In order to encourage people to respond and not procrastinate, a deadline can be tremendously impactful in increasing response.
Whether you’re using direct mail, TV, video, a landing page, Amazon, banner ads or Facebook, deadlines can be extremely powerful in supercharging your response.
Whenever I critique a campaign, I look to see if they are using a deadline.
I’ve used deadlines to raise funds for Ronald Reagan, Ron Paul and Club for Growth.
Here are some ideas on using deadlines:

1. Use an existing popular deadline.

Try…Valentine’s Day, April 15th, Christmas, New Years, Black Friday, Cyber Monday.

 

2. Use your database for a deadline.

Use…birthdates, anniversaries.
 

3. Use strong, exciting deadlines.

Try…Early bird discount, daily deals, 24-hour sale.
 

4. Consider the specific time to respond.

  • Respond by Monday
  • Email deadline—7:30 am on 1/15/2018
  • The first 100 people to respond will get my special report—18 amazing new trends
  • Only 1000 limited edition books. Act now!

 

5. Demand attention.

I use a 10-day quick response bonus on direct mail. This also works dramatically on TV commercials that I create for clients, using a timer where there’s a countdown before the end of the show, and the special increases the response.
 

6. Special audience discount.

I’ll often use words such as—Senior Special, One Time Only, This Weekend Only
 
These are some of the ways to increase response by using a deadline.
I’ve seen response boost for Wine of the Month Club, 1-800-Contacts and Sun Chlorella. I’ve seen deadlines work for B to B—such as Surf Control and B to C, such as Agora Publishing.
If you would like to discuss your copy strategy, give me a call at (310) 212-5727, or email Caleb at [email protected].
Here are the rest of this week’s articles: