One funny and universal thing about human nature is that we almost always wait until the last minute to get things done.
For example…
At the moment, my mom’s passport expires in about two weeks.
So what is she doing about it?
Absolutely nothing. It’s not urgent yet.
So I’m willing to bet she’ll wait until it expires… then wait a bit more until she decides to spend some time on our boat (for which she needs a valid passport to cross the border)…
Only then, she’ll finally move into action and get it renewed.
Most people (me included) usually wait until the last minute to do everything…
That’s why adding a legit and firm deadline knocks people off the fence and gets them moving.
Now I want to stress on the LEGIT deadline:
Once you set a deadline for your offer stand behind it…
If you say: “You can grab your 40% off until midnight PST.” – Take off the offer at midnight. DO NOT extend it or do the “Oh, we’ve got such an overwhelming response from you guys we’ve decided to run another discount!”
NO.
It sure sounds beneficial and friendly at first…
But you need to think about what this does for your business in the long run.
In the long run, you’re teaching your people to take it easy with your offers because there is NO urgency. Not anymore. There’ll be another “deadline” offer soon after and so you push them into non-responsive mode.
A legit and firm deadline works together with FOMO which works in your favor.
On the other hand, a wanky deadline attracts FOBO (fear of better options) which works against you.
FOBO is when people get stuck, paralyzed because they’re scared they’ll take the wrong option (especially when they know you’ll run another offer soon after the current one).
Do you now see why firm and legit urgency works so well?
Can you imagine a guy at the border and my mom with an expired passport scenario: “But mister officer! Can’t you just write a new expiry date with a sharpie? Just an extra month or so? “
“Well since you asked so nicely and the guy before you asked the same… Very well.”
No one would take passports seriously anymore.
The same goes for wanky deadlines…
y’all coming for supper or what?
Katja “no sugarcoating” Mokotar
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Katja Mokotar is a professional email Copywriter. She creates email strategies for CPG eCommerce that generate new & repeat customers… and can often be scaled to $1M and beyond.