Read this blog post before it’s gone!

Okay, this post obviously isn’t going anywhere. But if it were, you’d probably be more encouraged to read it now. Instead of say, leaving it open in another tab for the next several hours. That’s the effect of urgency. Use it to make your marketing more effective. It works.

Urgency can help drive customers to make a purchase. Yet it can also accomplish other key marketing goals. Notably any goal that requires the customer to take action. Want more loyalty members? A higher email open rate? Event attendees? Urgency is the answer.

Here’s a few ways to better make use of urgency for your marketing goals.

Urgent language. Probably the most essential part of creating urgency? Using the right language. It really should go without saying, but it really is that important. Ideally, you want to establish a message of urgency right off the bat.

You see phrases like “Act Now,” “Limited-Time Only,” and “Get It Before It’s Gone” because they effectively drive home a message of urgency in a very simple way. This type of language is particularly important for email subject lines, where your first goal is actually get the email opened to begin with.

Urgent value. All actions require basic motivation. Pure curiosity will only get you so many clicks. What you really need is to establish motivation through value – in all aspects of your marketing plans.

Let’s say your goal is to produce more loyalty program signups. You decide to launch a new promotion. In order to get people motivated, you’re going to add value to this promotion. You might go about doing this by giving away a $5 credit to every new loyalty member that signs up. Now customers have a great reason to join. But we can still make this promotion a little more effective.

That’s where the urgency comes in. “Act fast! This promotion is only available until the end of the week!” Now the customer has no choice but to join as soon as possible. They don’t want to wait. Otherwise they’ll lose out on $5. You see, even when value exists, if there’s no urgency involved, the customer has less incentive to take the intended action. They might just forget about the offer entirely.

Strategic timing. Another element of urgency to explore is timing. Merriam-Webster defines urgent as “calling for immediate attention.” Even if a promotion is time-limited in nature, that doesn’t mean it will automatically be urgent. The timing in which the customer is made aware of the promotion should call for immediate action.

Here’s an example. If you’re promoting a limited-time sale, you don’t necessarily want to announce it a week in advance. By the time your sale actually rolls around, all the urgency is lost. It’s old news at that point. If a customer finds out about a one-day-only sale just as it kicks off, they’ll be far more likely to make an impulse purchase. Because it’s happening now. That’s strategic timing.

Create Urgency With CoGoBuzz

With CoGoBuzz, our state-of-the-art marketing service, digitally creating urgency just got a lot easier. Our service leverages advanced WiFi, SMS, and Email solutions to promote your business both in-store and out.

With in-store WiFi, we display an interactive landing page on your customers’ mobile devices, letting you show off your sales, limited-time deals, and more! With our SMS solution, you can enroll customers in digital loyalty programs, and start sending them notifications for when you’re holding a flash sale. On top of that, we produce fully-realized customer profiles for every customer that login in to your HotSpot, and automatically integrate them with your Marketing List of choice, such as HubSpot, MailChimp, or Constant Contact.

Click here to learn more about CoGoBuzz!

Has your brand ever taken advantage of urgency? Let us know in the comments!