Want to create a sense of urgency on your checkout pages and turn casual visitors into paying customers? Introduce scarcity.
There are a few common techniques all of SamCart's most profitable sellers are using, and perhaps the biggest one is scarcity.
Scarcity is a skill, and it's one of the oldest strategies in the book. Despite its humble roots on storefront windows and infomercials, the results continue to speak for themselves. In fact, a study of our database shows that customers are 127% more likely to purchase within 24 hours of a deadline.
For years, digital entrepreneurs would have to make adjustments to their pages on the fly and close access manually. With SamCart, you can build deadlines directly into your checkout pages. This creates real scarcity and drives real action.
It's remarkably simple and remarkably effective. Follow the short guide below to setup a Checkout Deadline!
Option #1: Close Checkout After Number of Purchases
Head to your Product Edit page and locate the Advanced Settings tab:
Once you're there, scroll down to the Close Checkout Page section.
The first of two options you have is to set an "order count" deadline. Say you want the first 50 customers of your new product to get "early bird" pricing and you want to automatically close the checkout page after said purchases.
Simply switch the Close Checkout After # of Purchases toggle to YES and set the Total Purchases Allowed field to "50." Then, enter the URL where you'd like customers to be redirected after that checkout max is reached.
In this scenario, you'd want to set your Checkout Page Redirect destination to a higher-priced version of your product, so anyone who clicks on this link is automatically taken to the correct version.
An important note is that this number is the total, all-time number of purchases, meaning that if you want to run this same promotion in the future with 50 more available purchases, you would update the number to 100.
This option is also useful for those looking to sell physical products and only have a select amount in inventory.
Option #2: Close Checkout After Date
The second option is to set a deadline for a specific date and time. Let's say you're accepting pre-orders for a product that isn't launched yet and you again have "early bird" pricing for your most eager customers.
Switch the Close Checkout After Date toggle to YES and select the date and time you wish to close your checkout page. Then, enter the URL where you'd like customers to be redirected after that date and time.
And you're done! No more manually changing pages around day-of or setting alarms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I select both of these options?
A: You can! If you have both options enabled, whichever occurs first will trigger the Checkout Redirect. You can even gauge demand by seeing if your product can sell out before a specific date and time!
Q: Where should I redirect my customers?
A: It's always good to give those who just missed the offer a chance to purchase, so redirecting customers to a different SamCart checkout page for a higher-priced version is a great idea. You can also try redirecting your customers to a Facebook post with a call to action for those who missed out, or even a landing page to collect a lead. As long they're taken somewhere relevant to your business and products, you're good to go! See our Checkout Redirect article for more on this.
Q: Does the purchase count include when someone buys the product as an upsell or order bump?
A: Yes, it does!