Why You, Why Now?

“Why you, why now…”
This exact question is the one your customers ask themselves every time they encounter your brand.

… and if you want them to buy anything from you, ever, you should be able to address this question fairly quickly.

Most brands know how to solve the first part of the equation - the “Why You”. Everybody knows their value props and why they are so much better than the competitors - that’s table stakes in the current environment.

But what most brands struggle to address is the question of Why Now?

”Why should I pull out my hard-earned money and give it to you right now?” ”Why not just wait until tomorrow?”

I think one of the reasons why most brands and marketers don’t give this question enough thought is that most of us had become a liiiittle too lazy and privileged for a while (If we are being completely honest with ourselves)

For example, during the peaks of 2020 and 2021 when eCommerce was booming, where IOS-14 hadn’t made every marketer shed a tear, and where money was held loosely in consumers' pockets - it wasn’t like you didn’t have to answer the question, but it just wasn’t as vital to answer, because you could still make decent sales without thinking too much about it.

But now…it’s a different story.

Now, it’s among the most vital questions to answer if you want to survive.

Consumers nowadays have an endless sea of possible products to choose from and a minimal budget to spend on nice-to-haves.

Answering the Why You question gets the customers in the door. Answering the Why Now gets them to buy.

“Alright, all good, guys - please tell us a few ways we can answer this question. “

Sure thing.

One of the biggest levers for us at Obvi has been to rapidly introduce new products to our collections, but with a minimal supply of each new product in the beginning.

So we went out and said, “Hey, we got this new product launching in 1 week. Only X Amounts available”.

Once the X amounts were done (typically on the launch day), we would wait a few weeks - and then boom! “Restock - get your now before it’s too late.”

… and so the cycle continues.

This strategy essentially allowed us to answer the Why Now question properly. The customers could see that our products are actually very sought-after and go out of stock fast. So why now? Well, because if you don’t buy it now, it might now be there tomorrow.

Likewise, introducing new products to our collections also gave our existing customers another reason to buy from us. Most people think retention is all about how many emails and SMS’ you send and what you write in them - but then neglect that the #1 reason why anybody would buy from you again, is if they have a damn good reason to do so.

If you have a new and exciting product for them that they won't be able to get anywhere else - then you got a good reason.

So here is something to chew on for your lunch break;

How are you adding urgency and scarcity to your product

Can you properly answer the “Why Now” question?

Which products could you introduce to make it easier for your customers to answer the Why Now?

What is the reason why your existing customers should buy from you again? Do you really give them a good reason to come back again?

… and hey, before you leave, if you liked this newsletter and want to learn more about how we go about product launches and learn our entire playbook for building massive hype around them - then you will absolutely love the next newsletter. It’ll be released on Sunday, so stick around for that one.

Questions of the day;

We get tons and tons of questions every day, and even though we want to answer each and every one of you - we simply can’t. That’s why we’ve chosen to answer a select handful of questions in each newsletter, so that we can still answer your questions - but do so in the most effective way. This weeks questions are from Anant Handa & Nirah Sinha. If you have a question that you’d want us to answer, then simply reply to this email with your question and then we will do our best to answer it either on one of the coming newsletters or on Twitter.

Alright, let’s get to todays questions;

BTW: This iMessages format is something rather new we’re trying. Please let us know if you like it or if you’d prefer we just answer in plain text instead.

Remember: We appreciate each and every single one of you guys who are reading this newsletter and supporting us on Twitter.

Till we see you next time

Yours truly,

Ron & Ash