Limited-time flash sales are a marketing application tool for products. In addition to coupons, they are also another marketing method commonly used by merchants.

But the essence is the same, which is to use promotional means to create price advantages for products, attract more members, drive the overall sales of the store, and then influence more users to make purchasing decisions.

01. The impact of flash sales

First of all, let me talk about my understanding of limited-time flash sales. On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between limited-time flash sales and limited-time discounts. They are both related to time and are also discounts on product prices.

But after deep thinking, you will find that: limited-time flash sales emphasize the low-price stimulation brought by timeliness. With seconds as the unit, the transaction speed is very fast, and short-term flash sales are particularly obvious.

Limited-time discounts focus more on the discount strength brought by the offer. The time will be slightly longer than flash sales, and it is on a first-come, first-served basis, and will end when sold out, so there are still certain differences between the two in essence.

The short-term limitation will give users a stronger sense of urgency , making them feel that "this opportunity is not to be missed".

At the same time, the limitation on quantity can arouse the user's desire to buy. This is because in the user's mind, the shorter the time and the smaller the quantity, the more precious the product is.

It is very likely that users do not have a strong desire to buy this product, but due to the atmosphere created, users will eventually make a purchase because they do not want to miss this opportunity.

Whether online or offline, many activities will have slogans like "last XX pieces", "limited time XX minutes", and similar slogans. The subtext behind them is that the quantity of the goods is limited and there will be no more after that. If you want to buy it again, you may never be able to buy it again.

This type of promotional method is more likely to attract users' attention. The purpose is to make users feel that the product is scarce. If they miss it, they will no longer have it. If they want it again in the future, they will need to buy it at a higher price.

In consumer behavior psychology, this is called the "scarcity effect."

Before consumers trigger a purchase, they are actually extremely hesitant in their hearts, wondering whether to buy or not. So we have to use this method to help consumers overcome their resistance, thereby influencing their purchasing choices and allowing them to consume without any worries. This is also one of the common methods used by offline store sales staff.

Therefore, I believe that the core of flash sales lies in the scarcity atmosphere created by time and quantity, which in turn produces a scarcity effect and ultimately affects users.

02. Setting of flash sale details

The consumption decisions made by users in flash sales will not only be affected by factors such as limited time and limited quantity, but also by some reference value factors, including: visual interventions such as numbers, font sizes, colors, etc., which will affect users' consumption judgments.

The setting of these details is particularly important for flash sales. Simply put, it is to influence users' perception through product details.

1. The impact of numbers

Usually people will compare the original price with the current price and encourage users to gain satisfaction from the difference. The bigger the difference, the stronger the sense of satisfaction, and vice versa, the weaker the impact on users.

However, the setting of the difference does not necessarily mean the difference in the actual sales amount. A common practice is to influence the user through their illusion of the numbers.

For example: the original price is 219, and the current price is 199. Although it seems that there is only a difference of 20 yuan, the difference is actually very large. 199 gives people the feeling that it is in the range of 100 yuan, while 219 yuan gives people the feeling that it is in the range of 200 yuan.

Usually the last digit ends with 9 or 8, and the real change in price is the first digit. This is because the numerical intervention creates the illusion of low prices for users, while also maximizing the profits of merchants.

2. The impact of color

Through people's perception of color, they mistakenly believe that the current price has certain advantages over the previous price.

In many cases, discounted products are marked in red fonts, and through "visual emphasis" people are led to form the illusion that the price is reasonable, prompting users to have the psychological effect that the product is very cheap.

The first impression created by human visual senses is that elements with stronger contrast in appearance are more likely to catch the user's eye. At the same time, because people have formed an inertial cognition of the color red, they believe that red means promotion, which means that things will be cheaper than before.

This is also the term "user habits" that we are familiar with.

Of course, different regional cultures will also produce different cognitive differences due to different user groups.

03. Limited-time flash sales

Flash sales can be divided into "long-term flash sales" and "short-term flash sales". Long-term flash sales are usually more common in online operations.

Different products will be sold during different time periods, and the time limit is usually around 2 hours. This form of flash sales is actually not particularly noticeable to users.

1. Long-lasting flash sales

Because the time period is long, users have time to consider. They will think: There is still such a long time anyway, let me think about it, whether I will regret buying it, whether I can use it after buying it, whether I will have it next time, and whether I can buy it next time.

After a long period of hesitation, the probability of eventually giving up the purchase will be greatly increased.

In fact, if we observe carefully, we can find that the sales rate of goods in this type of flash sales is not very fast. Usually there will still be some left when the time expires. Although the number of goods set up for flash sales is not particularly large, the actual effectiveness will still be very slow.

Although some platforms will screen out products that are about to sell out and display them separately to reflect the scarcity of the products, the time period is there after all. Especially for those platforms with a low user base and low activity, the effect of long-term flash sales is far less than those of short-term flash sales.

On the other hand, long-term flash sales may sell better than ordinary goods due to their price advantage. After all, there is still a price difference, but this type of flash sales is essentially not much different from limited-time discounts.

2. Short-term flash sales

Short-term flash sales are more likely to appear in WeChat communities, and the emphasis is on "speed".

But it should be noted here that at least 25%-35% of order transactions come from product selection. The quality of product selection directly affects the effect of flash sales, so it is useless to only emphasize speed.

Combining what has been said above, we need to grasp several key factors to make the flash sale truly perceptible, outstanding in atmosphere, quick and efficient, and impactful to users . Therefore, when I was working on flash sale products in the early days, I would discuss activity plans with the operations staff and tell them that they must grasp these key points.

(1) Time limit: Try to keep each flash sale within a time node such as 10 minutes, 5 minutes, or 1 minute. The specific time can be adjusted and optimized again based on the actual transaction data until the optimal critical point is found (this is actually the same as the data review of coupons);

(2) Limited quantity: The limited quantity here should be set within the controllable range of costs. Even if there is room for profit, do not set too much, because the smaller the quantity, the more it can reflect the scarcity of the product. This is the same reason why some people must buy limited edition shoes or cars when they buy them;

(3) Details: Details here refer to the price setting of the product. At the same time, you also need to know the principles of product design. Otherwise, you will only know the results but not the reasons, and you will really be working on the function rather than product design.

(4) Product selection: This needs to be set based on the operational indicators of the product and the target user group. Different categories of products require different focus points.

(5) Stimulation: By limiting time, quantity, and creating a short cycle, the activity becomes more stimulating and reduces the user’s thinking time.

Because short-term flash sales are based on social networks, finding the right user group is the key.

Therefore, we hope that the people who join the group are users who are truly interested in flash sales. If we invite users who are not sensitive to prices and activities, it will be meaningless even if they are added to the group. We can carry out precise delivery based on existing channel resources.

I won’t go into too much detail here.

When there is a certain user base in the community, it is necessary to start warming up the activities. In order to prevent users from missing out on the flash sales in the group, the time of the flash sales in the community should be informed in advance, as well as a countdown broadcast 1 minute before the start of the flash sales, to lay the foundation for creating an atmosphere of scramble.

You can also introduce and describe the product within the group to fully mobilize people's imagination, paint a vivid picture in their minds, and concretize the usage scenarios and price advantages of the product in the minds of consumers, creating an immersive feeling.

At the same time, you can combine the form of sending red envelopes to help the group be active. By sending red envelopes before the event, you can create a scenario where the amount of the goods can be deducted. Coupled with the advantage of flash sale prices, it is more conducive to increasing the transaction rate of goods.

It should be noted that when the flash sale period expires, even if the goods have not been sold out, the goods must be removed from the shelves to highlight the popularity of the flash sale goods.

After the event is over, you will not be able to create another flash sale event for the product at that time for a period of time. The purpose is to let users know the scarcity of this product. If they don’t grab it this time, they will have to buy it at a higher price next time.

Because many users are in a wait-and-see state, they will see whether the product will be available again after the flash sale ends. This is the hesitation that arises in users' thinking, and they ultimately miss the opportunity to buy at a low price due to their hesitation.

What we want to tell users is that your decision is wrong, you cannot hesitate, and you must place an order decisively.

If a user sends you a private message, you must also adhere to the rules of the event at this time. Even if there is still stock of this product, you must firmly resist selling it again after the event. If you want to sell it, you must sell it at the original price to highlight the authenticity of the community flash sale.

By the time the next activity starts, users will have learned their lesson. Therefore, no matter what activity you do, you must not be blinded by the immediate benefits. You must have your own principles so that you can generate greater benefits for subsequent activities.

Therefore, the community flash sales we did at that time were able to achieve a transaction rate of between 60% and 75% almost every time. Finally, after each event, we would take the event data for a review, and make adjustments again based on the event values ​​and the transaction data generated by the selected products until the value of the event was maximized.

Author: ykun

Source: There is a product book (Chanpinzhuanlan)