The Company Store's Perfect Execution of the ‘Flash Sale’

The "flash sale." Frankly, I've always wondered what those words really mean. This Wikipedia entry kind of cleared things up, while also cracking me up: "Deal-of-the-day (also called flash sales or one deal a day) is an e-commerce business model in which a website offers a single product for sale for a period of 24 hours to 36 hours. Potential customers register as members of the deal-a-day websites and receive online offers and invitations by email or social networks.

"As of 2011, deal-of-the-day sites have continued to grow in popularity, although new concerns have arisen over the longevity of the concept and the financial viability of one-day deals for small businesses." Well, now it's late in 2013, and the concept clearly is still clicking with consumers.

One peek into Who's Mailing What! — the most complete library of email and direct mail in the world, in which you can track companies and all their campaigns — reveals that among retail traffic builders, the use of "flash sale" in the subject line remains very popular.

For example, look at some subject lines from Ann Taylor in 2013: "MYSTERY flash sale! What will you SAVE?"; "Fashion Flash Sale! 50% Off SALE (In-Store & Online)"; "FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!"; and "In the mood for a FLASH SALE tonight?" Clearly, Ann Taylor is in the mood, for it's used "flash sale" in at least 14 emails this year alone.

In contrast, The Company Store hasn't sent many flash sale emails. In fact, among the 133 emails captured by Who's Mailing What! this year, only one recent email used the flash-sale strategy. However, The Company Store clearly did its homework.

The subject line grabs attention with orange type and the first words in all caps, "FLASH SALE," and then the precise offer, "Buy ANY Towel, Get One 50% OFF!"

The HTML itself is very simple, clean and focused. White type against an all-blue background reveals the deal in classy typeface, along with the promo code and the hot spot "SHOP NOW" button in red. Also, upon opening, the email quickly flashes white and then reverts to the blue background — a clever tactic.

Below the main offer is a separate block advertising The Company Store's "NATIONAL FAMILY PAJAMA NIGHT," with the date and another red button (which here says "LEARN MORE"). The date "11.02.2013" is a great deadline device to prompt action for this email, which was sent on Oct. 23. The date is flanked by four stars on both sides in order to attract attention.

The landing page for this National Family Pajama Night shows an image of nice, new pajamas with the logos for The Company Store and Ronald McDonald House Charities underneath. The event is then quickly spelled out: "From October 2nd to December 2nd, for every pair of pajamas purchased through TheCompanyStore.com, $1.00 will be donated to The Ronald McDonald House by The Company Store." The ability to shop below is immediately given.

Overall, The Company Store shows how to execute a flash sale from top to bottom.

Ethan Boldt is the chief content officer of Direct Marketing IQ, which operates the most complete and fully searchable database of email and direct mail in the world. Ethan can be contacted at eboldt@napco.com.