Google, Clubhouse, Airline industry, Groupon, and e-commerce sites hack massive growth using the fear of missing out (FOMO Marketing)

Back in 2004, my cousin Anwar was flaunting his new email account. (Imagine that)

Emails are nothing to brag about today, but things were slightly different back then. Anwar received an exclusive invite to use that new email service and that made him feel special. Anwar kept on mentioning how his one was better and only a select group of people got access to it. Obviously, that made me a bit jealous. I wanted that access too. Like him, I wanted to have a Gmail account!

Gmail created so much hype with those “exclusive” invites that the service grew as fast as a rocket. Those invites were even sold on eBay! With their innovative invite-only access, Google tapped into an integral part of human psychology- the fear of missing out (FOMO marketing).

What’s Fear of Missing out (FOMO)?

During my MBA in INSEAD, FOMO was a driving force in all our activities in the first few months. There was so much to do in Fontainebleau. As the MBA was a short and busy program, we tried to participate in everything that our time permitted. I remember going out on a group walk in the middle of the night to hear the sound of mating deers. Yep! (It was a unique and weird experience. But I probably would have skipped that if I knew better.)

Gmail and other companies like Clubhouse try to employ FOMO marketing by creating invite-only or early access groups. These groups become their advocates and help the company grow. But of course, customer acquisition is only the beginning. The product must have useful features for the customers to continue using it. Back then, Gmail offered better search options and categorizing possibilities. The Clubhouse app was better suited to peak pandemic days. But with the vaccination rollout, its downloads have gone down. The product didn’t offer enough to sustain the initial excitement.

6 ways companies use Fear of Missing Out to speed up growth

Invite-only access:

Like Gmail and Clubhouse, many businesses use invite-only accesses to increase the fear in others. It also lends an air of exclusivity to the brand that only strengthens its equity. However, the product must deliver as per expectation. Otherwise, the fast growth will be met with a fast decline.

Exclusive Early Access

A couple of weeks ago, Tesla started pushing its “mind-blowing” Full Self-Driving (FSD Beta Version 10) software to its early access fleet. As per online forums, Tesla decides who’d be to the Early Access Program (EAP) — Based on their internal criteria. In these forums, you can see a lot of excitement about the EAP. Members of the program proudly flaunt their access by publicly sharing on Social Media.

Limited Time offer or Limited Edition

Anytime you see a limited-time offer, the company is essentially trying to take advantage of your FOMO mentality. In e-commerce, this is an overused yet effective method of retargeting interested audiences and irregular consumers. For example, I browsed through the catalog of a book-selling website but didn’t purchase anything. The company started advertising limited-time offers in my Facebook news feed. I’d get 10% off if I’d purchase within 3 days. Similarly, after I become their customer but don’t purchase anything in the subsequent 6 months, they would send me text messages with limited time offers.

Limited Quantity

Just like limited-time offers, you can see limited quantity offers too. In most airline ticket purchasing websites you’ll see a red line blinking- “2 seats left”. Airlines have taken this strategy to next level by creating multiple layers. They advertise “Only 5 seats available at this price”. That means they have more seats but you’ll have to pay more. They are essentially creating a pseudo-shortage to convince consumers to book fast. They keep on increasing prices and offering a small number of seats to maximize their revenues.

Highlight missed deals

The limited quantity strategy has a role to play even after the product runs out. When I want to book a villa in Bali through Agoda, I search using my booking dates, and price range. Agoda shows me the available ones and a couple of others that I “just missed”. Seeing those missed deals, I book faster than I usually would.

Make it competitive

Many websites including hotel booking ones often show how many people are looking at an item. The site keeps on sending popups showing that someone has just purchased the same item. You get the feeling that you have to move fast — Otherwise, you might lose out to these other onlookers.

Why Fear of Missing Out / FOMO Marketing works

• FOMO Marketing caters to a basic human emotion — the pain of loss. We hate losing and these offers show us that we can avoid loss if we act fast.
• It taps into another emotion — the joy of winning. Limited time or capacity strategies create race-like scenarios. Getting the product over others makes us feel like the winner.
• FOMO Marketing also gives us a chance to feel superior. Early access or limited edition or Invite-only access makes us feel exclusive. It makes us feel superior to others.
• It creates a false sense of urgency. We all regret some of the decisions we made while rushing. Those regrets happen because we couldn’t analyze the situation in a comprehensive manner. FOMO’s false urgency also pushes users to make a snap purchase — Something s/he might have avoided after careful analysis.

Final Thoughts on Fear of Missing Out / FOMO Marketing

Growth hacking might sound dirty but there’s merit to the methods. It is kind of a testament to how well companies understand their consumers. If you are a consumer, you might not like such approaches. But if you are growing a following or a company, you might love these tricks for cost-effective growth.FOMO is a fascinating tool to use in growth hacking. Usually, companies can use this technique in a limited capacity but I love the way airlines have made it their own. They have changed consumer expectations accordingly to fit their pricing strategy. I applaud their creativity given how difficult it is for airline companies to stay profitable.

This article was first published on Marketing Meets Data