One restock alert email is not enough.
Every time you run out of stock, you have to send an out of stock email that tells your customers that the product they wanted is not available anymore. You have to act as a bearer of bad news, and it sucks. We know.
But then there’s another email that can save the day: the back in stock email!
This type of email campaign has an open rate of over 65%, and it is truly the key to increasing brand loyalty and driving conversions when people come back to the site after a product has been restocked.
In this post, we will show you how to set up a restock email flow that will help you increase conversions and improve customer satisfaction.
Why are restock alert emails important?
When your customers are looking for a product, they probably check out multiple websites to see if it is available. If it is, they will buy it right away. If not, they will continue their search and may come back to you later.
To make sure you are always on the top of their mind, you need to set up an email flow that lets customers know when their desired products are back in stock.
Simply put, you do not want to leave it all to chance when it comes to restocking your products and hope for a conversion to happen. You need to set up an email flow which will automatically send out emails at specific times within 24 hours after you restock your products. This works because it positions you as a brand which cares about its customers and provides them with information before they even have time to think about looking for it themselves. It also helps improve customer satisfaction levels by ensuring that no one is left disappointed when they can’t find what they want on your site.
If these benefits are not convincing enough, here are a few more that will persuade you to up your back in stock email game:
- It helps you get back lost sales from earlier
- It acts as social proof that your products sell out
- It aids in developing a potential customer’s interest owing to the social proof factor
- Provides a simpler purchase experience for customers since you can provide direct links in the email campaign
- It also helps you in gauging demand for your products based on the engagement you get for the restock email flows
Now, if you want to forge a stronger connection, a one-time email just won’t cut it. By keeping these benefits in mind, marketers can increase their efforts of back in stock alert emails to retain their customers.
How to set up a back in stock email flow that attracts customers
When your ‘out of stock’ products are restocked, here is how to can win back lost customers through your restocking email campaigns:
1. Create an email list
Like any other e-commerce marketing campaign, creating segmented lists for your back in stock email flow is extremely important. You can do this by tracking analytics on your website for visitors who have interacted with your products that were out of stock. Additionally, you can also segment your audience based on the previously opened ‘out of stock’ email campaigns.
Once you sort through the list of people who have engaged with your brand’s product, you will then want to sort these contacts based on the items they have interacted with earlier. Then, you will also want to add people who have signed up to be on the waitlist for certain products so that you can add them to your email campaign too.
Based on which of your products are back in stock, you will want to proactively start sending out your restock email flows.
While this is a tried and tested strategy for regular products, what do you do when it comes to your popular products being back in stock? You send emails to your entire customer base!
By doing so, you increase the chance of a resale happening, in case your customers want to stock up on the product. Not only that, email subscribers who did not have a need for that product may be nudged towards a sale!
2. Write a punchy subject line
The first interaction any email subscriber will have with your email marketing campaign is your subject line. If you don’t use this effectively, you run the risk of them not opening the email at all.
By using a punchy yet clearly communicative subject line, you motivate the viewer to open and engage with your email Ultimately, this can trigger a purchase.
Of course, you want the subject line to be attention-grabbing but be sure to clearly mention phrases like “back in stock”, “restocked”, “now available (followed by product name)” or “stocked up”.
It may also help your case if you make use of emojis to catch the viewer’s attention. This works because inboxes are generally cluttered with drab and wordy subject lines that just don’t seem engaging.
Here are some ways by which you can up your subject line’s punchiness:
- Piquing your audience’s curiosity
- Adding shock value
- Asking them a question
- Showing them the benefit of using your product
- Incorporating the latest news or pop culture references
- Being humorous and witty
- Referencing an ongoing trend
Here is an example of a back in stock email subject line that works: “John, your favorite pants are back in stock ”
A customer who has been on your waitlist for a certain item can be targeted with this subject line: “We have restocked your go-to lipstick and you are the first to know! ”
Also read: 60+ back in stock email subject lines to bring back lost customers
3. Compose a compelling body of copy
The purpose of your email campaign is to remind your customers that are certain product or collection is back in stock. To effectively do this, you need to avoid cluttering your email body with unnecessary information.
Use the copy you write here to subtly remind them of their interest in the product by highlighting its benefits or features. To hit a home run, you can further provide an incentive like a coupon code or discount for their next purchase.
Additionally, you may want to add high-quality images of the products and them being used by people to further your cause. Not only do professionally done product shoots make your brand look premium but visual evidence of it being used acts as a psychological trigger that compels shoppers to purchase from you.
Here are a few important things to add to the copy of your body:
- Product highlights (for example, fast-selling, most popular, best quality, etc)
- What makes it a remarkable purchase
- Proof that it is selling out fast (to nudge the passive viewers towards a purchase)
- Use case or applications of the product
- If the item is a good gifting option
- The USP of the product
- A mention of the overall collection (as an opportunity to upsell and cross-sell)
Also read: Marketing psychology for back in stock emails: Hacks you should try!
4. Provide social proof
It is very easy to simply state that your product is exactly what a customer needs. However, backing this up with relevant information is something that most marketers miss out on including to drive a sale.
So, how do you do this? By incorporating social proof. While most brands add it to their landing pages on their websites, they often miss out on leveraging it over emails.
You can do this by including a good mix of eye-catching imagery along with user testimonials, the number of five stars or positive reviews, user-generated content (UGC) or even an influencer partner using your product.
Why does this work?
- Shows popularity
- Piques curiosity
- Adds an element of FOMO (fear of missing out)
- Creates an authority bias in viewers
By adding a gallery to your email campaign, you are demonstrating how the product can be used while increasing the aesthetic appeal and adding testimonials can prove to be the final element that drives the sale.
Since positive reviews influence a significant 40% of people’s purchase decisions, you might miss out on opportunities if you do not add them to your back in stock email alerts.
5. Formulate the perfect CTA
In each of your back in stock email flows, it is particularly important to guide them with the next steps. This can be done in the form of a call to action (or CTA). Provide easily visible, distinct buttons with a CTA that compels them to take action. It can be as simple as ‘add to cart’, ‘buy now’ or even something uncommon yet interesting like ‘treat yourself’.
You may even add two or more CTAs that are worded differently along the length of your email to remind the viewer to take action.
A way to increase your chances of getting conversions is to provide discount codes in the CTA. Additionally, to upsell your products, you may share product bundles with a CTA that says, ‘people also bought’.
The options are endless but all may not work for your brand. So, it is best to A/B test your CTAs and opt for the ones that prove to be the most impactful.
Increase your chances to boost restock email conversions
The 5 points we shared in the previous section act as a skeleton of your email marketing strategy. Now, to make your email flow even more irresistible to your audience, here are some elements to incorporate into your back in stock alerts:
- Emotion: Of course, you need images, a great email subject and copy for your campaign to be a subject but does it evoke any emotion in the reader? If your email fails to do this well, you’ve lost a sale. So, next time you draft your content, remember to make them feel good.
- Easy flow: Clearly segmented emails that communicate the message effectively without looking cluttered have a higher chance of converting customers. So, be sure to create an email design that the eye can follow easily.
- Aesthetics: A great email design that looks like a landing page by itself answers every customer query and highlights every benefit of the said product. So, remember to optimize your design and make use of interesting visual elements like gifs or mixed media images to hold your audience’s attention.
- Logical flow: Most people come across a lot of ads each day. From Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp to SMS and email promotions, the buyer is drowning in promotional emails. This means they are likely to forget what you send if you don’t continually remind them of it. So, be sure to set up a sequence of emails that follows a logical flow to turn potential customers into paying customers.
Set your brand up for success with back in stock email flows
When you are running an online store, it can be tempting to believe that one restock email is enough. After all, this is a one-time sale; you’re not going to need to pitch your potential customers again, right? The answer is no. One restock email doesn’t give you the chance to really trigger a response from your customers or provide value to them.
The fact of the matter is shoppers are not always sure about what they want to buy. They look for inspiration, but can often leave your website without purchasing. If you want to increase your conversion rate and drive more traffic to your website, you need to constantly remind your customers about your products. What is the best way to do that? By sending restock emails to your customers!
Throughout this blog, you can see how powerful restocking emails really are when a proper flow is maintained.
They are not just good at driving sales but they also help build brand loyalty by showing your customers that you care about their experience and want them to have access to products they love. This can create long-term relationships between customers and brands which result in repeat purchases and positive reviews.
To set up your restock email alerts, book a demo!