> Sales don’t happen when benefits exceed price. I did not know this.<p>Obviously the title and opening sentence aren’t meant to be taken literally or absolutely despite being phrased that way, since the author had sales before discovering FOMO as a strategy, and also since these statements aren’t true for all products. I can buy that FOMO helps sell a newsletter subscription where it’s hard to communicate value in the first place, and people are used to newsletters being free. FOMO isn’t what drives McDonald’s or gasoline or breakfast cereal though. Most things I purchase aren’t based on FOMO, but maybe a few optional things are here and there.<p>I found the “ads eww” comment to be funny when what the author has discovered is an advertising technique, and one of the very techniques that earns and engenders the ‘eww’. Manipulating people works, but people don’t like knowing they’re being manipulated, especially if claims about missing out or about scarcity are inauthentic.
Collectibles are entirely based on that. In fact, I'd say they're <i>defined</i> by it -- if there's little chance of missing out on something, then that thing isn't a collectible. How big of a role this plays (and sustainably so) in other kinds of goods is less clear, although discount sales are exactly about creating this kind of fear -- or, conversely, rare opportunity -- and they do work. Regularly scheduled sales, on the other hand, work more by creating a price differentiation, where people to whom a product is worth less than the regular retail price can choose to wait.
I can tell you that most of the time, buyers don’t fear missing out. Most buyers have a lot of options, and also busy lives.<p>Here are things that can <i>actually</i> make buyers buy:<p><pre><code> 1. Social Proof / Testimonials
2. Friends / Peer Pressure
3. Free Trial + Structure, eg courses
4. Access to social capital (eg celebs)
5. Matchmaking to what they need (eg dating)
6. Time and Data Entry Investment (quizzes, meetings)
7. Relationships and access to Community
</code></pre>
Now, there <i>are</i> a form of micro-FOMO called Impulse Buy and Group Deals. But they are organically motivated by 1 (<i>social proof</i> of timely notifications) 2 (group deal coming together because of <i>friends</i> acting) and 6 (having invested time in the search, now they will either shit or get off the pot, cause their friends are <i>going</i> to that thing).<p>I’ve spent 12 years building community software that automates all this, and now started adding AI to it.<p>People underestimate the role of GROUP PSYCHOLOGY in affecting what people do. That is why I have nearly gone broke (having never taken VC) building open source community software that is far more healthy and responsible. Here is the societal issues it solves:<p><a href="https://www.laweekly.com/restoring-healthy-communities/" rel="nofollow">https://www.laweekly.com/restoring-healthy-communities/</a>
ahh, from scanning down the comments, HN's Tenth Rule of Gold Spun into Green:<p><i>Any sufficiently complicated HN business analysis contains an ad hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of the first year of an MBA</i><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenspun%27s_tenth_rule" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenspun%27s_tenth_rule</a>
FOMO is a great strategy when you are trying to sell to customers who will buy your product exactly once and then move on. Examples: collector's editions of video games, sales ahead of gift-giving holidays, tourist traps in "I am here for the one and only time I will ever be here in my life" destinations, enterprise sales to Fortune 500 companies where the buyer will get promoted by the next sales cycle. You emotionally manipulate the buyer to make the sale, the buyer regrets buying it within a day or two, and it doesn't matter because they will never talk to you again anyway.<p>FOMO is a horrible strategy when you expect to develop a long-term relationship with your customers. Self-respecting people won't stand for it. They will either switch to a competitor out of spite, or blow aside your transparent sales tactic and keep pressuring you downward on price during negotiations.
My advice (as an older person) is to 'stop reading and start doing'. You will and can learn and get a feel for business by actual transactions with people and in particular directly with them. Where you can observe reactions (ie facial expressions) and by asking questions or offering information/answers. Especially helpful (again from personal and lucrative experience) is when you can observe reactions from some kind of interaction. (In this order: in person, by phone, by email, by text). Each has it's advantages and disadvantages (ie 'in person' less interaction (travel time etc.) but more info gleaned.<p>This is quite different than traditional 'manage by numbers' or 'do surveys'.
You need 3 things to make a sale:<p>1. Why anything?
2. Why this?
3. Why now?<p>Sure FOMO is one of your tools, but I suspect it's overused. Consider the classic "This price won't be around for long!" move alone.
Yep, I've cumulatively spent thousands on weird gadgets that have minimal use the second they appeared on eBay slightly cheap, I still haven't gotten around to upgrading from my 2015 MacBook though...
There is always nuance but I firmly believe FOMO is only needed to sell things people don't need and so is a very consumeristic sale tactic (that should probably disappear for our collective well-being).
I'm seeing house prices around me skyrocket in last couple on months - houses selling almost immediately at well above asking price (e.g. 200K above in multiple cases), and this despite already high prices and horrible affordability.<p>I can only attribute this to FOMO.
I don’t really understand how the HN rating system works. I submitted this article 1 day ago, and it got completely ignored. Now I open the front page and see it there. If anyone can tell me how did this happened, I would really much appreciate it.
It's no secret that fear can be used to coerce people into buying stuff, but that's hardly the only effective selling technique. There are others which aren't as objectionable.
Fomo is also a great way to make some one act or move the case forward.<p>In context to enterprise sales: most large enterprise deals need multiple stakeholders to sign off. Fomo helps your champion create the urgency needed to conclude the sale.
Most sales are completely for no necessary utility now — often not even convenience even.<p>You need to create psychological need to get the buyer into an unnecessary product or service because frankly they are already over served.<p>This is mostly a sign of our economy being built on post-need. It’s sad because somehow we still heap suffering on ourselves as we run ragged to come up with faster ways to inject digital heroine into our kids veins.