Deadlines Help

A lot of people react to deadlines.

Were used to them in so many areas of our lives that it seems as though we wont act without them.

I was reminded of this (again) with a giveaway event Im taking part in.

It launches the day Im writing this.

Deadlines Help

When I went to sleep last night, there were 38 offers added to the site.

This morning, the total is 59.

Thats half as many again added in the final 24 hours before the giveaway event opens (the deadline)

Deadlines Help

Since theres still a few hours to go before the event actually goes live, my guess is that there will be even more added as the opening deadline approaches plus a few more after that as people realise that the event is open but only for a limited amount of time.

Part of the reason that deadlines work so effectively is that they add urgency.

Deadlines Help

If the event wasnt due to open for another month, my guess is most marketers wouldnt have done anything yet.

The same applies to the offers you create.

Personally, Im not a fan of false deadlines or false scarcity.

Yes, I know they work.

But I dont much like them.

Deadlines Help

Which puts me in a quandary as a marketer.

Do I increase sales by adding a deadline (real or imagined)?

Or do I accept a lower amount of sales (maybe as much as a third if the giveaway marketers are anything to go by) but make an honest offer?

After all, with the digital products I sell, the only reason theyd go out of stock is if I didnt renew the domain name.

Deadlines Help

And, deep down, your potential customers know that too.

Which makes it difficult to put time deadlines on digital products.

The electrons wont go out of stock

The techniques shouldnt stop working after a precise date

Why should your visitors make any kind of effort to sign up or purchase?

Deadlines Help

Amazon tries to create urgency with physical products they often put a note on screen to say their warehouse only has a handful of the item in stock.

My reaction and probably yours is so what? because unless its this seasons must-have Christmas toy theres an excellent chance the top-up stock is on its way to their warehouse.

And even if it isnt, theres a high chance an alternative is available if I really cant wait.

Deadlines Help

With books, the alternative is Kindle or alternative vendors the buy used or new links.

With physical items, unless Im really hooked on a brand, there will be alternative suppliers.

And with the things we put on our squeeze pages and sales pages, its highly unlikely were the only source of the information.

Deadlines Help

Marketers get round this by using deadlines:

Extra bonuses if you sign up now

A discount coupon thats only good for a few minutes (Dan Kennedy likens this to putting a $100 bill in your pocket and setting light to it)

The doors will close and wont re-open until next year (a bit like joining a college class)

Deadlines Help

You need to use your imagination to create a plausible deadline that works for your audience.

And will continue working marketers copy each other but the more they do that, the less effective the techniques are.

Because we get immune to them.

Deadlines Help

The first time you see a new technique being used, its probably effective.

But the more often you notice it, the less effective it becomes.

A bit like the permanent sale that a UK furniture retailer has. OK, the items on sale are maybe different from month to month or the offers are slightly different but youd have to be foolish to pay full price for anything in their store and people know that.

Deadlines Help

Online, its even more difficult.

You know that the offer that says if you close the browser window it will never be priced this low again is probably a lie.

Especially if youre sneaky and open up a new browser or an incognito window and find the offer is still there or the countdown has started from scratch again.

Deadlines Help

So if youre going to use deadlines at all (I mostly dont) then you need to use a really plausible reason and keep to it.

Ive lost count of the number of offers Ive seen that say theyre only going to be available for a few days but those days were weeks or months or even years ago.

Price rises can be effective for deadlines. You can make them plausible by saying theyre a trial price or youre beta testing something.

Deadlines Help

But they work best with a real deadline, not one thats coming soon but with no actual date.

Its a dilemma.

Being honest to your potential customers whilst getting the highest number of sales from them.

Deadlines Help

Theres no easy answer youll need to figure out what youre comfortable with.

If its a permanent sale with an always re-setting countdown, trial it.

And handle the handful of people who go back to the page and realise theyve been tricked. Most probably wont go back so that might be a tactic youre happy using.

Deadlines Help

Or take a bit more time with your sales letter to wind up the problem youre solving inside your prospects head.

You can do that get them to imagine what the problem is doing to them and how nice it would feel to be free from the problem.

That works it just takes a bit more effort on the sales page.

Deadlines Help

Experiment.

Work out what youre most comfortable with as well as what works best for your target market.

And if youd like more help with working this out, join my internet marketing list by clicking this link.

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