Price drop flash sale email by Hive Backstage

---
name: price-drop-flash-sale-email
description: Draft a tightly scoped flash sale comms set (SMS-first, email follow-up) tied to a single show with a real time-boxed price drop. Short window, real deadline, no manufactured urgency. Trigger whenever an operator says "draft the flash sale email", "write the SMS flash", "we are dropping the [artist] ticket price for 24 hours", "build the SMS-first flash", "promo code is live until tonight, write the comms", or asks for the email and SMS that ship a real time-boxed discount on a specific show. Also trigger when the operator describes a deliberate price drop with a specific deadline. This is the discount skill in the Backstage library. Distinct from the announce cycle (use `pre-show-announcement-email`, `pre-sale-reminder-email`, `on-sale-day-email`, `last-call-email`), recognition campaigns (use `loyalty-tier-email`), and reactivation (use `fan-reactivation-tactics`). Do not use this skill to write fake urgency on a show with no real price drop.
---
# Price drop flash sale email

## What this skill does

This skill drafts the SMS-first, email-follow-up comms set for a real, time-boxed price drop on a single show. The shape follows the recurring flash sale playbook: the audience is trained to expect periodic flash drops, the window is short (12 to 48 hours), the offer is real (the discount applies at checkout with a code or through a special link), and the comms are short.

The discount has to be real. The deadline has to be real. The skill is built specifically to not write fake urgency around a non-existent offer. If the operator's inputs reveal that the "flash sale" is just a re-announce dressed up in a deadline, the skill flags that before drafting.

## When to trigger

Trigger when an operator has a real price drop on a real show with a real deadline. Trigger on "flash sale", "price drop", "ticket discount", "promo code", "SMS flash", "24-hour discount", or any phrasing where the operator has set up a time-boxed offer they want to promote.

Do not trigger for announce-cycle emails on shows at full price (use pre-show-announcement-email or last-call-email), for loyalty recognition (use loyalty-tier-email), or for general reactivation of lapsed fans (use fan-reactivation-tactics).

If the operator describes a "flash sale" without a real discount, ask once whether the discount is real. The skill cannot draft fictional offers.

## Required inputs

Ask for these in one message before drafting.

Artist name and show details: date, day of week, venue, room, city.

The discount itself. The exact price drop. Examples: "$25 down to $15 for 24 hours", "30% off all GA tickets through Sunday at midnight", "$10 off with code SUNSET". The skill writes around the exact number, not a vague "discounted".

The mechanism. Promo code, direct link to a special page, automatic discount at checkout. The mechanism appears in the comms so the reader knows what to do.

The window. Start time and end time, with the time zone. The deadline is the urgency anchor.

The segment receiving the flash. SMS subscribers only. Full email list. Past attendees of a similar artist. Loyalty tier. The segment affects voice and length.

The reason for the price drop, if the operator wants it communicated. Examples: midweek show, weather concern lowering walk-up, a slow-selling night that the operator wants to fill, a deliberate playbook moment. The reason is optional and the operator can choose to leave it unsaid. The skill does not invent a reason.

Whether the operator wants both SMS and email comms or just one. SMS-first is the default, with the email going out a few hours into the window as a second touch.

## Voice

Read the venue voice profile if one exists. Flash sales are voice-sensitive because the audience needs to trust that the deal is real. The voice carries that trust.

Default Backstage operator voice if no profile exists: direct, transactional in the best sense, fast. The voice does not apologize for the price drop and does not over-explain it.

Hard voice rules:

No em-dashes. Use commas, semicolons, or periods.

No fragment chains.

No fabricated specifics. The price, the code, the window, the mechanism. All real, all from the operator.

No padding. Flash sale comms compete with every other transactional message in the reader's inbox. Every word earns its place.

No hype framing for the discount. The number is the message. "$15 tickets through tonight" is the line. "Don't miss this incredible deal" is not.

No "limited time" without naming the time. "Limited time" is a phrase. "Until 11:59pm Sunday" is information.

No discount-laden subject lines that look like spam. "$$$ FLASH SALE $$$" gets the email filtered. "$15 tonight only: [Artist]" does not.

## Structure

### SMS

The SMS is the lead. SMS subscribers are trained to read it first.

Format:

```
[Sender or venue name]: [The show] [is/will be] [discount] [until deadline]. [Mechanism]: [link or code]. [Optional one-line context.] Reply STOP to unsubscribe.
```

Length: 240 to 320 characters. Long for SMS, short for an email. The deadline is in the SMS.

Example shape:

"[Venue]: [Artist] at [Venue] tonight, $25 down to $15 through 6pm. Code SUNSET at checkout: [link]. Doors at 7. Reply STOP to unsubscribe."

The SMS leads with the venue name, the show, the discount, the deadline, and the mechanism. The link goes at the end where the thumb taps it. The compliance line closes.

### Email follow-up

The email goes out a few hours into the SMS window as the second touch, scoped to email-only subscribers (those who do not have SMS on file) and to SMS subscribers who have not clicked. The email is short because the offer is the message.

Subject line. One option. The pattern is the number plus the deadline. Examples: "$15 tickets through tonight: [Artist]", "30% off [Artist] until Sunday". Under 55 characters. No spam-trigger language.

Preheader. One sentence. Names the mechanism: the code, the link, the price after the discount.

Opener. One to two sentences. State the discount and the deadline. The opener should not need a second paragraph to land the offer.

The mechanism. One short paragraph. Two sentences max. Names the code or the link. If there is a reason the operator wants surfaced, this is where it goes (one line).

Key details block. Three or four labeled lines: discount, code or link, deadline, doors and show date.

CTA. One primary link to the discounted ticket page. CTA copy short. Default fallback: "Grab tickets" or "Buy at the flash price". One CTA.

Close. One line. Optional sign-off.

## Length cap

SMS: 240 to 320 characters.

Email body prose: 70 to 90 words. The shortest email in the library after the last-call SMS variant. The key details block does not count.

Total email length should not exceed 130 words. Past that, the email is hedging or rerunning the announce.

## Hard rules

The discount is real. The skill does not draft fictional flash sales. If the operator's inputs do not include a specific price drop, the skill asks before drafting.

The deadline is in every surface. SMS, email subject, email body, email CTA all carry the deadline. The reader should not have to hunt for when the offer ends.

The code or link is in plain text. If the discount applies through a code, the code goes in plain text in both the SMS and the email body. If the discount applies through a special link, the link is the CTA.

The price is the message. The discount number leads. The skill does not bury the number behind editorial setup.

No "we never do this" framing unless the venue truly never does this. If the venue runs a recurring flash sale playbook, the comms can acknowledge that the audience knows the cadence. A venue running its first flash sale should not lean on cadence framing.

If the operator did not give you the reason for the drop, the comms do not explain it. The reader does not need an explanation. The deal is enough.

Compliance line on every SMS. "Reply STOP to unsubscribe" or the venue's equivalent. Without it the venue is in regulatory risk.

## Common failure modes to avoid

Burying the price. The price is the lede. If the SMS leads with "Tonight only" before the number, the SMS is hedging.

Fake urgency. The skill does not write urgency on a non-existent offer. If the discount is "10% off" lasting two weeks, the skill says so without dressing it up as a flash sale.

Spam-trigger subject lines. All-caps, multiple dollar signs, multiple exclamation points. Filters catch these. Adjust before drafting.

Long body copy. The flash sale email is one of the shortest in the library. If the body is two paragraphs, the email is overselling.

Treating the email as the lead. The SMS is the lead. The email is the follow-up. Operators sometimes invert this and lose conversion.

Missing the compliance line on SMS. Mandatory.

Promoting the discount on socials. The flash sale lives on owned channels (SMS, email) where the venue has trained the audience to expect it. Posting the discount publicly trains future buyers to wait for the next flash. The skill flags this for the operator if asked about social.

## What to deliver

Return:

The SMS, ready to send.

The email follow-up, with subject line, preheader, body, key details block, CTA copy, and destination URL.

If the operator asked for only one of the two, return just that.

End with two or three sentences naming any compliance line the operator should confirm and the single piece of operational confirmation needed before sending (typically the exact deadline time and time zone, or whether the code is case-sensitive). Do not walk through every word choice.