The term FOMO (or “Fear Of Missing Out”) describes the anxiety you feel when you’re left out of a social event or a new experience. 👉 FOMO marketing uses this emotion to persuade people to buy a specific product, helping businesses increase their conversion rates and reduce cart abandonment.
This article explains how to create FOMO and add it to your marketing mix! ⚡
What is FOMO Marketing?
FOMO marketing refers to marketing messages that create a desire in the target customers to take action before it’s too late. 🙈
The fear of missing out on opportunities later causes an impulse to purchase! 🛒
FOMO marketing psychology affects all consumers. With a smart FOMO marketing strategy, you can harness the power of FOMO to increase conversions, sales, and revenue.🤑
This works because we are risk-averse creatures. 😨 When it comes to purchasing, risk aversion means being afraid of putting money into a product that may not meet your needs.
Although FOMO can have negative effects, it can also motivate people to try new things and explore new possibilities. 🧭
FOMO marketing uses this positive aspect of FOMO to increase demand and sell the latest trends.
By emphasizing a product’s popularity and limiting its availability, marketers can make the product attractive.🧲
Additionally, it can reduce the length of the average customer’s journey, thereby lowering his overall cost of acquisition.
15 FOMO Marketing Strategy Examples
Here are 15 examples to incorporate FOMO into your marketing strategy. 🚀
With these strategies, you can increase your effectiveness by targeting your marketing content to a more specific audience. 👂
By analyzing your customers and understanding their common characteristics, you can identify the key problems you can solve for them. 🪄
Another key element of a FOMO marketing strategy is highlighting previously missed opportunities. 🫢
Showing your visitors real offers and options that they missed will increase their motivation to pursue new opportunities. 💫
1. Make Limited-in-Time Offers
Setting deadlines is essential for FOMO marketing. We are hard-wired to meet deadlines, which puts a lot of pressure on us to do the right thing. 😔
This also applies when making purchasing decisions, where time is of the essence. ⌚ That’s why you make impulse purchases.
However, keep in mind that the deadline you set must be respected. 😬 If you keep renewing, your customers will get used to the offer being available even after it expires.
💡 For example, Amazon makes good use of this form of marketing. They do “Flash Sale” offers that are valid for 24 hours.
So, customers must purchase within this period to claim the deal. 🏆
2. Use Social Proof
Social proof can be used to cause FOMO. However, you need to know when to use it to get the most benefit.
Ideally, social proof should be used at the end of the sales funnel, when consumers are closer to making a purchase decision. 🧨 Sometimes social proof is all people need to make a purchase.
A great way to do this is to post and share testimonials from your existing clients on social media posts.
When people read about the positive experiences other consumers had with your brand, they’re more likely to buy from you. 😏
💡 For example, you can use “Social Proof notifications” from Nudgify that show what other visitors are doing on your website.
🤩 It shows how many people are viewing a product (“Live Visitor Count”), how many people have visited recently (“Popularity Nudges”), etc.
3. Do Limited Edition Products
We create limited edition products that are only available for a limited time to create a sense of exclusivity and scarcity. 🔥
Providing unique and exclusive offers, especially ones that are only available for a limited time, gives your visitors a better reason to sign up to your newsletter, for example. 😉
💡 It’s much easier to build a mailing list, if you offer something in exchange for new signups!
Most people love having one-of-a-kind items, so limited edition sales are your best allies. 🎈
4. Improve Multi-channel Marketing
All brands should adopt a multi-channel marketing approach to reach all their target customers. 🎯
People prefer different social media channels to communicate with brands, so you can use this to your advantage. 👌
You can tell viewers on one channel that you will release unique content on other channels only. 👉 For example, you can briefly showcase new products on your TikTok and then show the full tutorials on YouTube.
This can create FOMO in their minds and encourage them to follow you or subscribe to other channels as well. 🤳
💡 Using this method, you can grow your number of followers across multiple channels. 💘
There are many brands out there, like the fast-food restaurant Wendy’s, 🍔 that come up with “App-only Offers” so that their customers will download their app. 📱
5. Improve Your Copy
The way you communicate your message to consumers makes a big difference in FOMO marketing. 🙊
Your copywriting should create a sense of urgency among your target audience and persuade them to buy from you.
Therefore, you need to craft a message that makes the other person think that they might miss out on the offer if they don’t hurry up. ⌛
Using strong verbs can cause your message to cause FOMO in your prospect. 👉 Try phrases like these:
- Don’t miss out on this special deal.
- This is your last chance to get…
- Tick, tock… Hurry before it’s gone!
- Only 3 items left online.
Your message should persuade your audience to take immediate action. 💥 Make them think that if they don’t act now, they will regret their decision forever.
💡 In the example below, Hotels.com shows that this hotel has “only 1 room available” at that price. This will definitely push people to book the rooms fast. 💲
6. Leverage Competitive Spirit
We don’t like missing out on great deals, but we also don’t like it when others get them instead. 😂
You can use this competitive spirit to your advantage to create a stronger FOMO for customers. 👉 A great way to do this is to show others that they’re also looking at products you’re interested in.
Firstly, it also reinforces the social proof that the product is good because many people are interested in it, too. 💎
Secondly, it gives the feeling of competing with lots of people to get a product. 💪 This may lead to spontaneous purchases.
💡 For example, Airbnb uses this to promote travel destinations. They highlight destinations that are most popular with other travelers.
✈️ This is sure to awaken the competitive spirit of customers:
7. Highlight Past Deals
To further enhance your FOMO marketing, consider showcasing all the opportunities your customers are missing out on. 😛
It’s scary to realize that just by being late or not calling right away, you’ve lost a lot of money or a great opportunity. 😥
This fear is nothing but FOMO and can cause you to make decisions quickly so as not to miss out on other deals! 📣
💡 Sometimes, that’s all you need to get customers to buy. 👉 For example, Booking.com uses this strategy to their advantage.
Notice how they capitalize on FOMO with phrases like “Sorry, you missed it!”
8. Make Live Story Sales
Live Story Sales are a powerful form of content marketing strategy because they are only accessible at a specific time and place. 📍
This reduces the number of people you can reach, but creates a strong incentive for prospects to take action. 👏
If they miss the event or live, then they’ll miss out on unique offers and information. 👁️
Live sales can help you develop a “ready-to-go” strategy. 🏃 By securing a small commitment to attend a live event, you can ask for a larger commitment later.
💡 By asking leads to reserve a spot, you can collect email addresses to use in emailing campaigns later.
👌 For example, many small business owners use Instagram Live Stories to make sales of batch products or “limited drops”.
9. Display Remaining Stock
Emphasizing that your product or offer has limited stock will prompt your customers to take action. ❤️🔥
Not only does this mean the product is popular, but the scarcity itself seems to increase the added value of the product. 💰
Even if you don’t give your customers a deadline, knowing they might be missing something is enough to create a sense of urgency. ⏰
💡 For example, fast-fashion brands like Mango often display out-of-stock alerts in their catalog, with hooks like “Not available I want it!”.
👉 FOMO is an essential tool for their e-commerce sites because they want to show customers that their collections are almost sold out and that they need to sign up to get it.
10. Work With Influencers
Influencer marketing is nothing new. 🌟 The concept is simple:
Find someone who has a large audience that fits your target market. 🎣 Then ask those people to share your brand with their followers.
Influencers can be found on almost every platform, including: 👇
- YouTube,
- Instagram,
- Twitter X,
- TikTok,
- And many more.
💡 But remember, you can also do professional collaborations. Many companies have large email lists and do not use them.
You can create offers to invite other businesses to share your brand in their listings. 📧 However, please make sure to do this in an ethical, spam-free, and mutually beneficial way.
11. Feature Past Customers
You’ve probably seen this FOMO marketing strategy on the homepage of many websites. 👀
This is something that many of the world’s top brands do, and somehow, new marketers ignore this technique. 😓
However, you’ll get more conversions if you feature the biggest clients you’ve worked with. This will surely catch the eye of visitors! 😍
💡 New visitors will instinctively associate your company to the other brand names they already know, trust, and love. 💖
Therefore, they’ll want to use the same tools as other leading companies, and will be willing to try your solution. 🙌
If done successfully, it should look like this: 👇
12. Create “First 100 Buyers” Discount
Giveaways are a common tactic for creating FOMO in the events and entertainment industry. 🌟
By limiting the number of free items to the “first 100 buyers”, organizers are encouraging participants to arrive early. 🌞
You can also encourage potential customers to make a quick decision by offering a discount offer with a limited number of registrations. ⚡
💡 For example, the SaaS listing site AppSumo offers exclusive deals on software packages. 👉 Limiting these offers to a certain number and displaying sold-out offers increases their effectiveness.
We even tried this technique at Waalaxy as well: 👽
13. Use “Order Now” Notifications
“Order Now” notifications give customers a deadline to order if they want to receive the item on a specific date. 🗓️
Since this is a natural deadline, 🌬️ it’s less likely to be ignored because it won’t put pressure on your sales.
This type of notification then creates a sense of ownership by encouraging the customer to think about receiving the item (this is called the Endowment Effect). 💍
🎨 By adjusting the color of your “call-to-action” button, your notification makes it clear what your customers need to do.
💡 In this example, ASOS placed a “Selling Fast” message directly below the main button.
14. Put a Countdown Timer
Use countdown timers on your website or emails to create a sense of urgency and encourage customers to take action before time runs out. 🥵
Perhaps the most obvious way to leverage urgency is to make the deadline as clear as possible. 🎯
Countdown timers can have a powerful impact on consumers when combined with special offers. 🎁 If you want to increase sales as quickly as possible, you can use a countdown timer to encourage impulsive purchases.
💡 However, in the long run, this can affect brand credibility. So use this example wisely:
15. Create a FOMO marketing calendar
By targeting your marketing to specific events, you can create FOMO in a more organic way. 🪴
This is why calendars and retroplanning are so important. You can communicate true scarcity through events such as release dates, brand launches, and discount sales. 🤑
A FOMO marketing calendar based on staggered release dates increases overall sales and increases product value. 🚀
👉 The content plan includes professional PR and carefully crafted sales strategies to ensure that demand for tickets exceeds supply.
💡 For example, Tomorrowland Festival plans and executes a highly effective marketing calendar each year.
Benefits of using FOMO in Marketing
FOMO marketing offers several benefits to businesses. ✨
Some of these benefits are: 👇
- Generating buzz and excitement about your product or service increases brand awareness and visibility. 🏹
- Encouraging people to take immediate action can lead to higher conversion rates. 🤗
- This will make your customers feel special and relate to your brand. 🪞
- Increase customer loyalty by creating a sense of urgency and excitement. 🥰
Mistakes to avoid in FOMO Marketing
FOMO marketing can be very effective, but it’s important to use it ethically and avoid these common mistakes: 👇
- Overusing FOMO marketing can lead to “customer burnout”. 🫠
- Using misleading information or fake social proof to create a sense of urgency can damage your brand reputation and lead to a loss of trust. 👎
- Targeting the wrong audience can lead to a lack of interest and engagement, and wasted time and effort on your side. 😪
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Conclusion: Why use FOMO and marketing combined?
To conclude, FOMO marketing is effective because it takes advantage of our natural tendency to participate in something exclusive and exciting, and not want to miss out on something valuable. 🪙
By creating a sense of urgency and exclusivity around a product or service, companies can encourage customers to act quickly and increase sales. 💹
However, it’s important to use FOMO marketing ethically and avoid false or misleading claims, as it can damage your company’s reputation eventually. 🤫
FAQ of the article
What is FOMO?
The influence of social media on modern lifestyles has made psychologists more aware of the FOMO syndrome. 👀
FOMO (fear of missing out) is defined as the feeling or perception that others are having more fun, having a better life, or experiencing better things than you. 😣
It is a form of social anxiety in which people fear missing out on fun and exciting things. 👉 It’s the feeling you get when others experience the things you desire, too.
Do you remember the last time you saw your friends:
- Buying the item you were looking for.
- Trying a new restaurant in town.
- Traveling to exotic destinations.
- Going to your favorite band’s concert.
Surely, you were glad to hear about your friend’s experiences. 🙊 But you probably also had the feeling that you missed out on something…
This is FOMO in action. 💥 If you’ve felt FOMO at some point, know you’re not alone!
How to create FOMO in marketing?
Creating FOMO in marketing means making your audience feel like they’re about to miss out on something special. 🙊
Start by highlighting limited-time offers, exclusive products, and internal events. 🖼️ Use compelling images and compelling stories to highlight the unique benefits of acting now.
Social proof, such as testimonials and influencer partnerships, can also add urgency. 🤝 Remember, it’s not just about selling. It’s about creating an experience that’s too good to pass up. 😉
Can you get FOMO from social media?
Absolutely! 😤 Social media is like a playground for FOMO… Scrolling through an endless feed of friends’ adventures, influencers’ perks, special events, and more can sometimes make anyone feel like they’re missing out on the fun. 😓
It’s a world where every post and story seems to whisper: “Wish you were here, huh?” 😏, but remember that often it’s just a beautified glimpse and not the whole story.
It’s easy to catch the FOMO virus online, 🦠 but take it with a grain of salt and enjoy your journey.
Great, now you know all about FOMO Marketing. See you next time! 😘
