4 Scarcity Tactics That Work in 2024

Scarcity is a marketing tactic that encourages consumers to take action before a desired item becomes unavailable. As one of the top strategies for boosting conversions fast, it creates a sense of urgency among consumers and combats hesitation. Read on to see how one of our favorite brands is maximizing profits through this tactic alone. 👀

SCARCITY MARKETING TACTICS: A CASE STUDY

If there’s one brand that does scarcity right, it’s Crumbl Cookies. It’s at the core who they are as a brand with their revolving weekly menu. If you’re not familiar: historically every Monday, the brand unveils six new cookie flavors available for only one week at their various locations. If you snooze, you lose because the cycle repeats week after week. 

Just recently, Crumbl took their scarcity tactic even further. On Mondays, for one day only, the brand now offers mini versions of that week’s cookie menu. Here’s why that’s genius:

ITS AN EXAMPLE OF SOCIAL LISTENING

If you’ve been to Crumbl before, you know they don’t skimp out on their cookie size. Just a single sugar cookie alone boasts a whopping 760 calories 🤯 … basically making our cutie lil treat a whole a** meal (that we will happily still be eating, thank you very much). While our sweet tooths aren’t complaining, it’s no secret consumers have been asking for smaller cookie sizes to be offered as a secondary option. 

Mini Mondays are a prime example of a brand listening to the desires of their consumers, and the fact that they incorporated scarcity into their response makes it even better. By offering the mini cookies for one day only, it allows their team to gauge just how high demand actually is. Are consumers just talking the talk, or will they actually walk the walk and purchase the mini cookies they’ve been asking for? If successful, the brand may want to consider bringing mini cookies on more frequently to their rotating weekly menu. 

IT’S GIVING “TRY BEFORE YOU BUY”

So what about the people that like the regular cookie sizes as-is? We’re no strangers to devouring a Crumbl cookie in one sitting when the flavor is just  👏 that 👏 good 👏, but you know what’s worse than heartbreak? 

Steering away from your go-to flavor to try something new and it just 🥲 doesn’t 🥲 hit 🥲. Orrrr debating between two new flavors, finally picking one, and then wishing you got the other 💔

Needless to say, with the cookies being so large, it can be nerve wracking committing to a flavor not knowing if you'll like it. In a sense, Mini Mondays give the opportunity to "try before you buy." Hosting it one day only will not only put more people in the door, but it will also put them in the door on the most important day of the week: new menu launch day. This means if consumers get a mini cookie they really love, they have all week to come back and order a regular size before the menu changes again.

INCORPORATING SCARCITY MARKETING TACTICS

So now that we've taken notes from the best, how can we take inspo from their scarcity tactics and implement them into our own marketing campaigns? Here are four scarcity tactics to consider:

CREATE LIMITED TIME OFFERS

Limited time offers are items available only for a short amount of time to create a sense of urgency and scarcity among consumers. Essentially, if consumers don’t act fast and purchase now, they’ll miss out on their chance. 

If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ve seen us do this with the launch of our Client Concierge Suite. We typically make it available for only 1-2 weeks before returning it back to the vault. Speaking of which… should we bring that back soon? 👀

HOST FLASH SALES

A similar tactic is flash sales. An example of this would be a website offering 50% sitewide for today only. The goal is for users to see this messaging, and feel a strong inclination to purchase immediately in order to steal the deal. The time crunch throws any procrastination or hesitation they may have normally felt out the window.

CREATE LIMITED QUANTITY OFFERS

Unlike limited time offers, limited quantity offers expire when the quantity of items sell out. If you’ve ever heard brands say “once they’re gone, they’re gone,” “limited edition,” or “while supplies last,” these are examples of that. 

By letting consumers know there is a limited supply of your product, they’ll feel more inclined to jump at the opportunity before anyone else so they can secure their goods. For some consumers, this allows them to feel a sense of status and exclusivity.

OFFER INCENTIVES TO EARLY BIRDS OR PRE-ORDERS

Another way to create scarcity is to offer benefits to early birds or pre-orders. For instance, you might offer early birds or pre-orders a discount off the product or a bonus goodie that regular purchasers will not receive. If the benefit is enticing enough, consumers will feel inclined to become an early purchaser.

We hope you found this blog post helpful in learning more about scarcity tactics! For guidance measuring the results of your efforts, check out our social media analytics course, Decode Your Data, or our Social Media Analytics Bundle. Enjoy!

xx, 

The Homies