Your ultimate guide to flash sales
When you run an eCommerce store, running regular sales can help boost performance and entice brand-new shoppers to your website.
Flash sales take basic sales events to the next level. By inspiring a sense of urgency in your customers, you can sell even more and stand out from your competitors.
New to flash sales? In this article, we’ll show you the benefits of flash sales, how to run them successfully, and the best way to advertise them to your customers.
Article topics
- What is a flash sale?
- What are the benefits of running flash sales?
- Top tips for running flash sales your customers will love
- Flash sales: Your frequently asked questions
What is a flash sale?
A flash sale is a sales promotion that takes place for a very short amount of time, sometimes just a few hours.
As flash sales are so short, they use high levels of discounts (in our experience, anything from 20% to 50%), urgency and the fear of missing out (FOMO) to encourage customers to buy.
Some eCommerce stores and marketplaces specialise in running flash sales full-time. For example, Groupon focuses on offering limited-time products and services at a high discount.
However, eCommerce stores can leverage the occasional flash sale to increase sales too.
What are the benefits of running flash sales?
Many different types of eCommerce stores run flash sales, from clothing companies to home decor specialists.
Here’s exactly why flash sales can be a great idea for your business:
They increase revenue
As flash sales use FOMO and large discounts to encourage customers to buy as quickly as possible, they can quickly increase your online store’s revenue. They can be a good solution if you need a quick cash injection for your business.
While flash sales can drive a profit, it’s critical to determine your product margins beforehand. Discount your products too much, and your flash sale may operate at a loss.
They boost brand awareness
A well-promoted flash sale can generate valuable publicity, making more people aware of who you are, what you do, and what you sell.
For example, Ryanair, well known for its controversial marketing tactics, created the popular ‘Big Idiot’ flash sale after a public spat with Elon Musk.
They introduce new customers to your business
A great way to use flash sales is to target prospective customers who are aware of your brand but haven’t made a purchase yet.
By lowering your prices for a short amount of time, you can encourage them to buy, potentially turning them into advocates for your business.
You can transform flash sales shoppers into long-term customers by:
- Encouraging them to sign-up to your mailing list, where you can showcase your latest products or provide exclusive access to future deals
- Showcasing your loyalty programme, where they will receive offers and discounts on future purchases
- Using retargeting ads to entice them back to your online store at a later date
Boost brand loyalty: Nine ways to win repeat buyers
They shift inventory
You can use flash sales to sell slow-moving products and make room in your warehouse for new stock.
Many businesses use flash sales in summer and winter to get rid of seasonal items.
They establish trust
When done right, flash sales can inspire loyalty in your existing customers and make them feel special. According to McKinsey, loyal customers are 31% more likely to pay higher prices in the long-term, and 64% more likely to buy more frequently.
Let’s say you’ve identified who your VIP customers are through segmentation. Before you launch your general Black Friday sale, you can invite these customers to have early access through an exclusive flash sale, meaning they get the pick of the bargains before everyone else.
Top tips for running flash sales your customers will love
How do you create a sale that gets the optimal results for your business? As an eCommerce agency, we know all about getting flash sales right!
Here are our expert tips for getting ahead when it comes to flash sales.
1. Plan ahead
Most flash sales look and feel like they have been agreed upon in the spur of the moment. However the reality is that the majority of flash sales have been planned weeks, if not months, in advance.
Before you hit the publish button on your flash sale, you need to think about:
Your goals
This will help you determine which products you want to discount. For example, if your aim is to get rid of slow-selling inventory, you may consider bundling. This is when you pair a slow-selling product with a popular one and sell them as a single unit.
Also consider the target audience you want to appeal to. This will help you identify what marketing channels and tone of voice to use.
Your website
You need to make sure your website loads quickly, is mobile-responsive, and provides a great user experience.
Make it as easy as possible for shoppers to buy from your website. Implementing a guest checkout or one-click checkout can reduce friction and abandoned carts.
Your products
You may want to run a flash sale across all of your product categories, or alternatively, only discount selected products.
If the aim of your flash sale is to appeal to new customers, you may choose to discount your most popular products to entice them into a sale.
If you have products which are viewed regularly but have low conversion rates, offering a discount on them may encourage customers to buy.
Your discount
You need to work out how much discount you want to offer customers.
While you want your discount to be low enough that customers are driven to make a purchase, you don’t want it to be so low that you don’t make a profit.
If you are using your flash sale to get rid of poor-selling items, you may be happy to offer a higher discount and just break-even on them.
As well as discounting your products, you may choose to offer additional perks to encourage customers to make a purchase. For example, Snag Tights included £1 shipping in its flash sale offer to sweeten the deal.
Your logistics
Due to a rush of orders, flash sales can lead to increased complaints, questions, and refunds. It’s important to let your customer service team know what’s going on so they can prepare.
Anything you can do to make things easier for them (for example, having clear returns and delivery policies on your website) will be much appreciated!
Make sure your warehouse is clear and well-labelled so your team can easily pick and place orders. It’s also important to check that your courier of choice has availability for an increase in deliveries.
2. Instil a sense of trust
If you’re promoting a flash sale to new customers, it’s likely to be the first time that they’ve heard of you.
This means that if you want them to part with their money, you need to show them that they can trust your business and the quality of the products you offer. Otherwise they may abandon their cart and go elsewhere.
Trust signals are pieces of information that you can add to your website and marketing channels that show shoppers that they can put their confidence in you. Good examples of trust signals to use across your flash sales include:
- Reviews and ratings
- User-generated content
- Product and service guarantees
- Payment platforms and gateway logos
- Accreditations, qualifications, and memberships
- Awards won
- Trust seals (for example, the ‘DigiCert’ site seal)
Consistency is also important. Use your brand colours, imagery, and typography (like Thrift+ has done with this online banner) across your website and marketing campaigns to show shoppers that you’re a reliable and credible choice.
3. Keep things short
The unique selling point of flash sales is that they are short, in our experience, anything from one-hour to 48-hours.
If your flash sale lasts a week, it’s not technically a flash sale!
According to Experian, three-hour flash sales have the best transaction-to-click rate. However, the right choice for you depends on your customers, your goals, and your availability.
A two-hour sale may be best if you have small amounts of inventory you want to get rid of, and a 24-hour sale may be better if you have more products you want to sell.
If you run a short flash sale, it’s essential to promote it thoroughly to ensure that as many people are made aware of it as possible. We’ll talk about marketing your flash sale later in this article.
No matter the length of your flash sale, implement a countdown timer across your website and emails so shoppers can see how long they’ve got left to make a purchase.
4. Identify the right day and time
Timing is everything when it comes to flash sales – as they’re so short, you need to launch them when your target audience is most likely to be online.
Research shows that evening flash sales do better than lunchtime ones. Customers may be at work during lunchtime, so they may not have time to check out your website.
Similarly, pay day flash sales at the end of the month where customers have just got paid, work well too!
The best way to identify when to launch a flash sale is to dig into your stats. Find the day and time customers are most likely to buy from your online store, and run your flash sale then.
5. Choose the right marketing channels
It’s a good strategy to promote your flash sale across your website, with banners, pop-ups, and links in your footer.
However, you also need to use marketing campaigns to let customers know about your flash sale and encourage them to check out your website in good time.
We always recommend using marketing to give shoppers a heads-up about your flash sales before you start them, to build anticipation, and so that they know when to buy!
Email is one of the best channels for driving traffic to your website, representing 18% of referrals to flash sales compared to social media (13%) and search (11%).
Why is email marketing so good for promoting flash sales? You’re advertising your flash sale to people who have signed up for your mailing list and are interested in what you have to say.
You can also segment and personalise your emails in order to send highly personalised messages. For example, if you’re a shoe store running a flash sale on men’s shoes, you can send emails to customers who have bought men’s shoes from you in the past.
While email marketing is a must for flash sales, other marketing channels like social media and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising work well too – consider your target audience and the channels they use most regularly.
6. Use flash sales sparingly
While flash sales are a brilliant way to increase sales when planned right, they shouldn’t be a regular feature on your eCommerce website. Over-reliance on flash sales can:
- Make customers reluctant to pay full price for your products and attract people who are just looking for bargains
- Result in customer fatigue – regular shoppers may get frustrated with receiving urgent marketing messages promoting your flash sales all the time
- Lead to a lack of trust in your business – if you’re regularly running flash sales to shift your products, customers may think you’ve got something to hide
We recommend running no more than four flash sales a year to keep them fresh and exciting.
Look at your metrics to see how customers react to your flash sales – if sales are low and your cart abandonment rate is high, it may be a sign that something is wrong. We’ll look at metrics in more detail at the end of this article.
Flash sales: Your frequently asked questions
Got any other questions about how flash sales work? You’ll find the answers here!
How is a flash sale different to a regular sale?
The key difference is the duration. Regular sales may last weeks, even months, while a flash sale may only last a few hours.
As flash sales are shorter, the discounts on offer may be bigger.
What are the pros and cons of flash sales?
The advantages of flash sales are that they can help you increase revenue and brand awareness, as well as shift slow-moving inventory.
The disadvantage is that they take time to plan and launch, and if they are mismanaged, you may lose money or frustrate customers. You also need to be careful not to over-use them, as it may lead to customers not buying your products when they’re full-price.
Is a flash sale the right choice for my business?
Flash sales aren’t right for everyone. If you’re not keen on running standard sales, a flash sale probably isn’t the right solution for your eCommerce store.
Flash sales can be a great option if:
- You need to clear space in your warehouse or quickly shift unpopular items
- You need to build short-term cash flow
- You want to draw attention to a new product range
- You want to target prospective customers who have been checking out your brand but haven’t made a purchase
How can I tell if my flash sale is a success?
We always recommend auditing your flash sales after they take place, so you can identify what worked and where there’s room for improvement next time.
Look at these metrics to help you see if your flash sale was successful:
- Total revenue: This will show you how much money you made in sales. Also review your gross profit to see if your flash sale made you money
- Conversion rate: Conversion rate indicates how many people who visited your website ended up making a purchase. You can break this down by marketing channel to see which campaign led to the most sales
- Average order value: This is a good indicator of how much each customer spent. Did they just buy products that were on sale, or did they buy non-sale items too?
- New vs returning customers: This metric will show you how many customers have bought from you before and how many are new
- Cart abandonment rate: If your cart abandonment rate is higher than normal, it may indicate an issue with your checkout process or delivery charges
Five eCommerce KPIs to give your store the advantage
Xigen: Quality eCommerce marketing, done in a flash
Flash sales can be a fantastic way to boost your profits, increase brand awareness, and encourage new customers to try you out.
But they’re not something you can do on a whim. It’s vital to know what you want to achieve and to prepare your business ahead of time to handle the increase in traffic, sales, and deliveries.
If you need help getting your online store ready for your next flash sale, we’re the eCommerce agency you can count on. We’ll ensure your site is speedy, mobile-responsive, and prepare your checkout so prospective shoppers can buy with ease.
Not only this, but we’ll plan the perfect email marketing campaign to encourage customers to get clicking! Ready to enter the world of flash sales? Get in touch with our expert team today, and we’ll be your trusted guide.
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