Well, another Black Friday has come and gone.

But this year was slightly different.

After all, we’re slap-bang in the middle of a pandemic, and on the ‘big day’ the entire country was in lockdown.

Hardly any shops were open and millions of people were having to tighten their belts.

That didn’t stop the juggernaut, though!

According to statistics by ‘Retail Dive’ just before the event, Brits who planned to take part in Black Friday were likely to spend £295.67 on average each this year.

That’s a jump of 18% from last year.

Which would mean that Black Friday and Cyber Monday spending in the UK would rise from £5.6 billion last year to £6 billion in 2020.

Thing is, every year Black Friday breaks sales records of some kind.

However many people moan about Black Friday, there are tonnes of happy customers who are eager to spend money on a bargain, and tonnes of happy sellers raking in the cash.

But here’s the thing…

And it might surprise you…

Often, Black Friday isn’t really a bargain at all!

Last year, price comparison website Ideal, did some number crunching research on Black Friday deals.

Their stats showed that the most popular items to buy on Black Friday are: smartphones, games consoles, televisions, vacuum cleaners, perfume, trainers and outdoor clothing.

However, most of those could be bought for a lower cost four weeks AFTER the Black Friday event!

For instance, you could get a washing machine for an average of £150 less if you bought it a month later.

They found that the same applied to laptops, smartphones, cameras and video games.

In fact, the only categories where they found genuine bargains on Black Friday were televisions and perfumes.

So if that’s the reality…

Then why does Black Friday work so well?

Well, it’s not really because of price comparisons.

It has nothing to do with logic.

The REAL reason we buy products

People don’t tend to buy products and services for rational reasons.

They often don’t sit and crunch the numbers…

They don’t draw up comparison tables…

They don’t pore over spreadsheets.

They buy because of emotional triggers.

And one of these triggers is a sense of URGENCY.

On Black Friday businesses create an almost overwhelming demand by limiting the special discount offer to one day, or across a weekend.

This super-charges the urgency factor.

It compels people to get onto the internet that day and grab those bargains.

It’s that emotional fear of missing out… that desire to get something before everyone else… that pleasure of gaining a price advantage.

The satisfaction of bagging a deal.

These are all feelings, not thoughts – they drive that emotional impulse to buy which can override or ignore any rational concerns.

This is why Black Friday works.

Now, before you think this is something sinister and underhand, you should remember that ALL successful selling is done by hooking into emotions.

Look at any long-running advert on telly and it’ll be about stirring emotions – laughter, desire, aspiration, fear, nostalgia, sentimentality.

This is just the reality of business and marketing!

And if you want to create and launch your first product with the maximum chance of success, then urgency is one of your greatest assets.

How to apply the Black Friday principle

When you make an offer limited, for a short time only, people will not want to miss out.

They’ll eagerly anticipate the event…

They’ll worry that they’ll miss out…

And they’ll make an effort to make sure they’re ready on the day.

With all that excitement, they’ll be more likely to click on the ‘buy now’ button.

Because they’ll know they cannot put it off till later.

This is one of the keys to a successful offer – that sense that if they don’t do it now, they’ll miss out.

So here are some ways you can get that ‘Black Friday’ urgency any time of the year!

• Put a deadline on the offer – come up with a genuine discount, and limit that to a period of time – for instance, the next 3 days, the next 7 days, the next 14 days. The shorter the window, the more urgency, although you want to make sure enough people have the chance to see and respond to the offer.
• Do a holiday offer – throughout the year there are many holidays that you can tailor your offer to, then limit it to that holiday only. Examples include the spring bank holiday, Easter, Christmas, New Year, Halloween.
• Limit the number of your product that is available – you can make a specific number of physical products, or even limit the number of digital sales, memberships or subscriptions that you are willing to accept. That doesn’t mean forever (!) and of course you can sell it in the future but you can limit it for that promotion.
• Create a limited set of bonuses – you can add free extras to your product for a limited time only (make sure they are valuable to the customer).
• Offer a special ‘fast action’ bonus – add an extra benefit or service that you will deliver only to those people who respond within a specific time.

These are all things I teach my students how to do in my Course Creation Academy – with templates, tools, and strategies all laid out for them (email me at [email protected] to learn more about joining)

However, I wanted to share this concept with you in today’s email, so you can start thinking about ways to apply it to your own business and product ideas.

How could YOU add some urgency to your offer?

It could make all the difference!