Have you ever tried to buy a product from an online store only to find that it is not in stock at the time? Many eCommerce can face this problem because even though the user may be willing to make a purchase, the product is not available.

Having a product out of stock can deter the customer from revisiting your store as they don't know if you will ever be able to have the product in stock again or if it is a permanent situation. However, having a system for the customer to subscribe and receive an email when the product is available can give you a chance to win back this lost customer.

With Shopify and Klaviyo you can implement the automated "Back in Stock" email flow so that your customers receive an email notification when the item is back in stock.

What are the benefits of Klaviyo's Back in Stock feature?

Your online store can benefit greatly from the Back in Stock email flow.

• You can increase your conversion rate:

Incoming users who see that your product is out of stock will be able to subscribe, receive an alert and buy the item when it becomes available.

• Encourage your customers to buy from your store: if a product is out of stock, your customer doesn't have to go to another store to find it. They can simply ask to be notified when it becomes available again..

• Avoid removing products you don't have in stock: in terms of SEO, you will be penalized if products that are not available in your store disappear. The best strategy is to keep these URLs active, but make the call-to-action easier for the user by allowing them to subscribe to alerts for that particular item.

How to use the Back in Stock flow at Klaviyo

Klaviyo's Back in Stock feature for Shopify has two key components: 

Subscription button

The products in your online store should have a subscription alert option. This way, the subscribed user will receive a notification when the product is back in stock.

When users visit a product page and see that the product is out of stock, they will see a button that says "Notify me when available."

By clicking this button, users will be shown a form where they can enter their email address to be notified when the product is back in stock.

All users who are subscribed to that product will enter Klaviyo's "Back in Stock" email flow, which usually reflects a customer profile that is very interested in purchasing the item, as they seem willing to wait until you have it back in stock.

Email flow

The other key element is the email flow for users subscribed to Klaviyo's alert system. In this case, the first email will only be sent when the item becomes available again in the online store.

This product tracking allows the user to be informed as soon as the product is available. It is important to be quick in contacting the customer, as the user might get tired of waiting and try to buy the product through another online store. Therefore, having an automated email flow with Klaviyo is the best option to avoid losing this type of customer.

One of the great advantages of Klaviyo is that it not only monitors individual products but also all their variants. For example, if a user wants to buy a shirt in size XXL but that size is not in stock, they can subscribe to a specific alert for that product variant. In this way, Klaviyo will only trigger the email flow for that customer when that specific size of that product is in stock again.

How to configure the Back in Stock email flow in Klaviyo

To create a back-in-stock email flow in your Shopify store you have to configure two settings. First, make sure that you have integrated your Shopify online store with Klaviyo and that the "Add to cart" button appears on your product page even if it is currently out of stock.

1. Set up back-in-stock email flow

The first step is to create the automated flow in Klaviyo.

1. Log in to your Klaviyo account and go to the Flows tab.
2. Click on "Create Flow".
3. Type "Back in stock" in the flow library at the top of the page to locate the flow.
4. Select the option "Back in Stock Flow Standard".

In this screen, you can configure and customize the automatic email that will be sent to the customer when the product is back in stock.

2. Adding the form to your Shopify store theme code

The next step is to add the tracking and subscription form feature to your Shopify theme code . (Caution: it is important that you have the assistance of a programmer who specializes in Shopify themes if you are not familiar with this type of action. Make sure in any case that you first make a backup of your theme by following the instructions of the platform ).

To perform this configuration, you must follow the steps below:

1. Go to Online Store > Themes
2. Click on the "Actions" drop-down menu and select "Edit code".
3. Find the "theme.liquid" file and click on it to edit it.
4. Next, copy and paste this JavaScript snippet before the closing "