very least, opt-in to continue receiving your emails until they’re ready to purchase. If some still don’t, that’s when you find out who are not your potential customers.

5. Experiment with Expiring Content:

This approach, at first, might sound like a marketing no-no. As a digital marketer, your goal is often to create evergreen content that you can use forever. However, using expiring content can be a great strategy when it comes to getting people to act. Emailing a list of a post or offer to remind them that the offer won’t be around forever can be hugely effective at receiving a spike of web traffic that you can use for retargeting purposes.

It’s easy to see the impact of FOMO with the popular Snapchat, an app designed purely around the idea of FOMO that you get to view something for a limited amount of time before it’s gone forever. This is FOMO at its purest; Snapchat users want to be involved in a photo or video exchange before the opportunity is lost.

As an email marketer, your job may be a little more involved than just getting people to snap photos back and forth with one another, but it’s not impossible. Clickback emails enable you to send cold emails to potentially thousands of contacts. Then, presenting them with the idea that they might be missing out on an attractive opportunity may be just the push it requires to encourage them to engage with your offerings.

6. Flash Sales:

During a flash sale, your product or service is offered at a significantly discounted rate for a limited short period of time. The shorter the period of time you set, the greater the sense of urgency your customers will feel.

To create a successful flash-sale email marketing campaign, you need to do the following two things:

• Bring a significant discount to the table. The difference between the regular price and the sale price has to be enough to convince your customers to act.
• Make the time restriction clear. Don’t leave any confusion about how long your flash sale will last. Don’t just say something generic like “time-limited flash sale,” but, instead, give an actual time frame (48 hours, 72 hours, etc.)

7. Seasonal Sales:

You can increase engagement with your FOMO email marketing campaigns when you only offer a product at certain times during the year. To understand this, you can think about all the hype surrounding the Pumpkin Spice Latte. To boost your sales, creating products based around special events, from Valentine’s Day to Halloween.

You can even draw inspiration from successful companies such as Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works and launch your own “semi-annual sale.” Customers love these sales, and the companies behind them have the profits to prove it.

8. Send Reminders:

One email is not going to be enough for a long list of subscribed emails. A lot of customers who are potential buyers might be busy so they miss your emails. So, don’t just send one email. Send reminder emails during the period of your email marketing campaign so that your FOMO offers can reach every possible customer. The reminders should start gently, and then go up in urgency as the last days of the sale approach.

Reminders are great, but keep in mind that you should not overuse them and bombard your customers’ inboxes. Don’t send more than one email a day, and don’t send more than three or four emails in a given email marketing campaign. Too many will lead your subscribers to see you as annoying and block your emails as a result.

9. Set Deadlines:

We’re more likely to finish a project quickly when we have a clear deadline. The same goes for FOMO marketing campaigns. A clear deadline can really make the FOMO feeling kick in for customers, and they’re more likely to take action when they know the discounted price is only around for a limited amount of time.

Here are some effective ways to include a deadline in your marketing emails:

• Sale ends on MM/DD/YYYY by midnight
• The last day of sales
• Only 2 days left to get your deal

No matter how you want the wording to be, make sure the deadline is crystal clear. If people are not sure how long your promotion will last, they’re more likely to hesitate and take their time.

10. Offer Free Shipping:

We have all been there at some point in our online shopping experience. We think we’re getting a great deal on a product, but then the shipping cost surprises us; it is so high that we have to abandon the purchase altogether.

Shipping can be expensive. It might be small compared to the price of the product, but when your customer has to consider very hard before deciding to buy your product, the extra cost of shipping can feel like a burden, and it adds more emotional stress that can make the customer abandon the product.

So, the lure of free shipping is powerful. Letting people know in your email marketing that you’re offering free shipping, but it is only available for a limited period of time. That will create interest in your customers, and help you drive sales just like any other temporary discount can do.

11. Offer Loss Aversion:

People are more likely to act with urgency if they believe that they feel that there’s no risks involved in proceeding with the deal. This is a psychological response called loss aversion. While the loss aversion originates from the fear of a catastrophic situation, you can use it to your advantage to boost sales.

Inform your customers of the problem that your product can solve; the loss that your customer is experiencing that your product can make go away. The loss doesn’t necessarily have to be catastrophic, and don’t make it sound like you’re threatening your customer. Let me give you an example. If you can inform your customers of a problem that is causing them to lose money, or affect their health or relationship, then explain how your product can help them solve the problem, they’re more likely to buy your product.

12. Use the Right Language:

Generating a sense of urgency in your marketing campaigns is all about using the right kind of language. Using words that convey urgency is important for letting your customers know that they’re missing out on a great deal if they don’t act now. The following words are some of the most commonly-used words used in these kinds of email blasts:

• Now
• Fast
• Hurry
• Instant
• Approaching
• Rapidly
• Close
• Never
• Quick
• Again
• Seconds
• Over

On top of that, it’s important to emphasize the word “you” in your emails. “You” is one of the most used words when it comes to persuasion, as it will make the listeners feel as if they are being spoken to directly. Lastly, make sure that you’re using action-related words, such as buy, shop, enjoy, in your emails. These are call-to-actions that encourage your customers to do something.

13. Use the Right Words in the Right Places:

Last but not this, this is a very important point. All the efforts that you put into creating your emails will end up being wasted if nobody opens them. So, make sure that the receiving end does open your mail, don’t hide the urgency in the body of your emails. You need to hook your customers right away with a carefully crafted email subject line.

If you can catch a customer’s attention right away by letting them know, in the subject line, that they can save a lot of money with your discounts, or get their problem solved, they’re more likely to open your emails and eventually make a purchase.