How to sell out the “Flash Group” flash sale?

In most private domain scenarios, if one-on-one consulting services are used to guide user conversions, the labor and time costs will be very high, and the ROI will not be worthwhile.

Therefore, one-to-many operational methods that can convert in batches at one time are the current trend, such as private domain live streaming and the flash groups discussed in this article.

A flash group is a group buying and flash sale group that takes place in a very short period of time. By stimulating customers within the community with short-term discounts on an hourly basis and taking advantage of people’s herd mentality, scarcity effect, and sense of urgency, we can achieve the goal of quickly placing orders and completing transactions in batches.

It is generally suitable for retail companies, platform-based e-commerce, or offline physical stores with low decision-making costs and relatively standardized products and services.

Compared with the so-called "limited-time flash sales" in WeChat Moments and apps, flash groups can better create a flash sale atmosphere. Users will feel that someone is really snatching the product and the price is truly favorable, rather than a game of words. "Opportunity is once in a lifetime, and it will never come back." They must place an order now, immediately, and right away.

Now that we know the purpose and function, let’s look at the specific operation process, which is divided into four steps: product selection, preheating, atmosphere, and finishing.

1. Product selection is the key to hot sales

Many people believe that flash groups are used to sell inventory and to sell products that are about to expire or cannot be sold. After a flash mob event, if sales are low and the data is not good, people will say that the flash mob model is outdated and useless.

Please, users are not fools. What era is it now? If you sell inferior products, they will naturally not buy them. Even if a user buys the product by chance, if the experience is not good after use, the trust in the brand will drop sharply. Once the reputation is ruined, there will be no second purchase.

The basis of all transactions is the product, and product selection for flash groups is very important. At least 2-3 points must be met: low price, high value, rigid demand, strong universality, and strong correlation.

1. Low price

The essence of a flash group is bulk transactions and small profits but quick turnover, so the prices of products in the group should be more advantageous than those on the market, or at least not more expensive.

2. High value

Compared with similar competing products, the product must have functional advantages or allow users to perceive different emotional values. If there is no advantage and it is a standard product, then we can only engage in a price war.

3. Urgent need

The products have been tested by the market and are what users really need, not what the manufacturers imagine. Generally speaking, hot-selling products are what users urgently need.

4. Strong universality

The breadth of the product's audience determines how many people are willing to participate in flash group activities. If there are too few people, the community atmosphere cannot be created.

5. Strong association

In addition to selling goods in bulk, the main purpose of a flash mob group is sometimes to filter users. After selecting accurate users, they will convert them into high-priced, high-profit products.

At this time, the purpose of the product is to attract traffic, not to make money, and may even lose money. There should be a strong correlation between traffic-generating products and high-priced products.

For example, users are attracted to the group by offering a 1-yuan flash sale of 2 kilograms of fruit, and then fruit membership cards are launched after the sale.

For example, some offline stores set up flash groups and offer flash sales within the group at prices far below the market price. After users place an order, they have to go to the offline store to pick up the goods. In the store, shopping guides guide customers to purchase high-priced products.

How many products are sold in a flash mob group depends on the specific situation. If the brand is going for the blockbuster route and does not have that many SKUs, then you can just sell one product.

If it is a platform-based e-commerce or retail enterprise with many product categories, then a flash mob group can kill 2-3 products in seconds, and no more than 5 at most. Too many options will increase users’ selection costs, making them wonder what to buy, and product information will easily be covered, which is not conducive to building a community atmosphere.

2. Moments script + multi-channel reach

Many operators blindly pursue the number of people in flash mob groups, thinking that the more people in the group, the more people will place orders. Regardless of whether users have demand or understand the product, they just add them to the group first.

If the users are not accurate and have taken up the quota, the atmosphere will not be created. For example, there are 200 people in a group, but only 50 of them are precise users who have demand for the product, and 25 of them will buy it. In the eyes of other users, there are so many people in the group, but only so few of them will buy it. Is the product quality poor? I am considering this.

Or as soon as they join the group, they post advertisements in the group or say something to stir up trouble or disrupt order: What is this group for? Why did you pull me in? Is your product fake?

Therefore, the key to a flash mob group is not the number of people, but accuracy. It is necessary to attract only those users who are interested in the activity, that is, those who are willing to actively join the group or sign up to participate.

How to find them? It can be reached through scripts in WeChat Moments + multi-channel promotion.

1. Script for the circle of friends

Before the flash mob group starts, the publicity coverage can be expanded in a rhythmic and planned manner through the WeChat Moments script, so that more users can know about the event and attract interested and targeted users.

The script for the circle of friends is divided into 5-day units, with one step per day, 4+1, namely: rights investigation, result announcement, activity polishing, prize announcement + official release.

1) Rights and interests investigation

Li Wanqiang, co-founder of Xiaomi, proposed in his book "Sense of Participation" that the key to Xiaomi's success lies in allowing users to integrate into the MIUI development process, giving users a sense of "participation" and feeling that the system was made by themselves.

We can learn from this gameplay.

During the preparation stage of the flash mob group, you can first initiate a survey in your circle of friends to find out what activity benefits everyone wants and what product discounts they want. Leave a message in the comment area, and the option with the highest voice will satisfy everyone.

Surveys should give users multiple-choice questions and not open-ended questions, otherwise it will cause users to think for a long time and reduce participation rates.

Another benefit of rights surveys is that they can truly understand user needs. Many times, even before conducting the survey, we have already thought about what rights/benefits this event will bring to users. But if users are very demanding for Product A, and the benefit you prepare is Product B, the result will definitely be unsatisfactory. Therefore, we can verify through investigation and make corrections in time.

2) Results Announcement

On the second day after completing the survey, publish the results in your circle of friends to tell everyone which rights/benefits have received the highest demand, and then conduct this activity based on everyone’s ideas. While giving secondary exposure and attracting attention, make users feel that you value their opinions.

3) Activity polishing

On the afternoon of the day when the results are announced or the next day, you can post 1-2 messages about the activity polishing process in your circle of friends.

For example, you can post: In order to allow everyone to enjoy the most favorable benefits, we work overtime to plan activities; in order to ensure that the goods are ready for delivery, we select and compare multiple express delivery companies; in order to deliver the best products to users, the team stays up late to check and make products...

Through the circle of friends during the activity polishing process, users can feel your sincerity and feel that you are really considering their interests rather than cutting leeks. At the same time, it also enhances trust and accumulates momentum for subsequent transactions, which is much more effective than simply selling and bragging about the quality of the product.

4) Rewards Preview

A formal announcement will be made one day before the start, which is the 4th day, clearly informing everyone of the rights/benefits and the start time, reminding everyone to be prepared and not miss it.

At the same time, we encourage people to click “like” and you will be notified immediately when the event officially starts. If the product has enough profit, you can also give additional benefits to every user who likes the product and places an order in the flash group.

5) Official release

The official release was on the 5th day. A circle of friends was posted 6 hours, 2 hours, and 30 minutes before the event, with a countdown and text about the event being about to begin, as a final warm-up.

In addition, Moments has a mechanism that when a publisher comments on himself in the comment section, all users who have left comments and liked the post will receive a notification. Therefore, we can comment at the bottom of the Moments we posted previously to serve as a second reminder.

This also requires us to guide as many users as possible to like and comment on the script when we post it on WeChat Moments in the early stages of the preheating process. At the same time, if the user has interacted, it is assumed that he is interested in the event and is a precise user, and can be invited to join the group through a one-on-one private chat.

If the time for event promotion and warm-up is tight, you can make the schedule of the WeChat Moments script more compact and simplify it to 3 days. For example, a rights and interests survey is conducted in the morning and the results are announced in the afternoon. The polishing process of the event was released on the second day, a prize announcement was sent out on the morning of the third day, and it was officially released in the afternoon.

In addition to scripts in Moments, promotion and publicity can also be achieved through other private channels, such as official accounts, member groups, and video accounts. The same principle applies. Label the users you are interested in first, and create a group through 1-on-1 private chats before the event starts.

In order to make it appear that there are as many people in the group as possible, some operators will do fission after the flash group is established and before the flash sale officially starts, allowing users to invite others to join and give red envelopes.

In my opinion, this approach is not advisable. Users enter the flash group to participate in the flash sale. Asking them to pull in other people is not in line with their expectations, and the users pulled in are not accurate, which is harmful.

3. Community atmosphere promotes orders

2 hours before the event starts, start 1-on-1 private chats with friends to invite people to join the group. Within the group, based on the number of people joining the group and the speed at which they do so, a group announcement will be posted at regular intervals (usually every half an hour) to inform members of the flash group process and corresponding rights and interests.

The number of people in a single community should be controlled within a reasonable range, neither too many nor too few, generally around 120 people.

You can be a little more creative with the suffix of the group name, and mark it in the form of 3 or 5 groups at intervals to create the impression that there are a lot of people rushing to buy.

5-10 water army members should be properly arranged in the group to guide users.

Creating a community atmosphere is divided into four steps: red envelope reminders, product introduction + group buying chain, order screen swiping, and limited time and quantity.

1) Red envelope reminder

10 minutes before the start, you can send 10-15 red envelopes in the group, with each amount being 3-5 yuan, and the number of people is 20.

There are three purposes for sending red envelopes:

1. Remind users that the event is about to start, come and don’t miss it;
2. Through the red envelope rain, the atmosphere within the community is mobilized;
3. After users grab the red envelopes, they will have a feeling of "being grateful for what you have received" and feel embarrassed not to make a purchase.

After the red envelopes are sent out, the participation rules and rights are introduced to give users expectations.

2) Product introduction + group purchase chain

After the event officially starts, the product selling points will be introduced. The introduction time of a single product is controlled within 3 minutes, and it should be concise and clear.

Today, instruction manuals don’t work anymore. The selling point needs to be scenario-based, highlighting the specific effects in a specific scenario; you can also describe a beautiful scene to make users feel that they can live such a life after using this product.

Finally, you can add some positive reviews from past users to enhance trust, and you can also compare prices on different platforms to prove that your discounts are genuine.

During the introduction, include as many pictures and details as possible to enhance authenticity.

After introducing the product, it is time to let the user group who want to place an order take over. We can think of a reason, for example, because this is a special sale, we need to register in the group.

Generally speaking, when the game is first released, most users are silent. At this time, the water army we arranged in advance will come in handy. They should take the initiative to ask questions and participate in the chain.

The questions raised should be typical, and should be issues that most users would worry about or have concerns about when placing an order. Solving this problem is equivalent to eliminating the concerns of other users in the group about placing orders.

3) Order screen flooding

For users who have placed orders, we need to guide them to send screenshots of their payments to the group, to create an atmosphere of screen-filling orders, to stimulate the herd mentality of users who have not yet placed an order, and to make them feel that so many people have already bought it, so it will be right for me to follow everyone else and buy it.

4) Limited time and limited quantity

There are limits on the number and duration of products sold in flash sales.

The inventory quantity should not be too large, otherwise it will not be possible to create a sense of urgency. Generally, the limited quantity of a single product is 200-500 pieces (depending on the total number of people participating in the event).

The duration of a flash sale should not be too long, otherwise the value of the "flash sale" cannot be reflected. Generally, an activity is controlled within 30 minutes. (Except for those who need to provide education and awareness within the group)

Therefore, in the group we can use countdown: "There are 5 minutes left, those who haven't placed an order, hurry up and place your order. If you miss this opportunity, you will have to wait until next month"; inventory update: "Only 20 pieces left, they will be gone if you are slow!" and other means to create a sense of urgency, stimulate users' loss aversion, and force them to place their orders.

Sometimes, you can also use "phased goals" within the group to encourage users to place orders as soon as possible or let users actively recommend others to buy.

For example: "Additional gift: if the number of flash sale copies reaches 150, an additional XXX will be given; if it reaches 300, an additional XXX will be given." It should be noted here that the goal should not be set too high, and users should feel that it is possible to complete it with a little effort.

4. End decisively and lay the groundwork

After the flash sale period is up or the inventory is sold out, no matter how the performance is, you must not do the so-called "add XX copies" or "apply for XX quota from the boss". This is a short-sighted behavior. When it’s over, it’s over. Even if it’s only a minute or a second away, no matter how many users want to buy, we will never sell it.

Once this loophole is opened, the user experience of those who have already grabbed a spot in the flash sale will drop sharply. They will feel that they have been cheated. I waited in time for the sale as promised and grabbed it. I was just feeling secretly happy, but then this happened?

For users who purchase additional spots later, they will feel that the so-called flash sales are all a scam to fool newbies. As long as you pay, how can businesses not make money?

After too many loopholes are opened, users will become indifferent to similar limited-time flash sales, and they will become overused and ineffective.

Therefore, we are determined not to sell because we want to make the user regret that his decision not to buy within the specified time was a mistake. Let them know that flash sales are very scarce, and if they don’t grab them this time, they will have to buy them at a higher price next time.

After the event ends, the community generally does not operate and is disbanded directly. The group was originally established in the name of product flash sales. There is no point in operating it further and it cannot be successful.

Before the community is disbanded, you can also do the following 4 actions.

1) Fill out the questionnaire to get benefits

Use questionnaires to understand what types of activities and what rights/benefits users are more interested in, laying the groundwork for the next event.

2) New Product Experience Officer

Send N red envelopes (usually 10) in the group, and the user with the largest amount can become a new product experience officer and get the opportunity to experience the new product. Subsequent private chats will guide users to send their positive feedback after their experience to content platforms such as Xiaohongshu.

3) Guide students to purchase membership cards

If the brand has membership cards or stored-value cards, it can guide purchases after the flash sale ends. However, it should be noted that the operational actions should be light and the marketing nature should be weak, and only a few simple sentences will be enough, otherwise users will think that the flash group is a routine.

4) Drainage stratification

Clean and stratify users in the group. Inform the group that we will have flash sales in the future. If you are interested and want to participate next time, you can add the group owner on WeChat and send a "1" in private message to be notified as soon as the event starts. In this way, we will know that these users are price sensitive, keep good labels and records, and then we can carry out targeted operations later.

Generally, only one of the above actions is selected. The specific one to choose depends on the specific circumstances of the product, users, and community. Of course, in order to take care of the user experience and the purity of the flash sale, you can also not do it and disband the group directly after the flash sale ends.

After the community is disbanded, the circle of friends should keep up with the trend and publish the battle report of the flash mob group as soon as possible, for example: the number of orders exceeded XXX in X minutes, which can show off the muscles and stimulate the curiosity of users to attract their participation next time.

The progress of the activity can also be reported in real time, for example: in order to allow users to receive the goods as soon as possible, the express delivery is packed overnight; the express delivery has been sent out, please check it in time, etc.

After users receive the goods, they can also post their positive reviews and screenshots of their experience on the product to their friends. Just like before, as long as someone likes or comments, we will record the tags in the background so that we can be the first to access the next event.

Finally, let’s summarize this article:

• A flash group is a group buying and flash sale group that takes place in a very short period of time. By stimulating customers within the community with short-term discounts on an hourly basis and taking advantage of people’s herd mentality, scarcity effect, and sense of urgency, we can achieve the goal of quickly placing orders and completing transactions in batches.
• It is generally suitable for retail companies, platform-based e-commerce, or offline physical stores with low decision-making costs and relatively standardized products and services.
• Flash mob group operation steps: product selection, preheating, atmosphere, and closing.
• Product selection is very important and must meet at least 2-3 points: low price, high value, rigid demand, strong universality, and strong correlation.
• The script for the circle of friends is divided into 5-day units, with one step per day, 4+1, namely: rights investigation, result announcement, activity polishing, prize announcement + official release.
• Creating a community atmosphere is divided into four steps: red envelope reminders, product introduction + group buying chain, order screen swiping, and limited time and quantity.
• The flash group should be ended decisively. Before disbanding, you can also do the following: fill out questionnaires to give out benefits, serve as a new product experience officer, guide people to purchase membership cards, and conduct traffic stratification.

The article ends here. Thank you for reading this. I hope this article is useful to you.

Author: Tomato Operation

Source: Tomato Operation