The Power of Scarcity: Leveraging Urgency to Influence Customer Decisions

Drive revenue and grow your business by using the powerful concept of scarcity

Scarcity isn’t just one of the key principles of influence, it’s arguably the most powerful--invoking the kind of primal instincts that were essential to our ancestors’ survival. It’s also the explanation for why, in the mid-1990’s, ＄29.99 Tickle-Me-Elmo dolls were being scalped for ＄7,000 apiece.

And yet, for all its power, scarcity is a principle that’s little understood, even as it’s frequently employed in sales and marketing campaigns. Research on scarcity is published mainly in academic journals, not easily accessible to the mainstream public, and often written from an economic, rather than psychological, point of view.

In The Power of Scarcity, Dr. Mindy Weinstein leverages her deep expertise in both marketing and psychology to reveal how this influence principle can be used to boost sales, win negotiations, spark action, develop community, build customer loyalty, and more. As a digital marketer and doctor of philosophy in psychology, she brings both practical and academic insights to explain the psychology behind scarcity, why it has such an immense impact on decision making, and how, used correctly and ethically, it can influence the people who buy your products or services.

In these pages, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of why and how scarcity works in business, and specifically how different types of scarcity messages--supply related, demand related, time related or limited edition--affect our brains. You’ll see it in action from multiple perspectives, through case studies, research findings, and eye-opening interviews with current and former executives (from brands that include McDonald’s, Harry & David, and 1-800-Flowers), as well as real-life customers’ firsthand experiences.

For anyone involved in sales and marketing today, The Power of Scarcity is a rare find, combining the best research on the subject as well as hands-on, tactical ways to apply the psychology behind it to knowledgeably harness that power to bolster your business.