# 'Only 5,000 copies' on a free DVD offer: +508% orders

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Email (Lead-gen)
- Elements: Urgency, Low-stock & scarcity messaging
- Date shared: 2006
- Test run by: [MarketingExperiments](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/marketingexperiments/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://marketingexperiments.com/a-b-testing/testing-the-power-of-urgency-on-offer-pages-2
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/national-alert-registry-dvd-limited-quantity/

Telling subscribers only 5,000 copies of a free child-safety DVD were available lifted the order rate from 0.0189% to 0.115%, a 508% increase. MECLABS ran this for its research partner National Alert Registry, published on MarketingExperiments. It was a bundled change sent as a second email, not a simultaneous split test.

## Result

**+508% orders**

- Order rate rose from 0.0189% to 0.115%, a 508% relative increase.
- That meant 768 DVDs shipped versus 14 for the first email.
- Several variables changed at once, and MECLABS says the lift can't all be credited to the 5,000 message.
- The two emails went out at different times, so timing and list fatigue may also play a part.

## Control

An email offered subscribers a free child-safety DVD, paying only shipping and handling, with no mention of how many copies existed.

## Variant

A second email and landing page said only 5,000 copies were available and suggested people get theirs before they ran out. Several other things changed too.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- A stated, real limit gave readers a reason to act now rather than later.
- The message was calm, with no countdown or false claims, so it may have felt credible.
- Other changes in the second email and landing page likely added to the lift.

## Caveats

This was a cluster test with several changes, sent as separate emails rather than a simultaneous split, so it is closer to a before-and-after comparison. The data is from 2006 and the offer was a free item to an existing subscriber list.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we state a real limit on how many free items are available, then more subscribers will claim one because they won't want to miss out.
- Primary metric: Offer claim or order rate
- Guardrail: Unsubscribe rate
- Guardrail: Complaint or spam rate
- Guardrail: Trust signals such as replies or refund requests
- Who should test it: Lead-gen businesses and subscription services with a genuinely limited offer, such as a print run or event seats. Don't use it if the limit isn't real; audiences spot fake scarcity and it erodes trust.

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Credit: MarketingExperiments ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/national-alert-registry-dvd-limited-quantity/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.