Subscription Box Answers

The Correct Way To Use Urgency & Scarcity To Send Your Subscription Box Sales Through The Roof

• Liam Brennan

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In today’s episode of Subscription Box Answers, I lay out five different ways you can use urgency and scarcity to send your sales through the roof. Urgency and scarcity are some of the most powerful tools you have when it comes to marketing, and if you use them correctly, they can have a massive positive impact on your results. We use them regularly at BusterBox, and they have done great things for our business.

Subscription Box Experts will be open again in a few weeks. You can join the waitlist at www.SubscriptionBoxExperts.com.

If you have a question you want answered on the show, head over to www.SubscriptionBoxResources.com, join the Facebook group, and post your question there.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Subscription Box Answers with your host, liam Brennan. You're no rubbish, no crap. Straight to the point podcast with real, actionable tips, real strategies and insights from the industry which will help you start and grow your own successful subscription box business. You ask the questions, you ask the questions, you ask the questions. Liam gives the answers. It's as simple as that.

Speaker 2:

Welcome back to a brand new episode of Subscription Box Answers. As always, I hope you're having a very good day. On today's episode, we are continuing with marketing tips and advice. I want to help you get as many new subscribers signed up as possible in 2025, and I want to help you sell as many other products as possible and make as much money in your business as possible in 2025. And all of that will come from marketing. Before we jump in to today's episode, I've had a number of people reaching out to me over the last few months asking is Subscription Box Experts coming back? And the answer is yes, subscription Box Experts is coming back.

Speaker 2:

Over the last few weeks or few months, I have spent a lot of time updating the entire program. I've recorded 50 plus new videos showing exactly what's working in 2025 when it comes to growing a subscription box business. We have learned a lot in BusterBox over the last year or so, and that's all reflected in the updated version of Subscription Box Experts. So if you don't know what Subscription Box Experts is, that's my signature course. I've been running it for about five years now, which is absolutely crazy, but I always keep it up to date. And so many different boxes and so many different niches have gone through this course over the last few years and have had a lot of success with it. So if you are determined to make 2025 the best year ever in your subscription box business, I highly recommend joining subscription box experts. It's fully up to date and there's new bonuses as well that I'm working on. That will really be a big help for anybody who's looking to scale things up. So if you're interested, head over to subscriptionboxexpertscom, join the wait list and I'll have more information around the launch soon.

Speaker 2:

Okay, let's jump into today's episode. When it comes to marketing your subscription box business, urgency and scarcity are two of the most powerful tools you can use. This is because, when they are used correctly, they give your potential customers a reason to respond and sign up for your subscription box on the spot. We use urgency and scarcity a lot in BusterBox, and it's one of the reasons why we've been able to grow our business to the size it is now. Now we don't operate an open and shut model in BusterBox we keep our doors open 24-7 but we have found other ways of using urgency and scarcity effectively to grow our subscriber base, no matter what subscription box niche you're in. You should be using urgency and scarcity in your marketing because when you do it correctly, you drop your CAC and you seriously increase signups. So I'm recording this podcast to share some very effective ways of using urgency and scarcity in your subscription box business. Let's jump into it.

Speaker 2:

Number one the open-shut model. Now, I know a lot of subscription box owners follow this model and it can work well. Here's how it works you open your subscription box to new members only a few times a year. During these limited enrollment periods, potential subscribers are motivated to act quickly because if they miss out, they'll have to wait months for another opportunity to join. The urgency and scarcity created by this model works well because it plays on FOMO. When people know the doors are closing soon, they're more likely to make a decision on the spot Now. This can be a very effective way of growing your subscription box business.

Speaker 2:

But this model is not right for everybody. We do not follow this model in BusterBox, even though I do follow it for other businesses I'm involved in. The reason we don't follow it in BusterBox is we get a lot more people signed up by having our doors open 24-7. We have a mass market dog product and if potential customers can't sign up for us on the spot. They are not going to wait months to join. Their dogs need toys and treats now, and if we don't allow them to buy, they will simply go to a competitor and get what they need there, and this will be the same for plenty of other niches, and that's why this model is not for everybody Now. It does have the potential to work very well, but it might also flop, depending on your niche. I know plenty of subscription box owners who have done very well with this model, and, on the other hand, I know plenty of others who tried to swap over to it and it did not work well. You are putting a lot of pressure on having successful launches, and if something doesn't go according to plan, you can end up in trouble. When it works for your niche, though, it can work very well because you create some serious scarcity and urgency Moving on offer deadlines. This is what we do in BusterBox, and it works very well for us.

Speaker 2:

If you've been following what we're doing, you will notice we always have some kind of offer running, and we will cycle through these offers very regularly. I've written and recorded many podcasts about offers, but things such as free gifts, double boxes, deep discounts all work very well for subscription boxes. To create urgency and scarcity, we will put deadlines on certain offers. Here's a example we may be running a free dog bed offer and it's selling really well, but to increase conversions we will create some urgency and scarcity by saying the offer ends on Sunday and we don't know when it will be back again. We will announce this early in the week via email and we may even change up our ads to say the day the offer ends. Then, every single day, a new sales email will go out and it will mention time is nearly up to sign up and get the free bet. We will then do a last chance and a final call in the 24 hours before the offer is set to expire. This always creates a lot of FOMO and we get a lot of people signed up this way.

Speaker 2:

If you have a few different offers that work really well, I would highly recommend testing what I've just covered in your own subscription box business, because I have a feeling it will work really well for you. Moving on number three team deadlines, we do this occasionally as well and again it can work really good. The same principle applies as the offer deadline I just mentioned, except this time, instead of putting a deadline on the offer, the deadline is on the team. This especially works well if you're promoting a very popular team that is selling well already. Do the exact same process, as I mentioned above, with the countdown in emails and ads, and you will create a lot of urgency and scarcity and see a surge in subscribers. Surge in subscribers. Number four low stock warnings. This will work very well. If you put a limit on how many people can sign up each month. If you make it clear that there is a set number of new boxes available for new customers and once they are sold out you can't join for another month, this will work very well. If you position this correctly, you'll create FOMO as you get closer to zero and see a surge of new subscribers sign up to your box.

Speaker 2:

We do this sometimes in BusterBox, mainly with add-ons, though not really for new subscribers but say, if we're doing an add-on of a mystery box, we'll make up like four or 500 mystery boxes and we'll make it really clear in our communication with our subscribers hey, we only have 435 mystery boxes. When they're gone, they're gone. If you want one, reply yes to this email and it always creates urgency and scarcity and helps us sell more add-ons when we do this. So, yeah, this concept can be very powerful when used correctly. Now a popular question I get around this is how do you track all of this? Well, we use subli, and their tagging system makes it really easy to track all of the stuff that I just covered Really handy when changing offers and teams.

Speaker 2:

And, finally, cut off deadlines. A cut off date for receiving the next month's box can also create urgency. Next month's box can also create urgency. So the example would be hey, subscribe by this date to get this month's box. Remind potential subscribers as the deadline approaches. A well-timed marketing push in the days leading up to the cutoff can drive a significant rush of signups.

Speaker 2:

Now, one massive piece of advice I can give you when it comes to scarcity and urgency is never fake it. If you fake it and go back on your word, you will break the trust of your audience. You may get away with this once or twice, but if you keep doing it, your sign ups will fall off a cliff. The next time you try and use any form of urgency and scarcity, potential customers will be thinking why should I bother listening to them about the offer ending tomorrow. Last time they said that it came back the next day, so it would be like doing a big announcement that your free gift offer is ending on friday and by monday morning it's back on your website and you're still promoting it. If you do things like that, you will break your audience's trust. So, yeah, never do it.

Speaker 2:

When you set any kind of deadline, make sure you stick to it. Urgency and scarcity are proven psychological triggers that drive results. Whether you're using deadlines, limited stock or enrollment windows, the key is to test and refine what works best for your niche. Start small, pick one strategy that we've just covered and implement it in your next marketing campaign and watch how it impacts your signups. Over time, you'll discover the best ways to use urgency and scarcity to grow your subscription box business.

Speaker 2:

Now, I hope you found this episode helpful. As always, we'll be back next week at the exact same time, and if you have a question you want answered on the show, head over to subscriptionboxresourcescom, join the free facebook group and post your question there. And could I ask a big favor if you've been listening to this podcast for a while and you feel like you've learned something from it and you're enjoying the content. Would you mind giving me a review, either on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to this? It just helps me get this show out to more people. Thanks very much and have a great day, bye, bye.