You’ve done your homework and have mastered content creation, mailing frequency, and the works. But you aren’t seeing the results you’d like. Creating a sense of urgency in your email marketing will convert more customers drive more traffic to your website.

What is urgency anyway? By definition, urgency is a force or impulse that impels or constrains. Successful urgency will compel your readers to take a particular action; all you need to do is create it. It’s all about time and importance, so if your readers don’t see that your calls-to-action are time sensitive or important enough to require action, it’s up to you to get this feeling across. Try taking advantage of these psychological tactics to create urgency in your next email marketing campaign:

• Use a countdown timer. Implementing dynamic content into your email campaigns is a great way to get your reader’s attention, and none more so than the pressure created by the clock. After your readers open their email, their attention will be drawn to the moving timer. This creates urgency by telling readers how much time they have left to act.
  
• Use time-sensitive words. This will enhance your reader’s reaction time. These words instill a sense of need into your readers. For example, they know they need to sign up for your event now because seats are limited! Some examples of time-sensitive words include:
  • Fast
  • Hurry
  • Quick
  • Now
  • Never
  • While supplies last
  • Ending soon
    
• Use a clear and direct CTA. Having a clear CTA above the fold will grab the attention of your audience. Your readers should be able to easily understand what you want them to do and how they need to do it.
  
• Keep the copy in your emails brief. Most emails should be fairly light in content with the goal of getting your audience to click-through and visit the website to explore further. By keeping the copy short, your emails will be more appealing and allow your subscribers to be pointed to the CTA.
  
• Scarcity is key. Scarcity is often a perception rather than a fact. If the reader believes that there are limits and you are near reaching them, they will be more likely to act on a deal now rather than waiting until later (and possibly forgetting about it).
• Loss Aversion. It is human nature to fear losing something more than wanting something new. This tactic involves reminding them of what they will be losing before they lose it in hopes of triggering a response.

In order to increase the engagement in your emails, try urgency. And as always, test these tactics and find which of them works best with your audience. As you can see, some of these examples include more than one urgency tactic. If you can pull it off without overdoing it, go for it!

Still, the most finely-tuned, psychologically-moving email campaign won’t work if you don’t have an email list to reach! If you’re not recruiting your visitors to your email list, you’re leaving money on the table and possibly losing out on valuable audience relationships forever. Make sure you’re not missing out on email’s full revenue-winning potential by downloading our free Audience Development Solution Guide today!