The scarcity trigger tells us that the less available something becomes, the more people want it.

Scarcity is the method used to create urgency so that someone will take action.  Ultimately, we can make the greatest presentation in the world as to why someone should comply with our request and they can logically and emotionally agree with everything that we have presented.  Still however, they need a reason to act now and the scarcity trigger is the most effective trigger that you can use to get someone to take action immediately.

It is human nature to always find something more appealing and interesting when the odds of getting your hands on it are less likely.  We see this in the dating world all the time. The challenge of courting someone who is not always available seems to be something that people find themselves to be obsessed with.

In most cases when a person shows all of their cards and becomes readily available, the spell becomes broken and there is no longer an element of surprise.  Whenever our choices become inhibited, limited or lessened we become more likely to desire those choices on a stronger level.

Scarcity can make any product seem more valuable and interesting.  It makes people take action immediately because they do not want to take a loss. Loss in general, is a feeling that most people try to avoid.

From as far back as childhood, the minute we are told we cannot have something, we simply want it more.  The reason for this is because the minute we feel there is a potential to lose something, we begin the thought process of how we can stop that from happening. This is called preventative action.  And the key word is action. Whatever our reasons may be for doing it, we begin to take action and that is ultimately what you want the other party to do when trying to influence them

In all my years of being in the Internet marketing business and writing sales copy, the scarcity trigger is one of the most important tools that I have used to get the customer to take action. And in today's world, the more successful Internet marketers have become successful because of their ability to apply the scarcity trigger in new and creative ways.

Things like limited supply, first hundred callers and countdown clocks on webpages are driving more and more people to click the order button. Now more than ever, there are numerous ways for you to use the scarcity trigger.  Here are some of my favorites:

Restrict Freedom - As I said before, we always want what we can't have and the minute we are told something will go longer be available, we seem to want it even more. That’s the moment when the desire and urgency to act immediately goes up.  The best way to implement this is to simply create a situation where whatever you have to offer is now going to be limited or will soon not be available any more.  In sales we call this the take away close.  If you remove your prospect’s ability to have what you have to offer, you will increase their desire to have it.

Limitations - The second method which you can use is limitations in the form of space, numbers, access or time.  The minute people feel like they are competing to get something, their desire to have it will increase. Always give people deadlines.  It is human nature for us to structure our actions around deadlines. Without them, people have no definitive time to know when they must take action and therefore can spend endless amounts of time procrastinating.

Loss Potential – Last but certainly not least is the potential to lose something.  People need to realize that if they do not act upon whatever it is that you have to offer, they may lose something. People are generally motivated by either pain or pleasure and truth be told, pain is actually the greater motivator of the two. Since loss equals pain, it is very important to focus on what someone risks losing if the do not act. Here’s an example.  If I told you that if you went to the gym every day for a month straight, I would give you $10,000, your decision to go would be based on how bad you need that $10,000 and you probably would do it.  But if I told you that if you did not do the gym for 30 days straight that I would automatically remove $10,000 from your bank account, you would probably be even more motivated to take action.

The reason for this is because in the first scenario, if you don't win the $10,000 - while that might not be fun - you have not lost anything so you are right where you started. In the second scenario, you are now in the negative and have lost something.