Just minutes after learning Vail Resorts had added Eldora to the Epic Pass, a bomb dropped from the Mountain Collective crew as they announced not one, not two, but three new mountains who had joined the club: Mammoth, Whistler/Blackcomb, and Snowbird.

A sure indication that something is wrong with my brain, that wasn’t the most exciting part of the morning for me, it was this:

Seriously, that was the highlight for me. Here’s why.

The Case for Urgency
Deadlines work wonders. They really do. That’s why people use (and abuse) them as often as they do. It’s the psychological trigger of urgency: if there’s a chance whatever you are offering won’t be available later, I’m more likely to act now.

But don’t forget what Liftopia found with their quantity limits instead of date limits:

I’ve seen very much the same thing in my experience: quantity “deadlines” work. Do any of these look familiar?

They probably should because the first is from SteepAndCheap, the second from Amazon, and the third from Liftopia. Three extremely successful online retailers are all using this trigger and I’m psyched to see Liftopia (who is powering the whole Mountain Collective sales process) bring it to the sales page for these resorts.

And, lest you think this is a hollow threat, here’s the progress bar two days after the launch:

Urgency in the price and urgency in the quantity. I like it.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.