A simple persuasion technique

Have you seen the ads on TV where they say for a limited time only you can receive this for only $19.99! Act now before stocks run out. This is one of the oldest persuasion techniques in the book which is called “fear of loss” and the beauty is that it always gets results. Statistics prove that if you use a fear of loss campaign then you will always get sales and good conversions. This technique is also used by us unconsciously when speaking about certain things especially shows and sporting events.

e.g. yeah the game of Friday should be awesome, you better get tickets now before they get sold out.

I am sure you can relate to this because we have all either heard this phrase or said to someone before and then struck with the fear that we will miss out on this amazing experience.


The NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) behind Fear of Loss.
So the question is why does this technique work so well?
The answer is that our thought patterns have been developed from birth to want the ‘shiny toy’. This goes back to our brothers the apes where they will fight over the biggest banana because they are afraid that there will never be such an amazing banana again.
So if something is perceived to be amazing and there is a limited opportunity to experience this then our reaction is to gain access to this before others do.


Why do we keep falling for the same technique
As human beings we always want to believe that there is always something bigger and better no matter what the facts point to. Common religious beliefs are testimony to this where billions of people around the World stubbornly believe that they will receive the greatest rewards because they believe in their faith that has no substantial fact to back it up. At the end of the day we want to believe so our minds will create a conclusion that what we are being told has to be true because we want that amazing opportunity to benefit us.


When this technique does and doesn’t work
There are always the people that watch the Ads and say, “how stupid do they think we are“. Well this is because this particular item (car for example) does not interest them and can not be related to a positive experience for them. However when an Ad for something that they are interested in is shown (holiday) they change their tune and again fall for the “fear of Loss” technique.


Conclusion
This persuasion technique is one of many that is used on us and always gets results. If you are interested in learning more then I advise researching human thought patterns or NLP hypnosis. Igor Ledochowski would be the authority on the latter and I advise looking at his hypnosis course. (link is at the top right of screen)