Here’s 5 FOMO Tips to Boost Conversions (If You Don’t Overuse Them)

You already use FOMO (or the fear of missing out) on your WordPress site, whether you know it or not.

Ever run a limited time sale? Advertised low inventory, or shown a countdown timer? That’s FOMO.

You can leverage it even more if you know how, to increase sign ups and boost sales.

Just don’t overdo it.

To understand FOMO, all you have to do is look at social media.

Do you ever scroll through your timeline and feel like everyone else is having more fun than you?

You see a photo like this:

It makes you think, why am I working while they are at the beach? I want to do that!

Social media brings up lots of feelings of jealousy, anxiety, and fear. It’s great, isn’t it? 😉

Some of what you feel is FOMO, or the fear of missing out. You are worried that everyone else is living their lives the way you should be, and you are missing the boat.

Defined as a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent, FoMO is characterized by the desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing. – Science Direct

FOMO is a concept as old as civilization, and it motivates each of us to our core. It doesn’t just exist on social media, it also happens when we are making purchase decisions.

We are social creatures, we all want to know what everyone else is doing. We tend to put a lot of weight on social proof when making decisions, for better or worse.

Your store can use this psychological principle to boost conversions, including increasing sales, newsletter signups, and more.

There are right and wrong ways to use FOMO, if you do it wrong you could hurt your sales. Let’s look at 5 ways to use this principle to your advantage on your WordPress site.

1. WordPress FOMO Popups

A recent trend in eCommerce is to show a popup that shows a recent customer purchase.

This uses the powerful psychological principle of social proof, along with FOMO. It shows your potential customers that other people are buying, which is a great motivation for them to purchase. As the old saying goes, a crowd draws a crowd.

The first time I saw this type of sales notification on someone’s site, it really caught my attention. It’s like a really quick but powerful brand testimonial, with the advantage of being ephemeral.

Because it only appears for a few seconds, it’s a tease. It’s telling your potential customer, “hey other people are purchasing, do you want in or not?”

This is strong social proof, and we are all suckers for it whether we admit it or not. Both FOMO and social proof strike chords in us that are so deep rooted that we don’t even realize when it happens.

2. Show that other people signed up

Showing off your current subscriber count can increase conversions.

Easy Digital Downloads and many other sites advertise the number of signups for their newsletter to get others to join. It offers legitimacy and builds trust, and also makes you wonder if you’re missing out by not being on the list.

One of my favorite examples is the Post Status Club. It’s a paid group, and if you are in the WordPress community, a lot of your friends are already a part of it. It makes you wonder what type of news you are missing out on if you don’t sign up.

Sumo.com uses the same tactic to show that they have lots of successful customers signed up for their service.

Subscriber Notifications

Another way to show off your subscriber count is with popup notifications, similar to the sales notifications.

If your goal is to get more signups to your email list, you can show recent signups in a popup. This is a better strategy if you don’t have a huge subscriber list that you can brag about. You can still show social proof and create FOMO by adding this popup that shows your latest list subscriber.

3. Limit availability or supply of your items

Limiting the time availability or quantity of an item is a great way to boost conversions.

Countdown Timer

Amazon does this really well. If you go to their “deal of the day”, you’ll see a countdown timer for when the deal ends, along with the percentage of people who have claimed it.

This is FOMO at it’s finest. It shows that other people are buying, and creates a sense of urgency.

This principle can also be applied to your email sign up form.

Neil Patel uses evergreen webinars to collect leads. His opt-in form has a countdown timer to the next webinar. He uses automated software that shows a webinar every 15 minutes or so, it’s not actually live.

Reservation Release Timer

I recently reserved a hotel room, and when I went to checkout, there was a 15 minute timer. When the timer expired, the room would be not be reserved anymore.

You can also see this when purchasing concert or airline tickets.

24 Hour Sale

Discounts are one of the easiest ways to boost sales over the short term.

When done strategically, discounts don’t have to hurt your brand, and can increase revenue sustainably.

A perfect example of this is a 24 hour sale, which causes customers to make a fast decision. They are motivated by fear of missing out on the discount, which can help you convert customers that would otherwise have waited forever and never purchased.

4. Rethink related products

Recommending related products or cross sells is useful for your customers. Many online stores do this, but Walmart takes it one step further.

Instead of using the phrase “Related products” or “You may be interested in” as I see in many WordPress stores, they say “Customers also bought.” This is a subtle change, but it adds a social element.

Indicating that other customers are interested in these products and buying them triggers the psychology of the fear of missing out. A quick win for your store could be to change your cross selling terminology to be more like Walmart.

5. “Other people are looking at this”

Booking sites use FOMO to their advantage by showing how many people are viewing the deal you are looking at.

This creates a sense of urgency, because you feel like someone else might steal it away if you wait too long.

Zillow does something similar, by showing how many people have saved a home you are looking at.

Real estate can get competitive, so if you are interested in a home, and you see that a lot of others are interested as well, you start to get the fear of missing out. It encourages you to call your realtor and make an offer as soon as possible!

Conclusion

The fear of missing out is a huge motivator for human behavior, and whether you realize it or not you are already using it on your store.

Being aware of FOMO and using it to your advantage can boost your conversions. Some sites overuse this principle, and may hurt their customer relationships over the long term.

What uses of FOMO do you use that I missed? Let me know in the comments.