Limited time offers are one of the best ways to get your hesitant and reluctant potential customers to take action. It is a great option for any business that wants to capitalize on the average person’s desire to be included in something exclusive. Limitations on offers ensure the feeling of immediacy and trigger the fear of missing out. But immediacy itself is not enough to get consumers to act on an offer. There actually has to be some meat to that offer. Here are a few ways to make sure that you offer something your audience actually wants and will act on

1. How to Create
Urgency For Your
Limited Time Offers

2. How to Create Urgency
For Your Limited Time Offers
• Make it clear just how limited the
offer is
Sure, you might say that the deal is only for a
limited time, but if the consumer sees it every
single time they click on your website, they
probably are not going to take it seriously and will
just check it out the next time they stop by, if at
all. If, instead, you make it extremely clear how
much longer they have to act on this offer, your
customers are more likely to take it seriously.

3. How to Create Urgency
For Your Limited Time Offers
• Make it clear just how limited
the offer is
“Act Now” isn’t going to be as effective as
“Ends Tonight at Midnight.” The immediacy of
the second option is much, much higher than
the first option. The offer seems much more
urgent, even if they technically end at the same
time. Giving no sense of urgency ensures that
they will not think about nor feel compelled to
act on what you are offering.

4. How to Create Urgency
For Your Limited Time Offers
• Make sure that the benefits are clear
A sense of urgency is not enough. If the buyer does
not immediately understand what the benefits of
buying now are, they probably are not going to care
very much about whatever sense of urgency the
language of the offer provides. Instead, tell them
exactly what the benefits of acting on this offer are.

5. How to Create Urgency
For Your Limited Time Offers
• Make sure that the benefits are
clear
Do they get a significant discount? Free
shipping? A bonus item? What makes it worth
their time to pay attention to this offer,
instead of just buying the item at full price
once the offer ends? Showing discounts is a
great way to do this, by first highlighting the
original price and then showing the new price.

6. How to Create Urgency
For Your Limited Time Offers
• Keep it simple and keep it short
The two most important elements of your
offer are its benefits and its deadline. It is of
paramount importance that those two things are
made as clear as possible as quickly as possible, as
those are the two things that are going to convince
someone to click on and take advantage of the
offer.

7. How to Create Urgency
For Your Limited Time Offers
• Keep it simple and keep it short
Don’t try to come up with a fancy or
unique name for the offer, especially if it obscures
the straight facts of that offer. Don’t clutter up the
offer with too many details, either. Those can be
presented later, after the consumer has already
clicked and decided to make a purchase. Don’t use
so many numbers that it will be difficult to figure
out what they are being offered. Keep the
verbiage and the design simple.

8. How to Create Urgency
For Your Limited Time Offers
• Stay honest
Don’t mislead your consumers. If your
offer promises 20% off the entire store, but once
they actually start putting things in their cart,
they realize that the discount is only for one
small section of the store, they’re going to
abandon the cart and they probably won’t come
back.

9. How to Create Urgency
For Your Limited Time Offers
• Stay honest
If you put a line next to a product
that says that there only five left, but there are
always only five left, no matter how many
times the consumer returns to look at that
page, you’re going to start to look
disingenuous. Don’t lie about the nature of the
offer, either. If this isn’t the best offer you’re
ever going to provide, don’t claim that it is.