Successful marketing campaigns focus on the behavior of the target audience . For this reason, it is important for marketers to understand how people think. Therefore, it is not surprising that the most effective marketing principles have a basis in psychology . One of the most relevant psychological principles that can be applied to trading in general is urgency. Limiting the time a product or service is available has fantastic results when it comes to conversions. And that’s what psychology claims!

Each of us has been a “victim” of this psychological trick at least once. And how does this mechanism actually work?

Why does urgency motivate action?

One of the key characteristics of the human brain involves urgency. When a “task” is urgent, people are more likely to act on that task. Interestingly, this is the case even when the sense of urgency is artificially created. Basically urgency is used to create pressure on the user to buy the product. These sales offers often override the careful selection process and encourage the audience to buy before the deadline, or expiration date of an offer.

Since urgency is evidently one of the psychological characteristics that are deeply embedded in man, the question arises how to use it in the best way in marketing?

A little more, then gone

Urgency causes people to act quickly. Many of the problems that affect conversions are people’s tendency to think too much, wait too long, or simply not respond to our call-to-action . Increasing the level of urgency shortens much of this time, in order to achieve a significant improvement in conversion rate.

One of the strongest cards to play when it comes to urgency is the limited amount of remaining merchandise on offer. More precisely, when an item is perceived as scarce, its subjective value increases. If you create a product or service, you may purposely limit the quantity you produce or supply in order to raise demand. It’s very simple. If you say you only have “four more” (of something) left, the desire for that resource will increase due to the fact that it is disappearing. A trigger in the human psyche causes when a person thinks they are running out of something, they start wanting more.

Time is money

After you’ve set deadlines, try adding a countdown to make sure your customers notice them. The countdown to the deadline encourages action. As the hours, minutes and seconds tick by, the urgency to buy becomes greater. As an example, we cite a test conducted by the site Neuroscience Marketing where adding a countdown timer increased revenue by 9 percent.

In our modern industrialized world, the clock is a symbol of time. More precisely, it is a symbol of the passage of time. Reminding users that time is ticking – that the clock is ticking – raises the level of urgency and compels action.

Only today at this price

The threat of having to pay more for the same product tomorrow makes people buy today. Showing how many items are left at the advertised price is an effective way to play on people’s fear of paying more if they delay their purchase. This strategy works particularly well and is very often used by travel agencies. Just one more room at that price is something you’ll often see on these agencies’ websites or on accommodation apps.

Well-written copy can be very powerful. Words are an important factor in influencing people’s behavior. In creating an atmosphere of urgency, time-related words and expressions are key. You don’t have to invent hot water here. Tried phrases are the way to go.

Don’t delay, offer expires, ends soon, buy now, only one day left, last chance. Used in conjunction with attractive offers, these words and phrases highlight what customers stand to lose if they don’t buy now. An offer framed around loss avoidance triggers the psychological principle of loss aversion. People prefer to avoid losses rather than gain. And this is where the sense of urgency gains the most importance.

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