206 - FOMO V No FOMO

Debate with Nathan Wrigley and David Waumsley

It’s the penultimate debate. Yes, the painfully drawn out episode before the edge of your seat, nail biting end of season finale. Mmm...

Also the most ironic as the title will literally invoke no Fear of Missing Out at all!

Setting up the Debate

So we have a few aspects to this. Invoking the Fear of Missing out is a psychologically powerful thing to do. So the question we have are:

• As a marketing tool should we be finding ways to use this on our client/own websites?
• Should we worry about how FOMO affects our own buying of WordPress related software?
• It is a process that works (like plastic packaging) but is it good for the planet (human kind) long term?
• Is it a way of life? ThriveCart seems to have turned it into a business model rather than a one off promotion tool.
• Know your audience - a lot of data suggests that FOMO is most prevalent among millennials. Around 69% of millennials experience the phenomenon, and according to Strategy Online,

FOMO (David)

• It’s a reaction to the fast paced short attention span consumption of information on the web. It works best with urgency.
• Keeping up the Jones' is something we have always done. People love to tell others what they own.
• How can a new product get attention without it in a crowded market? You don’t cheapen the product with a one off low cost or Lifetime deal. In fact most of FOMO is done best when there is a sense of exclusivity (ie only available to this LTD FB group).
• For many it is just a game. You indulge in it for a while when you have the time and money to spend and switch off otherwise. Black Friday is coming soon and many will have saved for it. You can be honest about using FOMO.
• To some degree we need to add some FOMO into our processes. For example - people love the magic email because website clients can kick the tyres for years (on something that would have actually been good for them to have done).

No FOMO (Nathan)

• Fear/loss make it a mental health issue, so we need to tread carefully here. If you use FOMO in a harmful way, that's, well... harmful! (https://paradigmtreatment.com/fomo-impacts-mental-health/)
• Comparing yourself to other on the net had become a huge problem. Just look at what social media has done to use all!
• It also plays on our greed, which I think we can all agree is a thing that would be best reduced in all our lives.
• Fake scarcity is not honest. How long can we work the myth that there's only 50 eBooks left?
• It does not help to secure long term trust (there is a disconnect with real caring human behaviour).
• It does not suit services as well as products (particularly digital ones).

Additional points within the debate

• Is it good or bad for the WordPress ecosystem?
• FOMO plugins - this is SO meta!
• Are you affected by any of the things we discussed  today? If so contact us so that we can sell you our limited time, going out of stock, only 50 left, eBook entitled "We have no idea"!