Scarcity marketing is a strategy used by sellers to create a sense of urgency in the prospect to buy a product immediately.
This is most often accomplished by stating that the product is available for a limited time or in limited quantities, e.g. “Offer ends March 31st” or “Only 36 copies left”.
The latter tactic works especially well when the prospective buyer knows that there were only a couple hundred units originally and now there are only 36 available.
For example, take a look at the screenshot below which shows the order page for a Clickbank product that I looked at this morning.
“WOW!, that is selling like hotcakes – I'd better buy it now!” you might think.
That's almost what I did until I stopped and thought harder for a moment.
The text under Item Description, “… WARNING: ONLY 36 COPIES LEFT…” is the description that the vendor supplies to Clickbank when they post the product in the Marketplace.
Smell a rat?
Wait, it gets stinkier still.
A seller might want to limit sales if they have a training program to which they attend to students personally (like I do at Affiliate Blogger PRO) and therefore more sales means more work.
But no Clickbank vendor in their right mind would limit sales of an ebook to 215 copies. It just doesn't make sense. Maybe if they were doing a deeply discounted offer – but not for the full price of $47.
Nor would that Clickbank vendor get hundreds of affiliates to promote the product. Seriously, would YOU bother to promote a product where there were only 215 copies available and you knew that all the so-called ‘Top Guns' were promoting it as well?
I hope not!
Don't get me wrong.
I'm not saying that scarcity marketing is not an ethical strategy – it IS, when used in an honest and upright manner.
But I sure as heck wouldn't even consider buying a product from someone who so blatantly lies to (tries to scam) their prospects.
Anyway, check out the sales page (it's great copy although I wish he'd stop yelling at some point) and then click through to the order page and see if there aren't still just 36 copies left. LOL
By the way, if you really want to buy the product – that is my affiliate link – feel free to use it. 🙂
As always, stop and think before you click “Order”.