8 Ways to Create Urgency in Sales and Drive Conversions

8 Ways to Create Urgency in Sales and Drive Conversions

cashier lady accepting payment in store from customer

Introduction

Nothing frustrates online store owners more than a customer not being able to make up their mind. Failing to keep your customer focused on the purchase journey could mean losing a sale to your competitor. Your potential customers will always have some excuse to not act on your offer. Creating urgency is a tried-and-true way to overcome customer hesitation and get them to take action immediately. In this article, we’ll share 8 actionable tips you can use to create urgency in sales and boost conversions.

1. Add a Countdown Timer to Your Sale

When customers don’t have the urgency to purchase a product or service immediately, they’ll delay their buying decision to evaluate the cost and benefits of your offer. This means they’ll open up websites of your competitors, read product reviews, and might even find an alternative to your product.

Adding a countdown timer to your shopping cart will help you create urgency in sales and keep customers focused on your product offer. For instance, you can display the exact time in seconds left to buy a product at a discounted price. When prospective customers have a limited window of time to make a purchase, they’ll be more likely to proceed to the checkout page and make the purchase.

2. Help Potential Buyers Understand Why They Need Your Product

Over half of customers say that the reason they cannot resolve issues on their own is that there is too little information online. If your customers realize that what you offer can solve their problems, they’ll be eager to make the purchase. You can achieve this by first highlighting the potential pain points the customer may be experiencing, and then helping them understand how your product will resolve their problem. 

This is especially useful when customers are undecided about their purchase decision. Create urgency in sales by clearly mentioning the benefits they’ll get immediately if they buy your product while reminding the cons of delaying their buying decision. For example, if they buy your natural bath and body products subscription box, they’ll no longer have to worry about allergens and chemical reactions from supermarket products.

3. Use Urgency-Focused Words

Speaking of conveying urgency to your customers, the same should reflect in your product copy and ad copy. Making the prospective customer feel that they need to act now to get the promised benefits will tip the scales in your favor.

A well-written urgency-focused copy containing time-sensitive words will bring out emotions of scarcity and the fear of missing out in the customers. Here are some words you can use to create a sense of urgency in sales and get your customers to act quickly:

  • Limited Time Offer
  • Don’t Miss Out
  • Clearance 
  • Act Now
  • One Time Only 
  • Last Chance
  • Today Only
  • Hurry!

4. Keep Increasing the Urgency

Keeping the pressure on with your urgency-focused efforts can help you increase the conversion rate of your online store. A great way to do this is by sending emails to a prospect saying you have only a few items left in the stock. You can also include a limited-time discount offer to make the deal more attractive.

Similarly, you should carefully inspect your sales funnel to figure out where the highest number of customers fall off the purchase process. You can use this information to create urgency in sales at these critical points. For example, if most customers leave your store after adding items to their shopping cart, you can display a ‘Sale ends today!’ message on your checkout page. This would create urgency among customers and get them to make the purchase.

5. Offer Discounts from Your Partner Store

Store offering 50% discount on clothing items

According to a 2018 survey, over 50 percent of customers consider discounts and coupons a very important feature of digital purchases. Of course, your customers do their other shopping online too. Just as they buy from you, they visit other online stores to purchase other things.

You can motivate customers to purchase from your store by offering limited-time discount offers on products from a partner store. This is workable only if your products complement what you sell in your partner store. In addition to creating urgency in sales, discount offers will communicate to them that you genuinely care about them. 

6. Send Last Chance Emails with Limited Time Offers

Email remains one of the most profitable marketing tools as it offers more ROI than all other marketing channels, including content and search. According to a study, ROI from email marketing is 4200% ($42 for every dollar spent). Last chance emails are special emails that let you add more direct and sensational language compared to regular promotional emails.

These emails generate FOMO (fear of missing out) in the reader by creating urgency in sales which gets them to open the email and pay attention to your discount offer or any other short-lived deal, which may otherwise go unnoticed.

7. Show Remaining Stock Levels

Another way you can drive customers to make the purchase quickly is by showing stock levels remaining in your inventory. When customers see that a product they’re thinking about buying is close to selling out, they’d be more inclined to grab it before it’s gone.

To do this, simply add a low stock warning like “Only X more items left in stock” to your product page. Customers’ urgency will increase as the number gets closer to zero. With this FOMO tactic, you’ll not just increase customers’ urgency in sales but keep them interested in your product if it goes out of stock. For instance, you can offer to notify them via email when the product returns in stock.

8. Display the Number of People Who Visited a Page in the Last 24 Hours

Online store owners can leverage scarcity to create urgency in sales and drive demand. You can boost your product’s perceived value if you enable your website users to see how many other customers have purchased or are interested in the same product.

Add an alert on your product page showing the number of people viewing the product or who have bought the product in the last 24 hours. Using his FOMO application, you’re subtly saying to your customers ‘Grab it before it’s gone!’, urging them to make the purchase.

Conclusion

This post includes some of the best ways to increase conversions and create urgency in sales among your online store customers. Remember that even though urgency tactics will help you drive customers to take action, you should use them wisely. For instance, you’ll erode customer trust in your store if they see the same ‘Offer ends today!’ message 2 days in a row and realize you’re tricking them.

Need help with tweaking your online store or improving your email marketing campaigns? Contact us to see how CT can help you increase your online conversions!

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