Understand Your Buyer > How To Convert > The Flash Sale Effect
What is it?
A flash sale is where you run a discount or promotion for a short period of time,
Why does it work?
It works because of FOMO firstly – people don’t want to miss out and be too late, an impending deadline can cause them to act as they literally don’t want to miss out.
Secondly it works because of scarcity. A flash sale may be limited to time or to number of units – either way scarcity (which works hand in hand with FOMO) can help buyers to take action.
How can you use it?
The next time you want to run any kind of promotion or discount, consider limiting it to a few weeks/days or hours. The added pressure of the ticking countdown timer will help motivate your buyers.
For added impact you can appeal to motion bias and have an animated countdown timer.
See also
10 alternative ways to discount your offering:
- First purchase– Discount the first purchase a buyer makes with you.
- Follow up offer – Follow up those who didn’t buy with an incentive.
- Cashback – Don’t discount, but provide cash back to those who pay full price.
- Themed Sale – Create an event or reason to hold a sale.
- Price Match – Offer to match the genuine price of
- Buy more – Incentivise buyers to spend more with ascending discounts.
- Free gift- Offer a free gift with purchase.
- Early bird – Offer a discount for those who buy/pay in advance.
- Flash Sale – Hold a flash sale
- Budget version -create a naturally cheaper version of your offering to appeal to lower spending buyers.
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