How To Run Effective Flash Sales for Your E-Commerce Site
Running an e-commerce website is rewarding while requiring different success strategies. One great way to attract profit is by running flash sales. These limited time events take place for 24 to 72 hours and offer discounts on one or more of your products. Hosting a flash sale at least once a month can substantially boost earnings.
While you may want to post flash sales on your most popular products, you can build interest in your less popular items with a flash sale. Here are the best tips for running the most effective flash sales.
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Make Customers Feel FOMO
Feeling FOMO (the fear of missing out) is a great marketing tactic to leverage. Such tactics cause consumers to take advantage of your flash sale.
Show low-stock alerts when you have 10 or fewer of an item left. While inventory does restock, low-stock alerts can give customers a sense of urgency to buy now.
Put a number under the item to show how many have been purchased during the flash sale. Walmart does this too with phrases like “500 purchased yesterday”. This is best for e-commerce businesses with high inventory stock to implement this tactic effectively.
At the top and bottom of the website, have a time clock to show how long consumers have left before the flash sale ends. BoxLunch does this FOMO tactic perfectly.
Highlight Discounts Clearly
Have a banner on the top of the website that distinctly states the discount. For example, the banner for a maternity clothing website flash sale may say “50% off All Maternity Bras”.
On the page showcasing maternity bras, the original price and discount price should be clearly shown. Usually, there’s a slash over the original price with the discount price in red.
Optimize Your Website for Traffic Spikes
On your website’s back end, test loading speeds for desktop and mobile. Increased traffic from the flash sale could decrease loading speeds.
Ensure payment methods (credit and debit processing, digital wallets, and buy now, pay later services) are functioning correctly. Malfunctioning payment gateways can lead to missed sales opportunities. Abandoned carts because of these potential issues can lead to decreased trust in your brand.
Build Excitement with Mysteriousness
Flash sales usually happen at the last minute without consumers knowing. However, you can build anticipation with mysteriousness in different ways.
Send a teaser email to customers who subscribe to your newsletter. Say something like “Something big is coming tomorrow. Set a reminder to check our website at 8 am EST”. Then, after 8 AM Eastern the next day, you can send information about the flash sale to their emails.
Use countdown clocks to build hype for the flash sale. Don’t tell your customers about what item is getting discounted. Post a follow-up message on social media with more information about the flash sale once it’s officially started.
Choose Flash Sales Strategically
Flash sales on seasonal items are great for moving products so that there is not too much inventory at the end of the season. For example, clothing stores will host flash sales on bathing suits, and other summer wear usually in June and July as summer starts.
Hosting flash sales for best sellers is great for enticing new customers to try them. Overstocked items slowly moving out of your ecommerce site could also benefit from a flash sale.
