With every new toy or book, I could always count on my mom to wake up early to brace the long lines in order to ensure that I got my hands on whatever trendy toy I wished for. Two tickle-me-elmos, a furby, all of the new Harry Potter books, and various Tamagotchis later, I always had the latest and greatest. Of course, I never had to wait in these lines with her, probably because I would complain incessantly, or she just didn’t want me to suffer. We’ll go with the latter.
Fast-forwarding 15 or so years later, guess who is standing in line now? Except…it’s not for toys for my non-existent children…it’s for apps. Mainly with Mailbox, Tempo, and Simple.
I was a little late to jump on the bandwagon for three mentioned above because I tend to (crazily) get anxious when I’m downloading apps onto my iPhone. I read the reviews and watch videos before making the leap to be sure I’m not taking up unnecessary memory that I could be filling with corgi pictures. Oops.
But, are you ever completely engulfed on your phone while waiting in a Starbucks line for coffee, then you move forward and accidentally run into the person in front of you? Ok maybe, it’s just me, yet that’s the exact thing that just happened in these apps. BAM! I was HIT with the 500,000 people in
front of me. Where the heck did this line come from? I’ve grown far use to instant gratification and now this slap in the face — LONG LINES. Who are these 200,000+ people and why are they in front of me?!
A rational, calm, and sane person would probably delete the app after seeing the outrageous wait. I clearly don’t fall into any of those categories because I’m still sitting pretty in line…
Since I have a huge amount of time to wait in line, it made made me think about why I’m waiting in line for this app and why do I want it so badly all of a sudden. According to Simple I have months to wait, but they are promising me with extra cool features when I get my hands on an account. Mailbox is trying to take the time to cater to each customer and I think Tempo is doing the same. It’s nice to think about, but its not satisfying my craving to have the apps now!
Ravenous, impatient thoughts are swarming my head, along with trolling the web for secret invites — clearly I haven’t had any luck on that route.
As I’m still wondering why I’m still waiting in line for these apps, it kind of struck me that, whether they are doing it on purpose or not, these apps have a marketing technique in their advantage.
…Scarcity.
In an effort to not sound like my Econ 101 professor, it’s a shortage of a supplies when the demand is high. Or creating that shortage to generate a higher demand. I’m not saying that these apps are intentionally creating scarcity, but they aren’t trying to solve it either. These apps have placed a cap on the number of users that are allowed in, hence the long lines that will probably stay that way. These limits, or this scarcity produces several marketing advantages that are pointed out in the massive demand these apps have generated.
1. Increases Demand
The biggest event that comes to my mind when I think about scarcity is Black Friday. For the past three years, I’ve braced the crowds with my mother to go shopping on Black Friday. Please don’t ask me why, I think I do it out of love for my mother who loves this madhouse shopping experience. About 37% of Americans go shopping on Black Friday to snag some of the endless “deals” available at 3am. Except the deals themselves are not so endless with a set of minimal inventory that you can only purchase during a 2 hour time frame. Whether marked out right or not, these items on Black Friday are now scarce. This scarcity of items, at “shockingly” low prices (In reality they aren’t so low) creates a high fluctuation of demand with the 225,000,000 Americans that go out shopping on Black Friday. Oh so you already have a TV, but do you want one of our 20 32-inch flat screen TV’s that we are giving away for $100 at 3am? YEP, I’ll see you in line.
2. Stirs Emotions
“It’s like my worst nightmare being the last one to be picked up from school or some social event.” We feel you Hannah and wouldn’t you agree? No one likes being left out or being the last one picked up. Scarcity offers a distinct advantage point in that people will scramble to make sure they are NOT the last ones, inevitably creating a high sense of desire to get the item now. However, it’s not just the emotion of desire creating the sense of urgency to buy, it’s also the motivation to that propels the customer to acquire the want, so they also in turn are not the last ones out.
3. Value
It’s safe to say that most of us know and remember the tickle-me-elmo debacle and the perceived scarcity of these elmos allowed for some to be sold for thousands of dollars. Although, the item may not be made from expensive materials or it’s just a simple email app, the scarcity will drive up the perceived value making people quick to want to get in line or purchase it. So many people want to get their paws on the item during the scarce time in turn making the value increase. Of course, if not monitored, there could be a backlash in two ways. One it could drive people to select a different item elsewhere and/or second, once the supply is increased people are fulfilled no longer “needing” the product. Then, the value is driven down. The increased value of scarcity is a tricky concept, so controlling this advantage is essential.
4. Credibility
Even though, I’m not thrilled that I’m in the 200,000+ place in line it is nice to see exactly where I stand. Even though you may only have 4 spots left in your beta program or you are the second to last person in line, being specific is key. This advantage is dependent on you, but telling the customer out right where they stand adds credibility to your company even if the product is scarce. Dooley points out in his book Brainfluence that telling your customers “‘Only 2 left at this price’ is much better than ‘Limited Supply.'” Being transparent with your customers will go a long way.
Deploying the scarcity technique isn’t an extreme necessity for your marketing and it could backfire on you. However, knowing marketing scarcity tactics could provide several of the advantages above — using the right recipe. Hopefully then, accumulating more qualified leads for your company.
Are you waiting “in line” for any of these apps? Are there other apps that I should be standing in line for? Leave a comment, give me shout on twitter (@sabelharris) or drop me a line at sabel@trackmaven.com.