Introduction
Have you ever been seized by the urge to buy something, for fear of missing out on a unique opportunity? This feeling is known as FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out. A powerful engine that can drive action, even without an initial need or desire.
FOMO is more than just a consumer experience; it’s an effective marketing tactic to increase customer loyalty. By playing on urgency, rarity or exclusivity, you can awaken your prospects’ desire to act immediately. Very (too) often used in B2C, this technique can be a powerful lever in B2B. Be careful, however, not to adopt the same methodologies as B2C, which could make you look like an amateur to your B2B customers.
This article reveals 10 marketing methods to boost your B2B business. You’ll discover how these tactics can draw attention to your propositions, add value to your products or services, and strengthen your brand.
If you’re intrigued by exploiting FOMO to boost your sales, you’ve come to the right place!
What is FOMO in marketing prospecting?
This acronym stands for Fear Of Missing Out, and symbolizes the fear of missing an occasion, event, special proposal or social interaction. This feeling creates an urgent need to act to avoid missing out on something that could be beneficial or meaningful.
In marketing, FOMO is an effective technique for generating the desire to buy. It creates a sense of urgency or scarcity around a product or service, encouraging immediate purchase. In B2B, this can mean exceptional opportunities in terms of pricing, but also in terms of functionality, with beta releases in particular.
FOMO marketing is based on emotional triggers such as the desire to belong, the fear of regret or the thirst for novelty. It also uses cognitive biases such as the scarcity effect, the endowment effect and the social proof effect to influence customers’ purchasing decisions.
This technique can be applied via various channels, such as push notifications, emails, Linkedin or websites. It can take many forms: limited-time offers, limited quantities, customer reviews, real-time counters, notifications of recent sales, preliminary listings, exclusive content or access, special collaborations, limited editions or lightning promotions.
In the following sections, we’ll explore 10 marketing examples that have significantly increased sales. You’ll discover how to integrate these approaches into your method to capture your audience’s interest, add value to your propositions and enhance your brand image.
FOMO 1: Limited-time offers
A widespread and effective technique is to launch commercial proposals for a limited period. This involves offering a benefit, such as a discount or free delivery, for a limited period of time – often a few days or weeks. The aim is to create a sense of urgency and scarcity, prompting customers to act without delay to seize the opportunity.
How to create a sense of urgency
For a time-limited proposition to be successful, it’s crucial to create this feeling among consumers. This can be achieved through the use of captivating visual and verbal elements, prompting action. Here are a few tactics:
- Use bright colors such as red or yellow, to stand out from the rest of the site or email.
- Use words that emphasize the imperative, such as “last chance”, “don’t delay”, “make the most of it fast”, etc.
- Include figures such as percentage discount, stock on hand or time remaining.
- Add symbols to accentuate the imperative, such as clocks, arrows, stars, etc.
Successful examples of temporary offers
Here are a few examples of companies that have boosted their sales with time-limited sales proposals:
- Bath & Body Works, with its “Semi-Annual Sale” offering up to 75% off all items, generated a buzz thanks to a dedicated page and animated video.
- Dunkin’ Donuts, with seasonal flavors such as Pumpkin Crème Brulee Latte available for a limited time, used the slogan “Pumpkin’s Back, Get Pumped” to attract and retain customers.
- Target encouraged pre-orders of Borderlands 3 before April 9 by offering a $10 gift card, using a real-time counter to intensify the sense of urgency.
- Tobi, a fashion website, offered 60% off all jeans for a set period, motivating purchases via the promotional code “DENIM60” and the message “Shop Now”.
Time-limited opportunities are a simple and effective FOMO marketing method for boosting your business and visibility. In the next segment, we’ll explore another FOMO technique based on the notion of rarity: limited editions.
FOMO 2: Limited quantities
One of the most effective “Fear Of Missing” Out techniques is to make products available in limited quantities. This method consists of voluntarily restricting a product, either by producing it in small quantities, or by limiting access to it to a limited number of customers.
This method aims to create a sense of prestige, making customers the lucky owners of a rare and highly sought-after item.
The psychological impact of scarcity
Scarcity exerts a powerful psychological influence by playing on various cognitive biases. The first, the scarcity effect, indicates that the perceived value of a product increases with its scarcity. The second, the endowment effect, reveals that we value a product more if we own it or have the opportunity to acquire it, compared to a product that is unavailable. The third, proving, shows that users draw inspiration from the purchasing behavior of others to guide their choices. As a result, a product that is scarce and in demand will be more coveted, with consumers assuming its superior quality and ability to meet their needs.
Strategies for communicating exclusivity
To maximize impact, it’s crucial to effectively emphasize the product’s exclusivity. Here’s how to do it:
- Use of distinctive signs such as badges, stickers, logos or labels to indicate the product’s limited edition or exclusive nature.
- Use terms such as “only”, “unique”, “exceptional”, “collector”, etc., to arouse interest.
- Presentation of specific figures, such as the number of units produced, the number of items still available, or the number of customers already satisfied, to quantify the offer.
- Use of customer reviews or ratings to illustrate satisfaction and enthusiasm for the product, reinforcing its appeal.
Clearly, limited quantities are a powerful FOMO marketing tactic to reinforce the perceived value of your products and stimulate demand. The next section will describe another evidence-based approach to FOMO marketing: exploiting customer feedback.
FOMO 3: Customer testimonials and reviews
It’s an effective marketing approach focused on social proof. It’s all about highlighting the positive experiences of your satisfied customers. They attest to the quality of your services, underline the value you bring to them, and illustrate the quality of your customer relations.
This method aims to establish a relationship of trust and credibility with prospects. They rely on your customers’ experiences to make the decision to do business with you.
Using social proof to generate FOMO
Reviews are powerful, showing that others appreciate and recommend your proposal. This type of technique has a significant influence on decisions, due to the social conformity effect.
This effect implies that consumers look to the actions of others to guide their own choices. In this way, a widely-approved product or service becomes more desirable, appearing more reliable and efficient.
By creating a feeling of “fear of missing out”, you encourage prospects to fear missing out on benefits already experienced by others. They also increase prospects’ appetite by evoking the tangible benefits brought to your customers, encouraging them to want to live the same experience.
What’s more, it’s a great way to gather customer feedback and improve your product. At MirrorProfiles, we always ask our customers for their opinion before developing a new feature. The idea is to use your customers to improve the product experience.
How to integrate reviews to maximize the FOMO effect
To optimize the use of customer reviews in your marketing strategy, it is advisable to follow best practices, including :
- Select relevant reviews that highlight your strengths, how it solves certain problems and the results achieved.
- Give preference to authentic reviews, from real customers using their name, photo or logo, and expressing themselves freely.
- Opt for a diversity of opinions reflecting the heterogeneity of your customer base, covering different aspects of your proposition and anticipating objections from prospects.
- Disperse these reviews across your website, emails and media, according to customer journey and objectives.
- Adopt formats adapted to your target, your field and your message – whether via written reviews, videos, media sharing, or case studies.
As illustrated, customer testimonials and reviews are a highly effective marketing tactic for building trust and credibility. The next section explores another urgency-based FOMO method: the use of real-time counters.
FOMO 4: Real-time counters
Exploiting the feeling of imperativeness via real-time counters is an effective FOMO marketing tactic. It consists of displaying dynamic information on your website, in your emails or on your social platforms, such as available stock, the current number of visitors to a product, or the time remaining before expiration. The aim is to create a sense of scarcity and competitive incentive among prospects, who are encouraged to act quickly to avoid missing out on a sales proposal. This FOMO, coupled with FOMO 2 on small quantities, works very well in B2B to reduce decision-making time. If your average shopping basket is less than 2,000 euros, don’t hesitate to use this technique.
Display stock levels or number of live buyers
To maximize the impact of real-time metering, it’s crucial to select relevant indicators and place them strategically. Here are some recommended approaches:
- Display the remaining quantity directly on the product page, accompanied by a message highlighting the limitation or rapid reduction of reserves, motivating prospects to buy without delay.
- Indicate the number of customers currently buying or viewing a product on your page, accompanied by a mention of its popularity or rapid stock release, which reinforces the proof and increases the perceived value of the product.
- Display the time remaining before an offer expires on the home page, product page, or in an email, with a note about the imminence of the offer, generating a sense of urgency and regret aversion.
The psychological effect of meters on consumers
Real-time meters exert a significant psychological influence by playing on several cognitive biases. The first is the scarcity effect, whereby a product perceived as rare is also perceived as more valuable and desirable.
The second is the competition effect, suggesting that users are motivated to acquire a good that is coveted or owned by others. Finally, the loss effect indicates that customers are generally more affected by the fear of losing something they could obtain, than by the prospect of gaining something unattainable.
So it’s clear that the use of real-time counters represents a powerful FOMO marketing tactic, capable of stimulating urgency in your proposition. We will then explore another technique based on social proof, alerts of recent commercializations.
FOMO 5: Recent sales notifications
Embedding these alerts on your website, in your emails, or on Linkedin is a powerful, proof-based FOMO marketing strategy. Displaying the name, location or product acquired by your customers in real time creates a feeling of trust and popularity, encouraging your prospects to take a greater interest in your brand.
The aim is to demonstrate that other customers, similar to your prospects, have trusted your brand and been satisfied with their experience.
Increase trust by sharing recent purchases
The success of recent alerts depends on the judicious choice of information to be shared and its location. Here are some effective practices:
- Displaying the names and locations of customers who have made purchases on the home page, in product sheets or on the checkout page reinforces a sense of proximity and trust with prospects, who appreciate seeing other customers in their area engaged with your brand.
- Highlighting the purchased product on the same sites arouses greater interest in it, generating a recommendation and popularity effect that attracts prospects’ attention and encourages them to find out more or add it to their basket.
- Indicating the time elapsed since the last acquisition on the same pages can create a sense of urgency and competition among prospects, prompting them to take action quickly to take advantage of the offer.
Software and tools for displaying sales notifications
To make it easier to display them on your website, your emails or your social platforms, several software and tools are at your disposal. Here are a few examples:
- TrustPulse is a WordPress plugin that lets you create personalized, attractive alerts, displayed in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. With TrustPulse, you can control the information displayed, the design, the frequency and the aletres trigger. It also provides detailed statistics to monitor the effectiveness of your alerts.
- NotificationX is another WordPress plugin that allows you to create alerts not only for recent commercializations, but also for other types of alerts such as comments, downloads, registrations and reviews. It offers several ready-to-use templates, as well as the option of customizing your alerts according to your preferences. NotificationX can be integrated with other e-commerce platforms such as WooCommerce or Shopify.
- Proof is an online software solution that enables the creation of notifications among other types of social proof such as conversions, registrations or visits. It provides a wide range of customization options for color, size, position, or alert content, and can be integrated with other marketing tools such as Mailchimp, HubSpot, or Zapier.
These alerts are therefore an effective marketing approach for building trust and popularity for your offer. In the next section, we explore another FOMO marketing technique: pre-registration or waiting lists.
FOMO 6: Pre-registration or waiting lists
Pre-registration or waiting lists are effective marketing tactics for generating interest in your new products. This approach invites potential customers to register or join a waiting list, offering them the chance to gain early access to your products. The aim is twofold: to generate excitement and to offer a feeling of exclusivity, making subscribers privileged.
Building anticipation for new products
To successfully set up a preregistration or waiting list, certain practices are recommended:
- Identify sales proposals that captivate your target, meet a need, provide a unique solution or stand out from the competition.
- Design a polished, persuasive landing page, highlighting the benefits and features of your proposals, and including a clear call to action.
- Use terms such as “preview access”, “early access”, or “pre-order”.
- Offer benefits to stimulate registrations or waiting list memberships, such as a discount, an exclusive bonus or an attractive launch opportunity.
- Mobilize e-mail marketing and Linkedin to stay in touch with your subscribers, sending them news, reminders or overviews.
Examples of using waiting lists to stimulate demand
Many well-known companies have used this technique to boost interest in their launches:
- Apple has introduced pre-registration for the iPhone 12, allowing customers to reserve it ahead of the official launch, with a strong message about limited stock.
- Netflix has introduced a waiting list for its arrival in France, offering one month’s free access to its video streaming service before it officially opens, underlining the service’s active preparation and limited availability.
- Spotify has made its music streaming service available in the US via a waiting list, offering an invitation to enjoy the service before its official launch, with selection based on sign-up order.
- Dropbox has encouraged sign-ups to its online storage service with a waiting list, promising an invitation to create a free account with 2GB of space due to high demand.
Pre-registration and waiting lists are powerful FOMO marketing levers, creating a strong desire and expectation for your new proposals. The next section details another technique: exclusive content or early access.
FOMO 7: Exclusive content or early access
Offering exclusive propositions or early access is a powerful marketing approach, which involves reserving special articles, videos, podcasts, white papers, webinars or training courses exclusively for your prospects. This method aims to provide considerable added value, whether educational, entertaining or inspiring, encouraging your prospects to act without delay.
Offer special content to encourage rapid action
To use this technique effectively, follow these best practices:
- Opt for information that meets the needs, interests or objectives of your target audience, offering clear solutions or answering specific questions.
- Select quality, characterized by careful writing, clear structure, relevant illustrations, thorough documentation, and reliable sources, thus guaranteeing its originality and usefulness.
- Choose attractive shares, combining engaging visual and textual elements, arousing curiosity and touching emotions.
- Create a persuasive landing page, detailing the benefits and features of your offer, with a captivating headline, summary or trailer, and a visible, inciting call to action.
- Use terms such as “exclusively reserved”, “VIP access”, “secrets revealed”, etc., to accentuate the appeal.
- Offer incentives or benefits, such as a discount, exclusive bonus, gift, or satisfaction guarantee, to motivate access to your content.
- Implement marketing campaigns by email or on your social platforms to invite and remind your prospects, while gathering their feedback.
Methods for providing privileged access
A variety of methods can be used to provide special access:
- Offer free access in exchange for information such as email or telephone number, or following subscription to your newsletter. This helps build loyalty and convert prospects into customers, while collecting valuable data.
- Offer paid access, with preferential rates, exclusive propositions or money-back guarantees, helping to generate revenue, qualify prospects and elevate your brand image.
- Limiting access in terms of duration, quantity or availability, creating a sense of urgency, pushing prospects to make quick decisions.
This technique is a proven FOMO marketing method for enriching your prospects and boosting their engagement. The next section looks at another method: collaborations and limited editions.
FOMO 8: Collaborations and limited editions
To engage your prospects with an exclusivity-driven FOMO marketing method, consider offering collaborations and limited editions. These initiatives involve the creation of special and unique products, often in collaboration with other companies, celebrities, influencers or artists. The aim is to enhance and differentiate your sales proposals while arousing the interest and curiosity of your potential customers.
Creating a unique offering through partnerships
To design successful collaborations and limited editions, it is essential to follow certain recommended practices, including:
- Opt for a partner in line with your values, vision and target audience, who brings expertise, style or notoriety, generating synergy with your brand.
- Select a product in line with the desires, needs or trends of your target market, offering a solution or answering a specific problem.
- Adopt a distinctive design that captures the essence and character of your partner, while standing out from your usual offerings, to capture your prospects’ interest.
- Create an enticing and persuasive landing page, highlighting the features and benefits of your collaboration or limited edition, with captivating visuals, text and a clear call to action.
- Use of terms such as “in collaboration with”, “limited edition”, “special series”, etc.
- Implement marketing techniques via e-mail or social media, invite and call back your prospects, while gathering their opinions and reactions.
How limited editions create a sense of rarity
Collaborations and limited editions engender a perception of scarcity in your prospects, making them concerned about missing out on a unique opportunity or the benefits that others have already secured. These initiatives also strengthen the appeal of your propositions, demonstrating tangible benefits for existing customers and motivating prospects to want the same experience.
Using collaborations and limited editions is an effective FOMO marketing approach to enrich and distinguish your products. In the next segment, we’ll look at another FOMO tactic based on urgency: flash promotions.
FOMO 9: Flash promotions
To induce a sense of urgency and take advantage of the fear of missing out, organizing flash promotions on your website, email campaigns or social media platforms is an effective strategic approach. These proposals, which range from substantial discounts to exclusive advantages, are only available for a limited time – often from a few hours to a few days. The main objective is to encourage impulse spending. Potential customers feel under pressure to act quickly to seize these opportunities before they expire.
Organize flash sales to stimulate impulse buying
Successful flash promotions require rigorous planning, including careful selection of products, prices and timing. Here are a few tips:
- Select products that are in high demand, recognized or well-reviewed – these items will capture attention, generate interest and be appreciated or useful.
- Offer attractive prices that offer significant savings over the standard price, while remaining consistent with the product’s perceived value. Prices should be easy to understand, ideally rounded or ending in 9.
- Choose times that align with your audience’s needs, desires or habits. This could be related to a special event, season or occasion, and must be relevant to your business area.
Best practices for advertising and running a flash promotion
Successful implementation of flash promotions requires the adoption of various best practices, including :
- Develop a captivating page that highlights the benefits and features of the proposal with engaging visuals and text, including a prominent call to action.
- Use imperative expressions such as “hurry up”, “don’t miss out”, “enjoy it quickly” to prompt immediate action.
- Incorporate figures that clarify the proposal, such as the percentage discount, remaining quantities, or time available, to reinforce the notion of an imminent end.
- Use visual symbols signifying the imperative, such as clocks, arrows or stars.
- Engage in email or social network marketing campaigns to promote the event, send invitations, reminders, or previews to your audience, and collect their feedback.
- Evaluate the performance of your flash promotion with analysis tools like Google Analytics, to track visitor numbers, conversion percentages, sales and return on investment.
Flash promotions, as part of the marketing strategy, are proving their effectiveness in encouraging impulse spending. The following section will summarize the main FOMO marketing techniques and offer advice on how to apply them.
FOMO 10: Working with influencers
Using them to promote your brand is based on a clear principle: collaborate with individuals who have a large following aligned with your target market, so that they share your brand with their subscribers. This approach to influencer marketing is widespread and effective, providing access to a variety of platforms, such as :
- YouTube,
- Instagram,
- Twitter X,
- TikTok,
- And other popular platforms.
Leverage professional relationships to extend your reach
In addition to working with these people, consider forming partnerships with companies that have large email databases. This can open up opportunities for professional collaborations where you can share your brand with their audience through special opportunities. Here are some tips on how to put this into practice:
- Identify companies whose customers match your target market, and propose collaborations that benefit all parties.
- Create attractive opportunities that these companies can share with their email lists. Make sure they’re ethical and non-intrusive, to avoid spam.
- Use clear, mutually beneficial communication techniques to ensure a long-lasting, fruitful relationship.
Best practices for successful influential collaboration
To maximize the impact of your collaboration with influencers, here are a few best practices:
- Choose people who share similar values with your brand to ensure authenticity and resonance with their audience.
- Develop clear, captivating messages that influencers can use, reinforcing your brand’s appeal.
- Include eye-catching visuals and a clear call to action in the content shared by influencers.
- Follow the results of these collaborations through detailed analyses to assess their effectiveness and adjust techniques if necessary.
By integrating this technique into your marketing strategy and forming strategic partnerships with other companies, you can effectively leverage FOMO and encourage broader engagement with your brand. The next section details other techniques for maximizing the impact of these collaborations.
This article has revealed ten effective FOMO marketing tactics to boost your sales, focusing on the importance of creating a feeling of imperative, scarcity and social proof. These key elements are designed to awaken desire, build trust and inspire your prospects to action. You’ll also discover case studies of companies that have successfully implemented these methods in their sales approach.
Now it’s time for you to take action! Select FOMO marketing methods that are perfectly aligned with your product and objectives. Experiment, evaluate the effectiveness of your actions, and fine-tune your campaigns to get the most out of them. And remember, these techniques must be applied in accordance with ethical principles and good marketing practice.
FAQ
What are the three main marketing strategies?
There are three key marketing strategies:
- Differentiation: The aim is to offer unique products that meet the varied expectations of different market segments.
- Focus: This approach concentrates on a single market segment, offering a tailor-made, personalized service.
- Skimming: This involves launching top-of-the-range products at high prices, targeting a specific clientele that is often less price-sensitive.
What are the marketing techniques?
Marketing techniques refer to action plans designed to achieve commercial goals in a targeted market. They include :
- Concentration: Focus on a specific market segment, adapting the proposition to the needs and expectations of that segment.
- Differentiation: Distancing yourself from the competition with a unique, innovative or superior proposition.
- Skimming: Setting high prices to attract customers willing to pay more, thus maximizing profits.
- Penetration: Adopting low prices to attract a wide audience and increase market share.
How can you improve your sales approach?
Consider the following actions: – Define SMART (Specific, Measurable, Ambitious, Realistic and Time-bound) sales objectives, adapted to your current ambitions and realities. – Get to know your target customers by developing detailed personas that reflect their characteristics, needs, expectations and buying path.
