Marketing Mind Games: Scarcity
Why 'Only 3 Left' Works So Damn Well
I work full-time as a firefighter in my hometown of Moree.
There’s a routine we follow. Firefighting duties are baked into this routine, but for the first half-hour of the morning, we watch Sunrise while we eat breakfast.
Then we hook into whatever duties are on for the day.
The TV just stays on, and after Sunrise, a typical late-morning, older demographic show comes on - you know the type - full of infomercials, news, and interviews with ‘celebrities’ you’ve never heard of.
But it’s the infomercials I want to talk about, because they frequently use psychology to push whatever random vacuum cleaner or massage chair they’re flogging that day.
The psychological trigger they use? Scarcity.
And you’ve seen it everywhere before.
'Only 3 left,' 'The first 47 callers get a special discount,' 'Limited spots available.'
That triggers something in your mind that says, "I need that thing, even if I didn’t really want it five minutes ago."
But it’s not just your home shopping brands that use this. Louis Vuitton has built their entire brand on scarcity to increase perceived value.
Basically, if we perceive that something won’t be available forever, we see it as more valuable.
Why does it work so well?
Scarcity and Evolution
We didn’t always live in a world where, if we were low on food, we could just pop down to the shops and grab what we needed.
Food, water, shelter - even romantic opportunities - were often scarce.
Our brains are wired to grab resources when they’re available because back then, we didn’t know when the next meal, drink, or chance to pass on our genes would come around.
Scarcity is baked into us because, back then, missing out didn’t just mean losing an opportunity - it could cost you everything.
Even though the world has changed, our brains haven’t caught up. We still react like we’re living in the Stone Age when we see something’s about to run out.
How Marketers Use Scarcity Marketing All the Time
You’ve seen scarcity everywhere. Whether you acted on it or not is a different story (it still depends on your personal perception of value).
Scarcity in Action:
Low stock warnings: "Only 2 left"
Time-limited offers: "Sale ends tonight"
Seasonal or limited editions: "Only available this summer"
Flash sales & countdown timers: (Email marketers love this)
Exclusive access or waitlists: "Join the early access list"
Scarcity works because it makes us act fast.
Why Does It Work?
There are three major reasons scarcity works so well:
FOMO: Fear of missing out. We’re more afraid of missing out than we are of making a bad decision. We buy with emotion first. Then we justify with logic later.
Loss Aversion: We’ll do more to avoid losing something than we will to gain something. Losing $10 feels worse than gaining $10 feels good.
Urgency Bias: Scarcity forces quick decisions — we don’t like to wait when something might disappear.
Our decisions are also influenced by the people around us — not just scarcity alone. That’s called Social Proof, and I wrote a whole blog on it that you can find here.
Case Study: Scarcity in Action
Scarcity isn’t just some marketing trick - there’s research to back it up.
A study published in the Journal of Economic Psychology tested how people rated recipe books based on how available they were.
Some books were everywhere (unlimited stock), some were limited because they were popular, some were limited because of low supply, and some were just randomly out of stock.
Here’s what they found:
When people made their own choices (without thinking about what others might do), they went straight for the books that were hard to get — especially when they were popular and low in stock. Those books also got rated as more valuable and more unique.
But when people thought their choices would influence others? That scarcity magic kind of disappeared - especially when the book was just popular but not actually rare.
Scarcity hits hardest when people feel like they’re making their own decision - not when it’s just about following the crowd.
You can read the whole study by clicking here.
How to Use Scarcity in Your Business
I saw one of my clients use scarcity perfectly the other day.
She owns and runs a beauty clinic and had two cancellations that day.
Here’s what she posted on social media:
"I've had two cancellations today. These fill up fast. Call me now to make sure you don't miss out."
It was simple. It was brilliant.
You don’t need to be flashy.
You just need to be honest.
Plenty of businesses and dodgy marketers use fake scarcity to create urgency when there isn’t any.
You’ve seen it:
"Limited tickets available!" … then suddenly:
"We’ve actually just released another batch of tickets!"
Left a sour taste in your mouth, didn’t it?
Don’t do that.
Simple, clean, honest scarcity works.
Final Thoughts…
Scarcity works because we’re wired to respond to it.
Use it to help your customers make decisions - not to trick them.
Next up: Social Proof.
Scarcity works best when we feel like we’re making decisions on our own.
Social Proof kicks in when we start looking at what everyone else is doing.
