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Choice Restriction: Urgency

Like scarcity, which we covered in the first segment of this module, urgency is a form of choice restriction. But before we talk about how it works, let’s start with a bit of history you may be familiar with…

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik into orbit, shocking millions of people around the world. For the decade after World War II, America dominated the globe with their military superiority. But Sputnik shocked many Americans into the realization that their domination might be coming to an end. And it revealed a serious technology gap between the Soviets and the west when it came to rocket technology.

Suddenly the space race was on. And putting American satellites into space was not just a nice idea… it was urgent.

America had been complacent, but now it had a serious case of FOMO (fear of missing out). Less than a year later, America launched its own satellite into orbit. And a decade later, America landed an astronaut on the moon.

How did the Americans make so much progress so fast?… they were driven by the urgency of the situation. America felt the loss of their strategic advantage and did everything they could to get it back.

Why is urgency such a motivating force?

Because like scarcity, it is a form of choice restriction that results in anticipated regret or FOMO. It triggers a pain response in the brain and makes us want to act. We’ll talk more about pain in segment 6 of this module.

Like in the history of the space race, urgency can be a motivating force that helps us get things done. Any copywriter who has faced a deadline knows how the lack of time to do something can compel you to get to work.

And, in the case of marketing our products and services, urgency and deadlines are very effective in prompting customers to act.

Researchers at Boston University found that “a time restriction [or deadline] creates a sense of urgency in consumers, thereby providing an impetus for action that feeds directly into purchase intentions.”

So how do you use urgency in your copywriting and marketing? Lots of ways.

Direct response and conversion copy is filled with words that encourage immediate action…  act now, book today, buy now, your attention is urgently needed, time is running out, last chance, hurry, only one left in stock, and so on.

Look how this sales page for Dr. Weil’s docu-series on alternative medicine continually reminds you that these videos won’t be around for long. Here’s the header. Notice that access is for a limited time.

Farther down the page, we see similar reminders coupled with a call to action… sign up now before the free viewing period ends.

And finally, if you wait too long, you’ll see a pop-up like this telling you that you need to make time to see this free series because it won’t be up for long.

Here’s another example of simple urgency-based language from an offer by copywriter Carline Anglade Cole… it simply says, offer expires June 12.

Your use of urgency doesn’t have to be in your face. Even simple phrases like why wait? Can help if you’ve given your prospect a reason to buy in your copy.

Another effective method for creating urgency is to us visual cues like countdown timers. 

You’ve no doubt seen this kind of thing on registration pages and sales pages you’ve encountered. It’s an obvious signal that if you don’t act now, you’re going to miss out.

The sales page for Rachel Roger’s We Should All Be Millionaires Club. Membership is only open for a limited time. Notice the deadline data and the countdown timer that helps prospects see how little time is left… creating urgency.

Rachel’s page isn’t the only one that does this well. In fact, you probably can’t click a link in the marketing emails you get from coaches, course owners, and other online personalities and not go to a page like this…

Or this…

Or this…

Again, note the countdown times and webinar date. Click now or forever lose this opportunity.

Amazon uses this technique very effectively. In the last segment, we showed you how Amazon uses limited quantities to restrict your choices and create scarcity. Here Amazon is using count-down timers to create urgency for the products featured in their “lightning deal of the day”. Even the name hints that these deals will be gone tomorrow. These deals end in just under 7 hours. If you don’t act now, you won’t get them.

Let’s look at one more example. Many of Dan Kennedy’s offers include a coupon at the bottom of the sales page advertising the sale price and the deadline. The coupon design is intentional, as consumers have learned over the last 50 years that these cut out lines mean they’re getting a deal. And the deadline restricts the availability of this offer in the future.

Let’s call back to what we said in module 1 about not using these powers to mislead or trick customers into acting. Here’s an example of a quantity countdown which shows that of the 1,000 books that were once available as part of this offer, only 78 are left. And those are disappearing as we watch the number of available books countdown.

But if you refresh the page, the countdown starts right back at 78 and starts to tick back down again. Most customers won’t refresh… so it’s probable that this false urgency tactic will work on at least some of them. 

But it isn’t real. There is no real limit. And if you come back next week the deadline at the top of the page will change too. In fact, the first time I opened this page there were 78 books left. Two months later, as I recorded this video… there are still just 78 books left.

According to researchers at Princeton University, 1 in 80 ecommerce websites uses some form of fake urgency… and either reset their timers when they hit zero or continue the sale even after the timer has run out.

These products may be excellent. These experts may be geniuses. But misusing this tactic is deceptive and can destroy trust in the brand you are writing for. Don’t do it.

Whether you use countdown timers or urgency-related copy like “buy now” or “this offer won’t last forever,” if there is a real limit to the availability of the products you are selling, you would be wise to emphasize this when you make your pitch.

Think back to the Fogg Model of Persuasion we talked about in Module 1.

If you’ve done your job as a copywriter and increased your prospect’s motivation to make a change, and they have the ability to make that change, adding urgency to your copy makes it easier for your prospect to act when you present them with the trigger or call to action.

References:
Scott D. Swain, Boston University, “How Time Restrictions Work: The Roles of Urgency, Anticipated Regret, and Deal Evaluations,” Extended Abstract.
Arunesh Mathur, “Dark Patterns at Scale: Findings from a Crawl of 11K Shopping Websites,” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Comptuer Interaction, Vol 3, Nov. 2019.