Scarcity is a powerful psychological trigger that can significantly boost sales. It’s similar to urgency and loss aversion, but focus on limited availability of a product.
It taps into the subconscious survival instinct of human which place higher value on scarce resources. When something seems hard to get or is going to not be available son, out brains want that thing more and want to get it before it’s gone.
For Etsy sellers, leveraging scarcity correctly can make a huge difference in your conversion rates. By making your products seem limited or exclusive, you can increase the shopper’s desire for that products that pushes shoppers to hit the 'Buy Now' button.
Applying Scarcity To Your Etsy Shop
Low Stock Alerts On Etsy
On Etsy, when you set your listing quantity to 3 or fewer, Etsy sometimes shows a red text of “only 3 left and it’s in x people’s carts” on the search result page or the listing pages. (Although for popular listings, the quantity seems to be able to be higher than 3 for the text to appear, e.g. only 6 left and it's in 20 people's cart.) This not only shows that the item is running low but also that others are interested - leveraging both scarcity and social proof.
Limited Edition Products
Creating limited edition products or one-of-a-kind pieces can naturally take advantage of scarcity and the low stock alert on Etsy. And make sure to state this exclusivity clearly in your listing details.
Let's say you make ceramic mugs. Instead of creating 50 identical mugs, why not make a small batch of 10 each with a slightly different design? This way, you can list them as 10 unique listings each with a listing quantity of 1.
Seasonal Products
Holidays and seasons are perfect for creating a sense of scarcity. People know that seasonal items won't be around forever, which can push them to buy sooner rather than later.
Ethical Considerations
While scarcity can be a powerful sales booster, it's crucial to use it responsibly. Trust and reputation is important for longevity for businesses, and misleading customers could be a quick way to ruin it. Customers can see through if you are not being truthful when applying scarcity, which can render the effect useless. Here's some recommendations:
- Be truthful about your stock levels. If you say there are only 3 left, make sure there are only 3 left. Again, there are some ways to get around that, for example, break your products into smaller batches and release them at different times.
- If you plan to restock a "limited" item, be upfront about it. You can still create urgency by saying something like, "Only 5 left in this batch! Next restock not until June."