While luxury wool-wear is his business, Dan Demsky of Unbound Merino understands that modern consumers often seek a level of involvement beyond simply clothing themselves. They want to be part of dynamic brands and exciting communities, and nothing drives that sensation of inclusion and exclusion like the fear of missing out (FOMO).
If a company finds themselves in the possession of a limited-quantity product, or at the end-of-life of a popular item, then they have an incredible opportunity to crank their customer relationship up to 11, ever so briefly, in a fit of popular-scarcity that could sustain them through word of mouth into the next season. Here's how:
- Be open, clear and honest with your customers about new, unexpected stock as well as retiring stock. A new item is exciting, but many customers become comfortable and reliant on mainstays, and if given fair warning that an item may soon disappear, will rush to grab as many as they can
- If the item is a limited time offer, make it very clear to the consumer how many are left, and how much time is left on the clock for them to make a decision. Often the very idea that someone else may have something special or unique is enough to drive others to desire it
- Let your customers in on the trade secrets and internal knowledge of your product line for any limited time offers, such as where the mystery item came from or why you're phasing a product out. Allowing your customers to share a sense of identity and pride in your flash sale will lead to them promoting you, free of charge
- Trust that customers who took advantage of one special buy-now-before-its-too-late event will eagerly hang around and wait for the next, confident that they have some secret knowledge of how to score the really good deals from their favourite brand
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