7 Flash Sale Email Examples for Your Next Promo

Flash sale email subject lines

Flash sale emails are among the shortest emails you’ll ever write. However, your customers need to want to open it first.

Here is how other brands achieve it with irresistible subject lines:

You can start crafting yours by using one of these ideas:

• ⏰ Hurry! 50% off ALL items – Today Only
• Flash sale! Save 20% on winter collection
• ⚡ Surprise! It’s a Flash Sale – Get 40% Off
• Tonight Only: Exclusive 40% OFF for Email Subscribers!
• Flash Sale Alert: Save 30% Until Midnight! ⌛

Examples of flash sale emails we love

Flash sale emails are usually about a specific item or a collection being on sale.

Let’s dive right into examples.

Category flash sale

If your brand has several distinct product categories, you can run category promos. For instance, Maya Brenner, a jewelry designer, ran a flash sale on hoops – one of the brand’s earring categories.

To promote the products on sale, Maya showed how every day is an occasion to wear them.

What else is great about this email:

• There’s minimum text because a GIF is worth a thousand words
• Instead of an image of other hoops, Maya used clickable product cards
• CTA buttons leading both to the category and to each product on sale

BOGO flash sale

Who said that a flash sale has to be just a discount? If you’re also trying to create some traction for slowly moving stock, a BOGO promo can be the highlight of your sale.

Girlfriend Collective, an apparel brand, uses this tactic to offer a free bra with any pair of leggings during a 2-day flash sale.

This email is an excellent example to learn from. It uses the most efficient attention-gabbing technique: featuring a person at the beginning of the email and using strong color contrast while being concise with text.

Here is what else Girlfriend Collective does right in this email:

• Photo of a person wearing the products participating in the offer
• Clear guidelines to participate: the details and the code included
• The second image shows the variety of products on sale

Another flash sale email using a similar concept – Buy X and get Y – is brought to you by Buoy, a wellness brand:

What makes this email example stand out is the countdown timer at the top. Flash sales instill a sense of urgency by design, and a countdown can help you reinforce that and encourage customers to act faster.

Holiday celebration flash sale

Most flash sales happen unexpectedly, as a surprise. However, some brands prefer launching their sales on national holidays, such as Labor Day, Boxing Day, or even President’s Day, knowing that people might be off work and in the mood for online shopping.

You can pick lesser-known holidays that are more relevant to your products, such as a national fitness day, or an international coffee day.

This is exactly what the jewelry brand Oradina does in the example below:

Here is what you can learn from this flash sale email example:

• Although the sale is sitewide, the email features select pieces
• Product cards next to photos of the jewelry pieces being worn

Everything is on sale

The words your customers want to hear the most? “Everything is on sale”. Brands take advantage of flash sales to generate revenue fast and re-engage their audience – often prior to the launch of a new product.

That said, even for such a generous offer it’s not enough to just mention the sale. You want to remind people what your most popular products are, to ignite excitement. That’s exactly what an underwear brand, MeUndies, did in its email:

What else this email does well:

• It’s the shortest email with the CTA button visible on the first screen without scrolling
• The word choice in the headline instills additional excitement
• Promo details a clear and leave no questions

Single item flash sale

If you’re running a sale for a single item in your store, you email will look a lot like a product page. You’ll want to focus on the appearance of the item and its key features. Below is how Pond Los Angeles, a minimalist apparel brand, did it.

What we like about this email:

• Detail-oriented product visuals with comments and captions
• The copy shows how well Pond LA knows what customers care about

Sale on remaining stock

Apparel brands often utilize last-chance tactics to clear seasonal stock. The same approach works well for remaining stock from any collection. For example, Honest Basics launched a sale to celebrate the end of winter and give customers a chance to get the items that wouldn’t be repeated in the following year’s collections.

This email might be a bit overloaded with emojis, but there are several things it does very well:

• A GIF showing exactly what colors and items are on sale
• The humorous, humane text and the CTAs make the email resonate
• The last paragraphs draw the behind-the-scene picture and tease the new collection

Flash sale for VIP customers

Brands who are actively growing their email lists, often use VIP perks as an incentive to gain subscribers. This means your audience will expect benefits, such as deeper discounts and exclusive sales.

There’s no one way to design a VIP sale email, but if you’re looking for additional ideas, here is one: add customer reviews of the products on sale, like Ana Luisa did.

If you want to go the extra mile, you can personalize this email and feature the products that are likely to interest the recipient, based on their previous email clicks.

Here is what’s great about this email:

• This flash sale is a part of the Mother’s Day promo campaign
• Social proof sparks curiosity and makes the offer stronger
• The emphasis on easy returns and fast shipping alleviates concerns

Make use of pre-designed email templates

At Getsitecontrol, we understand that crafting a promo email from scratch – even a short one – can be challenging. That’s why we’ve designed over a dozen email templates you can use for your flash sale.

Once you register an account, you can access the gallery and customize any email to your needs. Just replace the images with your own, type your offer, adjust the rest of the details, and test the email by sending it to yourself or your colleagues. It’s that simple.

Flash sale email templates – copy you can use

Ready to launch your own flash sale? Here are two templates you can adapt.

Template 2 — End-of-season flash sale

Summer collection at half price

[Name], it’s your last chance to grab our summer essentials at 50% off. Fill your wardrobe with our top-selling items now.

[Browse Collection Button]

Free shipping on orders over $50. The sale ends tonight!

You’ve received this email because you’ve subscribed for a {{Brand name}} newsletter.

You can use this template for seasonal sales, remaining stock sales, or holiday sales. Meanwhile, the template below will work better for a category sale or a sitewide sale.

Template 1 — Category flash sale

[Name], it’s a surprise sale!

Save 50% on all accessories

All our accessories are half-priced. Don’t miss our exciting one-day flash sale and upgrade your gear at unbeatable prices. Hurry, this offer vanishes at midnight!

[Shop Now]

You’ve received this email because you’ve subscribed for a {{Brand name}} newsletter.

Start planning your next flash sale today

Flash sales are an excellent strategy for quick revenue boosts and stock clearance. Using the right techniques in your emails, you can warm up and re-engage your audience before launching a new product or marketing campaign.

One of the best things about flash sale emails? They don’t require lots of text or creativity. Here are three rules of thumb 👇

1. If you’re running a sale for a single product, use visuals to emphasize its features.
2. If you’re putting an entire category on sale, use GIFs and product cards to show the products of that category and increase your email click-through rate.
3. If everything is on sale, shift the focus of your visuals to the bestsellers.

Finally, utilize tools like countdown timers and scrolling text in your emails to instill a sense of urgency and emphasize the offer.

Have any questions or need more templates? Reach out to our team, and we’ll be happy to help you!