I came out of a conversation with our team the other day about how most people really overlook some of the apps that we use on a regular basis and how powerful they are, especially for the cost. I want to talk about one of the apps that we use, which is essential and that we should make sure is installed in all of the stores. This is something that we use, and whether you use their particular software, which I’ll link below, or add a different app to the store, the process is essential for any business.
Sold Out? No Problem!
Every store is bound to run into these two kinds of scenarios, and you will want to notify your customers about it when it happens.
The first is when you’re sold out.
It’s a great feeling when sales are through the roof! But if you are running out of inventory, especially if you are carrying the same products as others, it could mean that your customers could go looking for another store or another seller that carries that item. That’s what we want to avoid. We want to avoid people going and looking elsewhere for the same product. Instead, you need to be able to have a button that replaces the add to cart feature that allows them to check out, and instead replace it with the option that says, “Notify me when available.”
This simple button allows you to collect email addresses, collect mobile numbers, and be able to let people know when they can actually buy again. This is really important. You never want to miss a sale by letting them down when you happen to be out of stock.
A major flag for you is that you never want to see your Shopify site say ‘Out of Stock’ on a particular product page, even if that product is now discontinued. My recommendation would be to provide an option to click that says ‘Notify me when available.’ Then have an auto-responder set up that explains to the customer the product has been discontinued, and add a couple of recommendations, or if possible, a substitute or an alternative. A lot of companies have a replacement that’s usually approved, and this gives you a couple of different options there for when you have items that are out of stock.
The second is when you are launching a new product.
But wait, there’s more! This is also really great if you’re launching a new product. You usually will have a sample or product information or any type of detail that you have available ahead of time, usually you know weeks or months ahead of the product being launched. Now, if it’s your own product, of course, you’re in control of when you can start showing things to the public. But if it’s someone else’s product that you’re selling, make sure to coordinate with the company when you can show the product on your website, and not before the company allows it because technically, you are advertising the product. Once you have that set up, create a full product page and put your review in there so that you can start talking about the product and why you’re excited about it coming.
You can actually use the same app, even though it’s called ‘Back in stock’, to use there instead of ‘Notify me when available’, and start building a list of customers who want to purchase it when it comes out. This allows you to build a list and build up the demand so that when you have that first day of sales, particularly if you have to put it in order, your site needs to know if you have to order 20 units or 2000, and this gives you a really good idea of how many people are going to buy.
This is a great opportunity to deliver on a higher level of service than most of your competitors will for your customers and for your prospective customers. This is also one of those key processes that we talk about within the customer lifecycle every time you have an opportunity: to sell somebody something, you want to be able to take advantage of that, and don’t let that opportunity slide.
Tips on Using this Process
We’ve had so many great case studies, with this being a big opportunity for us to get sales right when products come back in stock. Here are two quick tips because you don’t want to be surprised when something goes wrong.
1. You can use this app even if your inventory is not managed by Shopify. Once a product shows that there is zero in inventory, that app will automatically activate once you set it up. You will know when an item in your inventory is out.
2. Once you’ve triggered that setting to say that it’s back in stock, the settings you have in the app for that notification will go out automatically. It will not work, though, if the app is not set up properly. One of the things you can do is have a default email that you can send out. The email will include the product that is back in stock, and then you can add your text letting your customers know that the product is back in stock.
That’s the first part. The second part of it is settings. Again, I think you should definitely pay attention to make the most of it, and you can win a lot of customers this way, so I hope you enjoyed it until the next one. Go somewhere with your store