You’ve planned a stock availability email campaign for your Shopify store. That’s great! However, any amount of planning, effort, and investment in your campaign is pointless if it doesn’t bring results. Here’s the thing – just because you’ve set up a ‘notify me’ button, built an email list, and sent out restock email notifications, it doesn’t mean shoppers are going to come back flocking to your site. You’ll need to use many more strategies, to not only bring them back to your site, but also to make them buy that product.We’ll tell you how you can boost conversions through your restock alert emails.
Stock availability email hacks to boost your Shopify store conversions
1. Send restock emails that make customers feel good
When customers see a product as unavailable, it’s a bit inconvenient and disappointing for them. And so, when you send a stock availability email, apologize to the subscribers for making them wait; as well as thank them for being patient. You can create a feel-good factor by writing the right kind of copy for your restock notification emails. That’s extremely important, because 74% of customers are likely to buy products based on experience alone. And so, the way your email makes your subscribers feel, plays a huge role in their purchase decision.
2. Offer discounts in back in stock emails
Price is one of the most influential factors in making purchase decisions. When we see a price decrease or discounts on products, we tend to easily make purchases. To motivate your subscribers to buy the restocked item, leverage the psychology of discounts. Let’s refer to a study by Dr. Paul J Zak, professor of Neuroeconomics at Claremont Graduate University. His study found that people who received a $10 coupon while shopping online were 11% happier than those who didn’t. The research also found that shoppers who received coupons were less stressed. Clearly, by offering discounts, you can make your subscribers feel more relaxed and inclined towards making a purchase.
3. Offer more incentives in back in stock emails
Discounts aren’t the only type of incentives that drive restock email subscribers to make purchases. You can offer other incentives such as reward points, free shipping, same-day shipping, a free gift, or a discount on their next purchase. You could even personalize the incentives to improve the probability of subscribers making purchases.
4. Stock availability emails that create urgency/FOMO
Researchers Worchel, Lee and Adewole conducted a study to understand how scarcity affects consumers’ perception. They took two jars; put 10 cookies in one and just two in the other. Even though identical, they found that the cookies in the near empty jar valued higher in peoples’ perception than the jar that had more cookies. Similarly, when you create FOMO (fear of missing out) and urgency through your back in stock emails, it can lead to more conversions. Let subscribers know that the restocked item is selling out fast, or there’s limited stock available. Or, if you’re offering a discount, make the offer valid for a short period. These tactics can help you boost opt-ins.
5. Present the products in a desirable manner
You have two options: either make your back in stock emails look and read like a robot created them - dull, unattractive, and uninspiring; or make them alive with images, write a snappy, memorable copy, and other include other attractive elements. There’s a reason why you need to present your email well. The interest that a shopper first had when they wanted the product can cool off. You have to re-ignite that interest with your back in stock email. Here are some best practices to follow in your restock email templates:
- Add an image of the product
- Write a description with key features and highlights
- Let subscribers know how the product will change their life
- Make subscribers want the product
6. Add social proof in your back in stock emails
When we look at others doing something, we tend to follow. When we want to buy something, we trust recommendations by friends and family. We look for reviews and ratings before we buy anything online, especially high-value items. That’s where social proof comes into the picture. It can be a highly influential factor in driving your back in stock subscribers to convert.Here’s a graph that shows social proof usage by customers.
SourceYou can add social proof in your emails in the form of customer reviews, ratings, videos, testimonials, user generated content such as images of customers using your product, among others.
7. Create a back in stock email follow up sequence
Today's consumers are loaded with choices. Every brand is trying to reach them via marketing and promotional messages. An average person encounters 10000 ads in a day. In such a scenario, if you stop connecting with your potential customers, they might soon forget about you. And that is why you need a follow up sequence to your stock availability email. Here’s what your back in stock email sequence should look like.
- Visitor sees out of stock product
- Sees ‘Notify Me’ button
- Clicks button and fills in email address
- You send first back in stock email notification
- Subscriber receives email notification
- Misses it - doesn’t open
- You send second restock alert email
- Subscriber receives the second restock alert email
- Opens it - does not click CTA
- You send a third restock alert email with a new subject line
- Subscriber receives it, opens it, clicks on new CTA
- Lands on product page
- Clicks ‘Add to cart’ button
- Avails 10% discount at checkout
- You deliver the product
- You send follow up email to ask for feedback
8. Offer alternative or similar products
If your product is going to take some time to get restocked, let the subscriber know about it. It is better to keep them informed. And in the same email, tell them about alternative or similar products that are available in your store. Some shoppers might be open to buying alternatives or exploring similar products. This will give you a chance to avoid loss of sales and cross-sell or even upsell products. When you send such an email to your subscribers, make sure you apologize for the inconvenience. Moreover, if you are going to restock the product in future, let them know the tentative date so that if they want to wait it out, they can decide to do so.
9. Send restock emails that cross-sell
Cross-selling is a technique to sell more products to a customer along with other item/s they are buying. You can cross-sell both before and after you sell a product. When you’re trying to cross-sell along with your restocked product, it would mostly be before sales. When you send your stock availability email to subscribers, you can recommend related products in the same email. This will help you increase your AOV (average order value) and increase your sales. Cross-selling gives your customers an opportunity to explore more of your products that they might not be aware of. Some cross-selling tips:
- Offer products that complement products your customers are about to purchase
- Offer discounts on the product you’re trying to cross-sell
- If the product is such that you can offer a free trial period, offer it to increase conversions
Let’s look at a back in stock email that also includes product recommendations:
10. Allow subscribers to hold or reserve the restocked items
Another way to boost conversions is to let your back in stock email subscribers hold or reserve the item. Now, it’s possible that all subscribers aren’t able to make the purchase right there and then when you send them an email notification. Some might be traveling, others might be too busy to shop. In such cases, they can simply request you to reserve the item for them. You can do this tactfully by enabling them to reserve the item for a specific period of time – say for the next two days. This way, you can gauge subscribers’ purchase intent and further nudge them to make the purchase. As for your subscribers, they get a feeling that you really want them to have the item and that you’re going that extra mile to make it easier for you to have the product.
11. Segment your subscribers
To improve your back-in-stock email campaign results, go for segmentation. Here’s the thing - when you send out mass, vague, targetless emails to your entire subscriber list, the results will obviously be poor.Hence, while you are waiting to restock the product, segment your list based on the below parameters:
- Geolocation
- Subscribers’ level of purchase intent
- Subscriber value (present and/or future)
- Age, interests, shopper behavior
- Past purchases behavior
- Subscription date (oldest to newest - oldest should get first preference)
12. Use A/B testing for your restock emails
Here’s the truth about email marketing - a high open rate is pointless if there are no conversions. So, if the back in stock emails you sent out are being opened by subscribers, good job! But if those emails are not converting, or not taking any traffic to your website, that’s not a good thing for your business.One thing you can do to improve conversions is A/B testing. Within your restock alert emails, you can try out different copies, images, CTA buttons, and even different offers and deals. Send out these different emails and see what works and what doesn’t work. Accordingly, make the necessary changes and move forward with your campaign.
13. Back in stock emails with product recommendations
Stock availability emails might be a waste if the subscriber has already purchased the particular item or isn’t interested in buying it anymore. But you can make these emails work by squeezing in other product recommendations in it. In this way, you can draw customers’ attention to your other products and cross-sell. For you, it’s an opportunity to avoid loss of sales. A study has shown that product recommendations account for 31% of eCommerce site revenue. Here’s an example of how you can add product recommendations in your restock alert emails.
14. Automate your stock availability emails
If you’re a small Shopify store with just a couple of products and a few customers, it might be easy for you to manually manage your inventory and back in stock strategy. But as your business grows, your workflow will increase and get complicated. That’s where automation helps.Automation through a back in stock app will help you automate the ‘notify me’ button when a product is stocked out, auto collect email addresses, auto build and segment your email list, auto send emails as soon as the product gets restocked, and do much more.And there’s an app that stands out - Appikon Back in Stock. It is one of the most preferred app by Shopify stores.
Final words
Customers have multiple options of online sites to buy one product. Every online store is trying to attract customers. Your customers are also their customers. And so, you have to put in all the efforts to bring new customers as well as retain them. A stock availability email strategy can help you do that. One of the most efficient tools to carry out your restock strategy tasks is Appikon Back in Stock App.Install Back in Stock today to bring more traffic and boost conversions on your site.
