😅 3 Ways To Fire Up FOMO & Increase Sales Two-fold

Your Secret Weapon To Doubling Sales

June 24, 2025

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Hey there,

Welcome back to another edition of Bootstrapped Growth. 👋

Today, we get into how to tap into peoples’ FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) to drive user conversion.

Table of Contents

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🚀 3 Real-World FOMO Success Stories

FOMO works in sales. Research shows that potential losses feel twice as powerful as equivalent gains. Customers are more likely to take immediate action when they fear missing out.

We cover clever examples of businesses limiting availability and/or time to get users.

1) Gate Early Access Behind Visible Usage Milestones

Figma (design tool) releases beta features to high-engagement, power users. Granting early access to a select ‘community’ rewards usage and creates subtle peer pressure. It also creates a social ladder effect where people don’t want to be left behind.

Takeaway ➡️ Reward visible activity with tiered access. FOMO increases when users feel that they could qualify for something.

2) Limit Production & Availability

House of Sunny (fashion brand) produces clothing in micro-batches to reduce waste. Their environmental stance means that items will not be restocked once sold out. This transparent FOMO and limited edition approach to fashion saw their iconic Hockney Dress becoming a viral sensation with resale values reaching 400% of retail price.

Takeaway ➡️ Create urgency through genuinely limiting inventory with set deadlines. Communicate when products will disappear using countdown timers, low stock alerts and flash sales (short sales events).

3) Use Countdowns & Bake In Urgency

AppSumo (SaaS marketplace) is built around urgency with most of their deals having a countdown and/or limited license availability. They even tag deals as ‘ending soon’ for subtle but consistent scarcity messaging.

Takeaway ➡️ Add visible scarcity. Consider signals like countdown timers, limited stock badges, and ‘almost sold out’ to drive immediate actions.

⭐️ Implementing FOMO In Your Business

Highlight value and build anticipation with the extra tips below:

  1. Leverage Social Proof. Show real-time user activity to highlight recent signups or purchases.

  2. Exclusive Access. Create tiered membership levels, build waitlists and offer early access to loyal and/or early users.

  3. Reward Fast Action. Provide bonuses for immediate purchases.

🛠 Useful Resources

Automatically create bulk calendar events by trying Agenda Hero. An example use case is letting the tool mass convert a pasted list of trade shows & fairs, into calendar events, saving you loads of time.

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