Using Scarcity In Persuasion
- When something is rare its value and desirability increases.
- Things which are common and plentiful soon become boring.
- Scarcity can cause people to act irrationally.
The scarcity principle is an extremely interesting phenomenon, and one that you can use in virtually every aspect of your life.
It simply states that we put the highest value things which are rare and hard to get. Conversely, we put the lowest value on things which are easy to get, and extremely common.
An excellent example of the power of scarcity can be seen with the release of the Nintendo Wii. Due to shortages of the console during Christmas time, many parents faced the prospect of disappointing their children.
The result was widespread panic. Soon there were long lines at stores full of parents hoping to buy the new console. However, because there were shortages, all the stores sold out very quickly.
Parents without a Nintendo Wii were forced to buy the console from sellers on eBay, who had pre-ordered the console and were now charging 3-5 times what the console was actually worth.
All of this demand created by a shortage of the console lead major news organizations covering the story. This created valuable free advertising, and further increased the perceived rarity and desirability of the console. Needless to say, the Nintendo Wii was a massive success.
Scarcity And Relationships
The power of scarcity can also be seen in relationships. When first starting out a relationship, if you want it to last, it is a good idea not to see your partner too often.
By limiting how often they can see you, you automatically create a sense of scarcity for yourself. This increases your perceived value, and therefore your desirability.
Should however you see that person every day, they will soon grow tired of you and take your company for granted. When we take things for granted we also perceive them as being boring, and when we are bored, we look elsewhere for excitement.
This is especially true in long term relationships such as marriage. Research has shown that the first two years of a marriage are the best. After this period things begin to decline, and it is usually slightly after this point that divorces occur.
To give marriage the best chance of survival, it is far better to ensure you do not saturate your partner with your presence.
Instead, make it something rare and valuable that they want to hold onto, such as by purposefully creating periods of absence between you.
However a word of caution, do not make this period of absence too long. Otherwise you will be forgotten, and they will look elsewhere.
Scarcity And Popularity
The scarcity principle can also be seen in other aspects of our lives, most notably during our teenage years.
Many teenagers are often told by their parents they cannot see a certain film, they cannot smoke, they cannot drink or they cannot mix with certain people.
However by imposing these restrictions on their children, these parents do not realize that they are inadvertently increasing the perceived value of those banned items, events and people, thereby making them more desirable.
An example of this can be seen with films that had previously been banned by a country and then later re-released.
These films will then proudly display on the front cover how many countries the film had been banned from. The more the better!
Another example can be seen with illegal drugs. In countries where drugs are illegal such England or America, drug and alcohol use tends to be relatively widespread amongst the population.
However if you compare this to countries where drug use is legalized, such as Holland, drug use by the native population is far less common, as is the number of drug addicts.
Scarcity And Irrational Behavior
The scarcity principle works best when things we value become difficult to obtain. This effect is further amplified if there is competition for that item, as was shown by the Nintendo Wii.
Competition for scare resources serves as an extremely powerful motivator, because it causes us to react with emotional responses, rather than with logic and reasoning.
The effect of this can encourage people to buy things they would normally not buy, and pay more than they would normally pay, simply because they feel they are competing against someone else to obtain it.
If you can get something someone else can’t get, the satisfaction you receive from obtaining that item will be all the more greater.
So remember, if you want to be perceived as being valuable and desirable, don’t make yourself too common by being available to everyone at all times. People like this are taken advantage of, and often treated with little respect.
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