how effective is fake sense of urgency?

These days, nothing "fake" is effective.

Honesty is the number one rule in business. Consumers are more cautious than ever before, so be "real" with potential customers and your current customers.

They will respect you more and your integrity is not compromised to make a quick buck.

Just always put yourself in the potential customer's shoes. How would you want to be treated? Or how would an offer like that come off to you if you found out later that it was "fake"?

Mister K,

I think most people that have been around IM for awhile see right through the fake urgency claims. That's not to say that some such claims aren't real and truthful, it's just an acknowledgment that the tactic is overused, abused, and often far from the truth.

Marketers wouldn't use it if it didn't work, at least in the past. But there is so much marketing taking place nowadays that urgency seems to be tacked on to nearly every IM offer. If the urgency is real . . . then fine . . . use it. If it's not, don't lie about it. Some customers will check to see if your offer page was actually taken down at midnight like your promised! If it wasn't . . . your reputation could suffer big time.

The best to you,

Steve

Boy, that's been my question too. I haven't seen that it has changed much of anythinge with the true buyers. I imagine most of them realize that it is a fake timeline.

Serious clients don't like this fake shit, they would think what else you gonna fake?

Talking from a business perspective, not some crappy eBook that go's for half the price for a limited time.

Your question implies a deep skepticism as well as a willingness to promote fake scarcity if it might benefit your pocketbook. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's insulting.

I long ago got out of the IMers-selling-to-other-IMers racket. I never really did get into it, but it's very incestuous and promotes this very thing. (I moved to the offline model, which I love.)

As others have said, treat others the way you want to be treated. Be honest. Look for ways to inject REAL, authentic scarcity into your promotions. You can't honestly and ethically say "Only 5 copies left!" if you're selling a PDF. But you CAN offer a physical item as a bonus and THEN say "Only 5 copies left!" -- or offer a 1-on-1 coaching session and say "Only 5 left!" (because your time is limited).

Even if it IS effective, it will only be effective for a short period of time. Customers catch on quickly and that promotion will die a quick death. And the marketer's reputation will take a hit. You don't want to be that guy when that happens. That's not the way to build a real, sustainable business.

I'm always amazed at Warriors coming here asking questions like these. These are time-wasting questions. Maybe you're just procrastinating?

Stop looking so much at everything else around you! If you can see it's dishonest in any way, then ignore it and put it out of your mind. It's not worth studying or emulating.

Now get back to work!

Michelle

Here's the real takeaway from this thread...

Using scarcity/urgency tactics are ethical and effective if they are real.

The best way to "prove" the scarcity, make it more believable, is to provide a credible reason why the item is going to be scarce. I say this because, if you check the folks defending the idea, all of them have some explanation for the scarcity or deadline.

Cool way of using your signature image link

Nobody gets hurt. Its a very effective call to action technique and the buyer will be happy for the special deal.

Its a win win.

Not much point in doing that, Jason. They're doing it without having tested it, because they assume that "it must work, otherwise people wouldn't be doing it". That's how so many decisions are made in internet marketing: things become self-perpetuating without often being tested by the people gullible enough to use them. It's as if they expect their prospective customers to be as gullible as they are, themselves. :p

There are also some people who have tested it - but unsurprisingly they tend to be the ones not still using it.