How to Set Up a Shopify Waitlist for Out-of-Stock Products

When a product goes out-of-stock on your Shopify store, you can not sell that item anymore. It is a disappointing moment for customers to find a product they wanted to purchase is out of stock. And if you hide the product, an unavailable page would be even more disappointing.

However, If you are planning on restocking the sold-out item, then you can avoid disappointing your customers. The solution is to create a waiting list by adding a "notify me" button to your out-of-stock product pages.

In This Article, we will convince you (with reason) to create a Shopify waitlist for your out-of-stock item. And if you need help creating one, we will provide you with help.

Why do you need to create a Shopify waitlist?

As a result of the waitlist functionality, users will be able to add themselves to a waiting list for products that are currently out of stock. There will be a notification sent to the user when the product becomes available again within a given period of time.

It's nice to know that you'll never miss a sale due to a lack of inventory. If your store doesn't have some products in stock, and customers are forced to leave without purchasing the item they want, perhaps it's time for you to add a waitlist feature.

Businesses that run out of inventory often, don't want to miss a sale because of it. That's why they create waitlists. So that the customers who face the "this product is not available right now" message can choose to click on the "Notify me when available" button and be added to a waitlist. When the product is in stock again, customers will be notified automatically and they can place an order if they still want the product.

How a Shopify waitlist can benefit your business?

Boost sales

Your customers are not yours! In today's infinite world of eCommerce, you need to gain your Share of customers from the market. And since there are many like you out there, online customers have a wide table of options. So it's not only about selling products but giving the shoppers what they want.

It means that for Shopify merchants like you, the competition has never been more intense. Now imagine you have done everything to bring a shopper to your Shopify store, however, the product they want is out of stock. Oops! You lost a sale to your competitors.

How can you prevent this from happening? By creating a Shopify waitlist you will gain the power of never disappointing your customers. If the customer is there to buy, you are there to sell. Even if the item is not available at the moment.

Meet demand by forecasting it

Instead of putting trust in guesswork, work safely with insight and data from your business.

When you sell physical objects, you must be ready to take risks. However, the risk of overstocking your inventory doesn't have to be one of them. Once you create a waitlist for your out-of-stock products you can predict how many people would like to purchase that item and what they prefer. Let's say the item is a T-shirt and 20 people are on your waiting list. Not only do you know the demand for that particular item, but you also know the sizes and colors that are more in demand.

Some business geniuses may thrive on gut instincts, but for the rest of us, Shopify waitlists provide an excellent way to determine what you should restock to meet existing customer demand.

Increase growth and excitement

A retailer has a tough task breaking through the noise and grabbing the attention of customers when they see dozens of screens Showing targeted ads each day. Consequently, it can be difficult to generate excitement and awareness about the return of a favorite product.

But as with a long line of people standing outside of a physical store, creating a Shopify waitlist can lead to FOMO (fear of missing out).

As a result, customers get excited and find your product worth waiting for. And more excited customers bring more growth.

Setup waitlists with Notify Me

To have a Shopify waitlist there are plenty of ways in front of you. Our recommendation for you is Notify Me. With Notify Me' simple setup you can create waitlists for out-of-stock products and recover lost sales. Here is how the setup goes:

After you install the app from the Shopify app store you want to test and try how it works. To do that, you need to follow these steps:

Go to an out-of-stock product page or add a product with 0 inventory. If you already have an out-of-stock product, uncheck the continue selling box so Notify Me can identify the product as out-of-stock.

Look for the "Notify me" button. This is often located under the "sold-out" button.

Click on the button and you'll see the subscription form.

Enter your email address, Phone number, or both and subscribe for email, SMS, push notifications, or all of them.

You can see your request on your panel> Reports> Requests.

Now, select Products on the Shopify admin dashboard and Set the inventory of the requested product to 1 or a higher number. By doing this you'll get an email, SMS, or push notification. Then, if you recheck the Reports, you'll see a sent notification under the Sent notifications tab.

You can also customize the widgets (Button, Subscription form, or Notifications) in the Customization section.

Besides all that, if there is something you can't figure out by yourself the app's customer support is always ready to help.

What do merchants love about Notify Me?

Well, we think that Notify Me would do more than enough for your store. But let's see what real Shopify merchants think about the app:

"I have a large selection of items in my store and this app has helped me decide which items to restock first. It is very helpful for my customers to get an instant notification when something is in stock. It is easy to use and a nice little app. Highly recommended."

-Engineerio

"Pretty easy to set up, and when I ran into a snag customer support was able to help me almost immediately. Very friendly and quick to respond. Thank you so much! Looking forward to exploring the more advanced features."

-Chris' Coffee

"Great app! highly recommended! Does exactly what it's supposed to! Even the free plan is great but I would recommend upgrading for customization."

-Truffle Guys UK

"The best app to manage your restocks!!!!! the most intuitive and easy to use. customer service is amazing!!!!!"

-FURLOU

"FINALLY an easy-to-use "back in stock" app! I tried so many and THIS ONE is the ONE! The team is also quick to respond and super helpful with any requests! Highly recommend! :)"

-Allie Glines

"I actually downloaded 2 restock alert apps. Notify Me! And a competitor. The competitors were 3x more expensive per month. Both have the same interface. I was having trouble with my button showing up on the product pages. I messaged both apps, but Notify Me! got back to me within a few hours and not only fixed the issue but provided me with extra help and other resources/information that I needed. This is the kind of service that all Shopify apps would benefit from having. I will definitely be recommending Notify Me! to my friends and colleagues."

-Ka Ohana Jewelry