Effectively Using Urgency in Marketing Emails

Email marketers are great with special days.

A good email marketer takes every advantage of the most well-known holidays like Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Birthdays. Companies use their email programs to entice consumers and other businesses to make purchases around these holidays. Holidays give people a reason to make a purchase. For some reason, there is a psychological trigger in each of us that makes us want to make purchases for events. We see something like a company party coming up on the calendar and we go out and purchase a new outfit or new shoes just for the occasion.

If you pay attention to marketing emails you’ll notice the focus on holidays and events. As the actual day of the holiday gets closer, though, you’ll notice something else that companies do with their email marketing. As the day gets closer there is another strategy and it’s important for success.

Urgency in Marketing Emails

Around the holidays, especially before the Christmas season, there are numerous urgency emails sent out to consumers. It’s common for companies to really hit home on the urgency of the situation.

Phrases like, “Last Chance” and “Final Days” are used to encourage the shopper to make a purchase. It’s a good strategy to use for those shoppers that might be on the fence about a purchase. These folks might have even forgotten to make a purchase. With an urgency email, the marketer is letting these folks know that time is running out. If the consumer wants to get a gift in time for Christmas they have to purchase now. If the consumer wants to take advantage of a promotion they have to purchase now.

Here are a few recent examples of urgency email marketing.

Amazon

It’s the last minute to make purchases in time for the holidays. Amazon even gives a few examples for items that make great gifts for family and friends. If you’re a person that has been putting off gift shopping, this is a great email that might tip you over the edge and finally allow you to make a purchasing decision.

Overstock

This email from Overstock is similar to the one from Amazon. Overstock focuses on the last few hours to place an order to guarantee shipping by Christmas. Shipping is an important fact for anything that needs to be shipped and not picked up in a store. People need to have their gifts in time for the family get together. Here is a clear call to action from Overstock that allows a person to make sure they are ready to go with their gifts.

Fossil

Fossil did something interesting. They use the urgency of the approaching holiday, but they also offer a great gift idea. For the people that had no idea what to purchase they might now realize that a gift card is a great option. Even better, an electronic gift card can be purchased right up until the very moment you have to give the gift.

The Other Side of Urgency

There is one quick point to make about using urgency as an email marketing strategy.

When you use holidays and events to lure customers to make a purchase, you might simply be pushing demand forward. One theory of selling is that a customer will make a purchase based on the value of the product or service. They go through the process of making a purchase on their own time unless something like a holiday or event forces them to make a decision sooner.

The point is that there is a consideration with urgency especially with promotions. When you offer a promotion there is a possibility that you’re simply giving someone the chance to push a purchase sooner in their schedule and giving them a discount. It’s possible to measure the profitability of people that purchase during promotional events and those that receive no promotions. Measure it long-term and see what works better for your company.

Discussion

Urgency can be a great email marketing strategy for your business.

Holidays and events are great purchasing triggers. People feel a need to make a purchase in preparation for something that’s coming up. It could be a holiday, birthday, or event. Smart marketers will use urgency to get the customer to make their final purchasing decisions.

Have you used urgency in your email marketing program?

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Tagged in: Amazon, Fossil, Overstock