With the coronavirus pandemic, shoppers are panic buying and many stores are seeing stockouts. But, stores can’t afford to lose interested shoppers due to this issue. In this blog, we will help you understand how you can set up and customize your back in stock messages. With these alerts, you can avoid losing customers during stockouts.
Why Should You Set Up Back in Stock Alerts During This Time?
When products are out of stock, shoppers who are interested in the product will bounce off your Shopify store. They will visit your competitors and shop for a similar item from them. You end up losing out on potential sales. With an option to subscribe to back in stock messages, your store visitors will be able to subscribe. When the product is back in stock, they will receive an alert through their preferred mode of communication. They will then come back to your store to buy the item. If you haven’t already, set up the Back in Stock - Restock Alerts App and get started with back-in-stock alerts, sending alerts using 4 different communication channels.You can read about the different channels you can enable for in-stock alerts:
- How to Set Up Back In Stock Alerts Using Email to Bring Back Shoppers
- How to Set Up Back In Stock Alerts Using SMS to Bring Back Shoppers
- How to Set Up Back In Stock Alerts Using Facebook Messenger to Bring Back Shoppers
- How to Set Up Back In Stock Alerts Using Web Push Notifications
Best Practices for Back in Stock Alerts During Coronavirus
Now that you’ve set up in-stock alerts on your Shopify store, you need to adapt your messaging to fit the circumstances. Since your delivery process, shipping time, etc would be drastically different than usual, you need to make such details clear to your shopper. Here are 4 best practices we recommend when setting up back in stock alerts during this time:
1. Customize your subscription widget
When shopping during this time, consumers are worried and panicked. When they see a product out of stock, especially an essential item, they will launch into worry. With the subscription widget, you can communicate and reach out to them in an empathetic manner to reassure them that the product will be back in stock very soon. Here’s an example:
Another way to write the copy within the subscription widget is by adding a specific timeline for restock. Such a timeline can provide shoppers with an estimated date. Having a concrete date will make your shopper feel more at ease.
You can also edit the confirmation message that shows after shoppers subscribe to reflect this warm tone:
2. Customize your back in stock message to fit this time
Ensure that your back in stock messages (across all channels) specify that stocks may not last for longer. With such a disclaimer, shoppers will be aware that when they do click through to your store, they may see the product out of stock again, depending on its popularity. It will also make shoppers rush back to your Shopify store to get the item.This short message is crucial and must be added to all channels— email, SMS, web push, and Facebook Messenger. Something as short and descriptive as “Stock availability is subject to demand” will be effective.
3. For emails, add personalized recommendations
You can include personalized recommendations within your back in stock email. This can ensure that you are maximizing your efforts to re-engage interested shoppers. If shoppers are buying essential products, they may have already bought the product from another store. With a product recommendation widget, you can show your shoppers other products that are related to the one they were interested in. With this, they will be more likely to come back to your Shopify store and purchase. Shoppers may have already bought the product and this widget can help bring them back despite this.Back in Stock and WISER have integrated to provide you with this powerful feature. You can read about adding product recommendations on your back in stock email here.
4. Add information explaining delivery and shipping procedures
Keeping your shoppers updated with your procedures is crucial to ensure that they trust your store and would want to shop from you. Within your back in stock messages, you can outline the safety measures you are taking, how you’re ensuring delivery safety, and any shipping delays that shoppers would face. In the back in stock email, you can add all these details in bullet points or even link to a page that contains this information.Due to character length restrictions, you won’t be able to go into such details for the other 3 channels. For SMS, Facebook Messenger, and web push notifications, you can instead add a small note under the copy about the product restock like this:“Note: Products are manufactured, packed, and delivered in a hygienic manner. Shipping is delayed by 3 days longer than usual.”
Keep customers engaged with back-in-stock alerts
Shoppers who are interested in your products have a high intent to buy. With back in stock alerts set up, you can effectively engage shoppers and bring them back to your Shopify store to shop from you.If you’re looking for other engagement tactics, you can read our guide on strategies you can set up to keep your store running during this time.We hope this helps you customize your back in stock alerts and nudge your shoppers to make quick purchasing decisions.
