Scarcity as a marketing tactic is one that works well with customers.\u00a0However, it is one that many marketers don\u2019t use to their advantage often enough. If you are one of them (and you don\u2019t act now), avoiding scarcity tactics can hurt your bottom line.<\/p>\n
For our\u00a0recent podcast<\/a>\u00a0we invited a special guest to join us. Professor of Marketing at Vanderbilt University, Kelly Goldsmith, Ph.D., is\u00a0a behavioral scientist who studies how we respond to uncertainty and scarcity as consumers. Goldsmith shared her definition of scarcity with our listeners:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cResource scarcity involves sensing or observing a discrepancy between one\u2019s current level of resources and a higher and more desirable reference point.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Goldsmith explains that when you are experiencing scarcity, you are not where you want to be concerning your resources, like money, time, or availability of a product to name a few. She says scarcity is associated with losses for us psychologically; i.e., you don\u2019t feel you have enough of whatever it is you want. These feelings drive some of our behavior as customers.<\/p>\n Goldsmith says the effect of scarcity on our behavior is it makes us more competitive. A recent\u00a0scientific study confirmed it<\/a>. Participants were shown videos of marketing messages using scarcity tactics and then played video games afterward. The group that watched the scarcity messages were more aggressive in the game than those who weren\u2019t.\u00a0Goldsmith says that scarcity gives people the sense that there is a limited amount of pie and you have to make sure you get yours first.<\/p>\n It reminds me of the Black Friday behavior you see when people hurtle through the doors. Consider this Black Friday video taken outside Urban Outfitters in 2011:<\/p>\n