7 Genius Email Strategies that Drive FOMO (with examples)

📆 Thursday, 28th Mar 2024

Hey — It's Rhythm. Thrilled to have you back in Ecom Circle, where I spend my time scaling ecom brands & finding best growth strategies to share with you.

DEEP DIVE 💡

We’ve all heard of FOMO*, right?

(*Just in case, FOMO is the ‘fear of missing out’.)

It can range from checking your own social media pages every 10 minutes to chronic anxiety at the thought and fear of missing the hottest party in town, which is creating fomo.

Maybe you’re wondering right now if everyone else has discovered another post on FOMO marketing that you should be reading instead?

Chill out! You’ve come to the right place and you’re not going to miss a thing.

First up, we’re going to look at why FOMO and why a fomo marketing strategy and campaign strategy works. Then we’re going to give you 7 more top fomo tactics for impulsive purchases, fomo marketing strategies and, campaign strategy that you can implement today; plus a bonus tip you’re going to love.

Ready?

Is FOMO a Real Thing?

It’s hardly a technical term and it’s not a medical condition. But it’s certainly real.

At its core, FOMO is a fear of regret about making the wrong decision, which can make us quite compulsive.

Clever marketers take advantage of this same fear of missing out by persuading customers they need to act now before the opportunity disappears forever. Worst still, they might miss out on opportunities while everyone around them makes the right decision, which is a FOMO sufferer’s ultimate nightmare.

So, let’s take a look at some of the ways you can create a subtle fomo marketing strategy in your email marketing campaigns, and social media marketing campaigns now.

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1. Show That People Are Buying

Some of the most effective FOMO marketing techniques trigger the feeling without even making a sales pitch.

These days, it’s not unusual to see live information on sales when you visit a website, as in this FOMO marketing example from SeedProd:

This shows a recent purchaser’s first name and location, so it’s clear it’s a real person. If visitors to your site know other people are buying, they’ll also want to buy.

2. Highlight Missed Opportunities in Your Messaging

One site that’s great at using these FOMO tactics is Booking.com, which has multiple examples of FOMO on every page. In this tip, we’re focusing on ramping up FOMO by showing that visitors have actually missed out on a great deal.

Booking.com shows this with messaging showing when the property you’re looking at is sold out in big red letters:

As we move forward, you will see more FOMO marketing examples from Booking.com.

3. Show Stock Levels

Scarcity is a big component of FOMO marketing because if something’s about to run out, there’s a huge incentive to get it now. There are many ways to highlight scarcity.

For example, if you’re running an online store, you can show stock levels, as Amazon does:

Or, if you’re in the travel business, you could show the number of spaces left, as Booking.com does:

4. Build the Tension With a Countdown Timer

Nothing cranks up FOMO like a deadline. And nothing says deadline more than a countdown timer.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Countdown timers build the excitement towards the launch of a new product or encourage registrations for an event.

And they work equally well to build the tension as a sale draws to a close, like this one:

5. Stir Their Competitive Spirit

Not only do we not like missing out, but we hate the thought that others might get something great before we do. That’s why good FOMO marketing campaigns play on this feeling to inspire action. Here are a couple of examples.

Booking.com shows how many people are viewing a property. The underlying message is that if you don’t move fast, you’ll end up missing out:

Or you could show the number of people who’ve already taken a deal, as Amazon does:

6. Tempt them with New or ‘Must-Have’ Items

Who says you must have a sale or even a special offer to stir up the FOMO in your contacts?

Commanding words like ‘must-have’ and ’new’ are sometimes all it takes. A ‘must-have’ conjures up something so desirable, it almost becomes an essential impulse purchase because it's the newest and greatest.

Additional words and phrases to stir up the ‘must-have’ FOMO in your email contacts:

• Just released

• Limited

• In demand

• Latest

• All the rage

• This season’s

• Essential

• Coming soon

• Current

• Hot off the press

• State of the art

• Winning

• Red hot

• Irresistible

7. Make Your Offer Come and Go in a Flash

Don’t give them time to think!

Make your offer valid for a day, or just a few hours. This is a great FOMO technique because it instills a sense of panic. No-one wants to let a great deal slip through their fingers. What if it’s never offered again?

And if you add a countdown clock to your flash sale email, you’re really giving yourself an unfair FOMO advantage.

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How to make your flash sale more effective:

• Segment your list to your most loyal clients. It’s a great way of saying thank you and encouraging repeat purchases as you reduce unwanted stock.

• Keep the offer simple and relevant to your audience.

• Keep the offer as juicy as possible. You want to make the incentive appealing enough for them to jump before they miss out.

• Make your flash sale email stand out by adding a gif. 

There you have it! 7 FOMO marketing techniques, other marketing strategies, and tactics techniques used to generate interest and that you can start using right away, together with some hot tips on your marketing strategy and campaigns, additional words and phrases and other resources to help you become an instant FOMO and marketing strategy expert.

Remember, the key ingredients are deadlines and scarcity, exclusivity and an air of mystery, persuasive language and the temptation of getting something for free.

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