What is a Flash Sale?

No matter what products you’re selling on your online store, sales are the oxygen of your business. Without them, your business will cease to exist or become a liability. To keep this from happening, store owners use different tactics to boost their monthly revenue.

And one of these tactics is by launching flash sales! But what are they exactly, and how can you create a successful one? All of this will be covered in this blog post. If that sounds interesting, then keep on reading and find out!

What is a Flash Sale?

Before we go on, we should understand what a flash sale in the first place is.

So, to put it simply, flash sales are like limited-time offers but with a twist. Instead of lasting for days, flash sales come out of nowhere and usually last for less than 24-hours. That adds a lot of urgency to your potential buyers, which will jack up your sales when done right.

According to Social Marketing Fella, an average store should see its transaction rates increase by 35%. And that’s just the beginning of the benefits.

What are the Benefits of Running Flash Sales?

Now that you understand what flash sales are and what separates them from other limited-time offers. You might be wondering what the benefits of using flash sales are? Well, there are rather multiple:

• Creates Urgency That Drives Sales - Since flash sales tend to last less than 24 hours long, those who’ve been on the fence about buying your product will decide at the moment.
• Helps You Clear Out Inventory Space - Sometimes, some products just don’t sell! Instead of adding them to sunken costs, you could rather quickly sell them for more profitable products through flash sales.
• Ability to Increase Loyalty - Flash sales are fantastic for showing appreciation to your most loyal customers. And the more gratitude you show to your fans, the more loyal they are going to be
• Attract New Customers - Another benefit of running a flash sale is that you have the potential to attract new customers. With a sale, you’re mitigating risks which makes buying your product more tempting!
• Increased Brand Awareness - Sometimes, when a stranger sees the irresistible offer you have on your store, they will likely purchase from you and even share the info with their friends and family.

And while all those benefits sound fantastic, it would be foolish for us not to talk about the drawbacks. This way, you’ll get a better understanding of what you’re getting yourself into. Here is a couple of them:

• Fewer Profits - One of the cons of having any limited-time offers is that they tend to kill your profits! That means you’ll have to get more orders for this to be profitable. When you’re creating your flash sale, you should carefully calculate your percentages.
• Potential Overwhelm of Work - Sometimes, the success of your flash sale might create more problems than profits. If your flash sale is too successful, you could overwhelm yourself with work. That means your fulfillment might be slower, worsening your customer experience.
• Might Attract the Wrong Buyers - While flash sales are excellent at finding new customers, you have the potential of getting the wrong customers. That’s because these offers tend to appeal to one-time buyers.

10 Tips for Running a Successful Flash Sale

So as you can see, it’s crucial to get your flash sales right. If you do, you can see your business thrive and reach the next level. But you could also risk your brand becoming worse than it was. To help you out and give you a higher chance of succeeding, we’ve listed ten tips:

#1 - Determine Your Flash Sale Goal

Before you start doing any work on your flash sale, you should first think about why you are doing it in the first place. That will help you create a plan of action and adjust the offer to meet your objective.

So what is going to be your goal? Is it to

• Clear your inventory?
• Get new customers?
• Or increase your customer’s loyalty?

Whatever it is, please write it down. Then you know exactly who you’ll target, what offer you’re going to make, and how you will approach them!

#2 - Keep Your Flash Sales At a Minimum

One thing we want you to know is that Flash sales should never become your primary strategy for getting more orders. That’s because if you do it too much, it will lose its effect.

Just think about it! Would you be urged to buy a product if a flash sale happens almost every week? You’d probably say no. Instead, you’ll start expecting it and only purchase when a flash sale is on.

So make sure you keep your flash sales at a minimum. Space them out from each other, and be unpredictable for the best effect of your flash sales.

#3 - Have the Flash Sale for Less Than 24 Hours

When it comes to the duration of your flash sale, it should always be as short as possible. That’s because the longer it is, the less impact it will make. You want them to make their purchase decision now instead of later!

What is the most optimal duration of your flash sale?

Well, that’s three hours. According to Social Marketing Fella, these flash sales will have transaction rates as high as 14%! However, you should already have an engaging audience for this to be profitable.

When deciding on the duration, make sure the sale will last less than 24 hours, or you’ll risk it losing the impact.

#4 - Have a Big Discount During Your Flash Sale

When it comes to a flash sale, you should do two things to make it highly converting:

• Create a sense of urgency
• And create an irresistible offer

And do you know what the easiest way to make your offer highly converting is? It’s by having a considerable discount. Make sure you do that as well.

Just think about it, would a 10% flash sale convert like hotcakes? Probably not!

But when you create your big discount, be smart about it. If you make too great of an offer, you’ll likely see your profit plummet.

#5 - Prepare for a Flash Sale in Advance

While the flash sale should surprise your fans and customers, it shouldn’t be the same for your employees. When you’re thinking about starting a flash sale, you should first prepare for it. Here are a couple of things you should do:

• Have Enough Products in Your Warehouse - Before launching your flash sale, you should be convinced that you have enough products to meet the demand. However, if you’re looking to get rid of low-demand products, ignore this advice.
• Get More People in the Customer Service - That way, your customers will get the best experience and get their questions answered, which could turn into more sales.
• Prepare Your Shipping - No one wants to wait months for their products. Instead of doing that, make sure you have a reliable 3PL that ensures your customers get their items fast.

Once you’ve prepared these three things, you’re ready for the work ahead of you.

#6 - Add Urgency to Your Flash Sales

It isn’t enough to just drop your prices and call it a day. Instead, you should do more to make people care about your sale. And how can you do that?

Well, it’s by adding urgency to your flash sales. You can do that in a couple of ways:

• Add Pop-ups to your website - When a visitor comes to your online store on Shopify or Shoplazza, the first thing they should know is that you have a sale. Why not add a pop-up telling about the fantastic prices and the time they have left? That will urge them to add some items to the cart and complete their order.
• Add Countdown Timers - Nothing creates more urgency than a countdown timer. With it, your customers will see the exact amount of time they have left before the offers expire. You should add the timer to an announcement bar and product pages.

#7 - Segment Your Flash Sales

While a store-wide flash sale might bring you the most orders, sometimes it isn’t the smartest thing to do. That’s because then you’ll be losing profits on all products. Instead of doing that, you could segment your flash sales.

Here are a couple of ways you could do that:

• Create a Subscriber-Only Flash Sale - Sometimes, the best way to show your appreciation to your biggest fans is to create a flash sale that’s only for them. This way, you’ll increase their loyalty to your brand.
• Have Flash Sales for Specific Products - If your objective is to clear out your inventory for profitable products, the most intelligent way to get rid of them is to have a flash sale for only them.

I could go on and on. When thinking of creating your flash sales, it’s best to think about your goal and then adjust the offer for it.

#8 - Offer Free Shipping

Do you know another way how you can make your flash sale offer even better? If you have paid to ship in your store, then the easiest way to make your deal better is by making the shipping free.

Don’t believe me? Well, why not look at the following statistics. According to Shippo Survey, when you offer free shipping, people tend to add more items to their cart.

When creating your offer, make sure that the shipping is free, and you’ll see higher cart values.

#9 - Promote Your Flash Sale as Much as Possible

It’s one thing to have an irresistible offer. The other is making people take action on the offer! When you’ve got your flash sale live, you would be shooting yourself in the foot if you don’t promote it.

So make sure you spread the word around! Depending on your offer, you could do multiple things:

• Run Retargeting Ads - If you’re looking to convert your fans into buyers, then one of the easiest ways to do that is by buying some ads during the campaign. That way, you’ll be sure that they know your offers.
• Promote It On Social Media - Additionally to running ads, you should also create social media posts. This way, you can get some sales without spending a penny. However, when you do, make sure to add urgency!
• Send Newsletter Emails - However, if the sale is only meant for your biggest fans, then you should send some newsletter emails to them. That way, you’ll only target the ones that you want.

#10 - Word Your Flash Sale Correctly

You had an excellent offer! You promoted your flash sale well! However, you still didn’t meet your expectations. What could have been the problem?

Well, probably it’s the message you sent! Instead of making this mistake, make sure you word your offer correctly.

For example, you shouldn’t use “Get $% off”! Instead, you should say, “Save $% on your next order”! That’s because people tend to be more motivated to avoid missing out instead of gaining something.

Conclusion

Flash sales are highly effective! You can jack up your sales, clear your inventory, and even increase customer loyalty with them. However, if you’re not careful, you might do more damage than good.

(Contributed by Andreas Ojala & Hermes Fang)