Thanks to Amazon.com for this marketing idea - and it's free

[Raoul VdC]

Gurus and actual marketing instructors thought me the basics. Sell your product vigorously. Offer previous products as back-end sales. Offer affiliate products and other concurrent promos as cross sales. Run special offers to generate interest.

These are fantastic marketing tactics that have served many, many online businessmen quite well.
Heck, these are tactics that have served me remarkably well too !

Sales weren't bad, but I always try to improve. One day I stumbled upon a "Limited Time Offer" by Amazon. I searched for a few hours to implement such a script on my page and what was the result ?
Visitors were thinking : "I must get that product before it reverts to its original price!" I'm using this script, together with a whole lot of others of which I compiled an ebook which is yours to download for free (see my signature below).

The download counter was pushing the fence-sitters into action. They started being afraid of the regrets they may harbor if they do not purchase your product during the period of the OTO.

What exactly is an O.T.O. ? It stands for One Time Offer. For example, you are selling a product for the regular price of $49. You can choose to run an OTO by offering the same product for $29.
And guess what happens when you add a live countdown so your visitors know it is a one-time offer that will expire automatically, forcing them to decide on the spot?

Well, I've checked it out: ... One week later, my sales had increased by 38% !

Quite a number of people – most of them are those who haven't given OTO a shot – are quite hesitant to run such a campaign. Why? It's because they're afraid about the concessions they have to make. The price reduction, as is with our example above, may be too much for their comfort.
But such a concession can easily be compensated by the increased profitability of the campaign during the period of the OTO.

Truly, urgency marketing is one of, if not the most, powerful marketing strategy I tried. It really makes a difference as it creates a sense of urgency in the shopper; even if it's just on a subconscious level. Thank you Amazon.

I have several friends who are making a living on-line, and gave them the script. They all have fallen in love with the idea of running an OTO. It was a surefire way of boosting their sales. One of them is selling running shoes on-line. Of course, he can't offer a $49.00 product for $29.00, but the script is still very useful to hime. This is his feedback :

When I’m out and about, trying to complete my holiday shopping, it’s easy to remember how quickly I’m running out of time to get it all done. The traffic, the crowds, the incredible (and time-sensitive) sales all help to reinforce my sense of urgency. However, I find that when I’m at home, at my computer, shopping online, the sense of urgency tends to fade and take a back seat, giving me a false sense of “having plenty of time” to get everything done.

As an online store owner, though, I want to remind my visitors of the proximity of the holiday, and do what I can to recreate a similar sense of urgency. It’s even more important online than in the “offline” world - the choice of online stores is nearly infinite in comparison to the brick-and-mortar choices within a reasonable driving distance. Also, when you factor in shipping times, it’s even more important for the customer to buy now rather than waiting. If they’ve made it to my website, it is imperative that I do everything I can to make the sale before they are off to the next site.

A subtle, but powerful, way to increase the sense of urgency to buy now is to put a countdown timer on your site. Here is a snapshot of the timer that I’ve put on all my ecommerce sites (and even my eBay listings):



It’s a javascript-based timer that continually counts down the time left until Christmas day. I used a similar timer on the run-up to Halloween, and saw a significant increase in sales. It’s pleasant to look at, non intrusive, and yet reinforces the idea (through the continual ticking off of the hours, minutes and seconds left) that time is running out.

Happy Holidays!

I give you here the script in it's simplest form. Put the following code in the <head> of your page :
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
function Countdown(elm, options) {
this.elm = (typeof elm == 'string') ? document.getElementById(elm) : elm;
if(!this.elm) return;
this.options = this.extend({
year: 2000,
month:01,
day:01,
hour:00,
minute:00,
second:00,
interval : 1,
format : this.elm.innerHTML || '{d} : {h} : {m} : {s}',
autoStart : true
}, options || {});
this.timer = false;
if(this.options.autoStart) this.start();
}
Countdown.prototype.update = function() {
var now = new Date();
var end = new Date(
this.options.year,
this.options.month - 1,
this.options.day,
this.options.hour,
this.options.minute,
this.options.second
);
var diff = end - now;
var days = this._gN(parseInt(diff / 86400000));
var hours = this._gN(parseInt((diff % 86400000) / 3600000));
var minutes = this._gN(parseInt((diff % 3600000) / 60000));
var seconds = this._gN(parseInt((diff % 60000) / 1000));
var html = this.options.format;
html = html.replace(/\{d\}/, days);
html = html.replace(/\{h\}/, hours);
html = html.replace(/\{m\}/, minutes);
html = html.replace(/\{s\}/, seconds);
//console.log(html);
this.elm.innerHTML = html;
if(this.options.interval > 0) this.timer = setTimeout(this.update.bind(this), this.options.interval * 1000);
}
Countdown.prototype.start = function() {
this.update();
}
Countdown.prototype.stop = function() {
if(this.timer) clearTimeout(this.timer);
}
Countdown.prototype.extend = function(o, s) {
for (var p in s) {
o[p] = s[p];
}
return o;
}
Countdown.prototype._gN = function(n) {
n = Math.max(n,0) + '';
if (n.length == 1) n = '0' + n;
return n;
}
var $A = Array.from = function(iterable) {
if (!iterable) return [];
if (iterable.toArray) {
return iterable.toArray();
} else {
var results = [];
for (var i = 0; i < iterable.length; i++)
results.push(iterable[i]);
return results;
}
}
Function.prototype.bind = function() {
var __method = this, args = $A(arguments), object = args.shift();
return function() {
return __method.apply(object, args.concat($A(arguments)));
}
}
</script>
==== and the following there where you want the timer ====
<DIV id=time></DIV>
<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>
var c = new Countdown('time', {year:2008,month:12,day:25});
</SCRIPT>
That's all !
As I said, this is a simple one-liner and you'll have to embellish it, which is further explained in my free ebook, together with a ton of other ideas & scripts (see signature file).
Happy Sales !

[bobitza]

Nice script, thanks for the info.