Behavioral marketing will have a huge impact on your conversion strategy
Today, there are an endless number of ways for marketers to drive new and qualified traffic to their businesses for continued returns on their ad spend. In fact, according to eMarketer by 2017, digital media ad spend in the US is projected to surpass television for the first time in history and expected to represent nearly 50% of total US media spend by 2020.
Considering the market share held by digital, it’s not surprising that for every $92 spent on digital ads driving traffic to a website, only $1 is spent actually guiding that traffic toward conversion once it’s on the website. Of course marketers continue to rely on that ratio. They focus their attention on the variable of the equation they know they can control - the traffic - and leave the variable that has historically been untapped by technology - the website - untouched.
Curious how the digital marketing landscape will evolve in the next few years? Conversion Day is about short term wins you can achieve. André Morys is the German founder of the biggest conversion rate optimization agency in Europe. André will take a deep dive into how companies that want to make money online should adjust their strategy to be future proof. Take a look at the first speakers.
What does this mean for your digital business? It means that today, your website is comparable to a store devoid of any maps, any store associates, and anything to help your visitors through the conversion journey.
And your conversions? Well, they’re suffering as a result.
So, what can you do about it? Start treating your valuable traffic like the humans they are. Read and react to their digital body language in order to drive them toward the next most productive actions for your business. It’s called Behavioral Marketing.
How does scarcity differ from urgency?
Urgency.
It doesn’t. Urgency represents a type of scarcity that revolves around time. But let’s back up and first understand what scarcity is and how it works.
What is it: According to Investopedia, “scarcity refers to the basic economic problem, the gap between limited–that is, scarce–resources and theoretically limitless wants’.
How does it work: It’s called the scarcity effect. Our minds are automatically directed toward unfulfilled needs or wants as a result of the simple fact that humans suffer from a little thing called FOMO – the fear of missing out. Fear of Missing Out is the stress or anxiety resulting from irrational thoughts that others might have rewarding experiences of which you’re not part. The prevalence of social media in today’s society has made the FOMO phenomena commonplace, as people have constant access and insight into the social lives of those around them via Facebook, Twitter, etc. But FOMO isn’t limited to our social lives. There could be a sale that we’re missing out on, or a conference accepting a limited number of registrants.
Ultimately, these irrational ideas result in irrational decisions. Some people will refuse to commit to plans for fear a better option might arise. Others will make impulse purchases, concerned that the expiring deal will not return.
Scarcity.
Scarcity has become a powerful marketing tactic, particularly for eCommerce, due to the effect it has on consumers — it forces them to take action now. The 2 primary vehicles for scarcity are time and supply.
1. Time-Limited Scarcity, or Urgency, is established when consumers believe that time is of limited supply. Just think of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Why are they so powerful? Because they represent single days of unbeatable deals. If shoppers don’t act immediately, they’ll likely miss out on the best deals of the year.
Many companies have even built themselves on urgency-based business models – flash deal sites, for example:
Other companies use urgency as a deadline for value
2. Product Scarcity is the notion that a particular product or service is in short supply. Similar to the effect of urgency, low supply compels action – if everyone’s buying it, it must be good and you have to act before it sells out.
Let’s have a look at a few examples:
Product Scarcity and Urgency often work hand in hand. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are powerful not only only because the events last a single day but also because the discounted products sell out quickly.
Let’s take another look at those urgency-based businesses:
Ultimately, whether you focus on urgency, product scarcity, or a combination of both it all boils down to ensuring your traffic understands what’s at stake — what are they going to miss out on if they don’t act immediately?
