How to Improve Customer Experience with Back-in-Stock Alerts in Magento 2?

Most merchants believe that providing high-quality products is the only way to ensure a great customer experience. While that may very well be the case, there are numerous other ways to attract and retain customers. For instance, there’s a likelihood that the desired product may be out of stock.

Therefore, it is important to inform the users when a product will be back in stock. This ensures that instead of going to a competitor, the user will return to your store to complete the purchase. This not only ensures greater customer retention, but also improves engagement.

In this article, we will discuss how back in stock alerts can improve the customer experience in Magento 2.

Enabling Back in Stock Alerts

Before we move towards the how-to part, merchants need to understand how to enable back in stock alerts. It is pertinent to mention that Magento provides in-built functionality for adding this feature. To do so, login to the Magento 2 admin panel. Go to Stores -> Configuration -> Catalog -> Product Alerts.

Set Allow Alert When Product Comes Back in Stock to ‘Yes’. There are also limited options to customise the email templates. You can use this feature to customise the back in stock notification email according to your branding and user requirements. However, the features are quite limited.

This is why most users opt for a third-party extension such as Magento 2 Back in Stock Notification by FME. This extension offers advanced functionality, including automatically sending low stock notifications to the admin, manage alerts using a single grid, and replacing ‘add to cart’ button with ‘subscribe’ button.

Enhancing Customer Experience with Back to Stock Alerts Magento 2

Your work does not after enabling the ‘Magento 2 notify me when in stock’ alert. Instead, further work needs to be done to get the maximum out of this feature.

1. Simplify the Subscription Process

   After enabling the alert feature, you need to simplify the subscription process. This is where extensions come on most handy. They allow you to customise the button in every manner whatsoever. For example, you can display a ‘Notify Me When in Stock’, ‘Notify When Available’, or any other button in place of ‘Add to Cart’. Make sure that the button is prominent. There’s no point in adding this feature if customers can’t find it easily. Based on our experience, the best position is the same place as the ‘Add to Cart’ button.

2. Allow All Users to Sign Up for Alerts

   Don’t restrict this feature to registered users only. Instead, allow guest users to use the feature as well. The reason is that you want all visitors to buy your product, and not just the registered ones. It is important to provide the subscriber with an immediate confirmation. This can be in the form of a popup or an email.

3. Send Timely Alerts

   One of the key success factors to using the Magento 2 back in stock notification is the timeliness. There’s no point in sending the user a notification a week after the product has been restocked. Instead, the notification must be sent immediately once the product is restocked. To further improve the customer experience, you can share a tentative timeline regarding when the product is expected to be restocked.

4. Personalisation

   It is imperative to send out a personalised notification rather than a generic one. Let’s compare two notifications to determine which one is better:

   Notification A: ‘Good news! Product A is back in stock. Order now’.
   Notification B: ‘Good News, Simon (customer’s first name). Your desired product is back in stock now. Hurry up and order now!’

   Naturally, Notification B is much better compared to A. Of course, it can be improved further but goes to show how personalization can benefit the store’s sales.

5. Multi-Channel Notifications

   Primarily, store owners rely on emails for sending out back in stock notifications. While emails remain an effective communication medium, there is a need to make use of other platforms as well. For example, every brand has a Business WhatsApp. Hence, they can use WhatsApp to send a timely and personalised message to the user, informing about the product restock. Apart from it, SMS is another popular option.

6. Clear Call-to-Action (CTA) in Alerts

   The purpose behind adding the Magento 2 back in stock notification is that you wish to improve your store’s sales. You don’t want visitors going to a competitor. Therefore, when sending them the notification, you want them to make a quick decision. In other words, you want them to buy the product immediately. Therefore, add a CTA by including the product link within the notification.

7. Create Urgency

   Store owners need to create a sense of urgency through the notifications to compel the users to complete the purchase. You can offer them limited discounts or mention ‘Limited Stocks’. For example, you can offer them a 10% discount if the purchase is completed within 24 hours.

8. Segmented Follow-Ups

   Of course, not all customers will react to the urgency or the notification itself. For instance, they are not too concerned about the discounts nor have a desire to buy the product right away. Therefore, it is important to send segmented follow-ups to such users. For instance, a reminder after 4 or 5 days after the initial notification can prove beneficial. Our experience tells us that 2 reminders are the maximum limit. If you send too many notifications, the user can become irritated.

9. Optimize for Mobile Users

   Lastly, the notifications must be optimised for the mobile users. The reason is that the majority of the traffic and orders on eCommerce sites come from mobile devices. This is shown below.

   

   Therefore, it is imperative that the notification content is easily readable on mobile devices and that the buttons are easy to click.

Final Thoughts on Magento 2 Back in Stock Alerts and Improving Customer Experience

This concludes our article on how back in stock notifications is more than just a feature. It has a direct impact on the customer experience and sales, if configured properly. To know more about this feature and how our extension can help your store, reach out to our support team.