Back in stock
Offer a WhatsApp alert on your out-of-stock products with a Back in stock form, notify every subscriber automatically when the product returns and measure the resulting sales.
When a product is out of stock, visitors often go buy elsewhere. A back-in-stock alert lets them leave their number instead. As soon as the product returns, they get a WhatsApp message with the product photo and a button to its page. This guide shows how to set up this flow in Fullmetrix, then how to read its results.
The flow relies on three parts working together. A form of the Back in stock type collects sign-ups. A back-in-stock template holds the message. An automation with the Product back in stock trigger sends that message at the right time.
What you need before you start
You need a WhatsApp number connected from WhatsApp Business and a connected store. Fullmetrix reads your product stock from your store to know when a product returns.
The form shows on your site through the Fullmetrix tracking script. Check that it is active in Site tracking.
How the flow works
The visitor signs up
On the page of an out-of-stock product, a Notify me when it's back button appears. The visitor clicks, enters their phone number, ticks the consent box and submits. They see You're on the list. If they were already subscribed for this product, they see Already registered. If the product has variants (size, color), they must pick one before signing up.
The subscription waits for the product
The subscription stays pending while the product is out of stock. The contact is created or updated in your contacts with the back_in_stock tag.
Stock returns
At each sync of your store, Fullmetrix reads the stock again. As soon as a tracked product has positive stock, the automation enrolls every pending subscriber and sends them the template. The subscription then moves to notified, and the person only gets the alert once for that subscription.
Creating the back-in-stock template
Start from the model
Open WhatsApp, then Templates. Click New and choose Back-in-stock template. The editor opens with the text, a header image and a button already in place.
Choose the store
In the top box, choose the store. Fullmetrix loads a sample product from that store so Meta sees a real link. If you have several stores, create one template per store.
Review the text
The suggested text greets the customer with {{1}}, announces that {{2}} is back in stock and invites them to order before it sells out again. In the automation, you will say that {{1}} is the First name and {{2}} the Product name. The View product button leads to the restocked product page. Its destination is set by Fullmetrix.
Add an image and submit to Meta
Add an image, for example your logo. It is only used for Meta's approval. At send time, the customer gets the photo of the returning product. Click Create template and wait for the Approved status.
A back-in-stock template only works in a Product back in stock automation. It is offered neither in campaigns nor in the chat.
Creating the automation
Choose the trigger
Open WhatsApp, then Automations, and click Create workflow. Name it, for example "Back-in-stock alert". Click the trigger card and choose Product back in stock. Check the Affected sites if you have several stores.
Add the message
Add a WhatsApp Message block. The Template list only offers your back-in-stock templates. If there are none, the block shows "No back-in-stock template. Create one from the Templates page." Once the template is chosen, the site is locked to the template's site, so the link leads to the right store.
Choose First name for {{1}} and Product name for {{2}}, then send yourself a test.
Start
Click Save, then Start automation. This automation has neither a Frequency section nor Trigger inactivity time, because each subscription must get its alert once, when the product returns.
Creating the Back in stock form
Choose the form type
In the sidebar, open Forms in the Marketing group. Click New form. At Which type of form?, choose Back in stock. The form is created with a heading, a Your phone number field, a consent box and the Notify me when it's back button.
Adapt the texts and style
Edit the texts, colors and confirmation screen as for any form. Keep the phone field and the consent box, which are required. The confirmation message can include the product name with {{product_name}}. The editor is described in Forms.
Place the button on the product page
In the display settings, the Trigger button shows a button that opens the form. In Floating mode, it stays fixed at the bottom of the screen. In Embedded mode, it is inserted near the "Add to cart" button using its CSS selector, for example .single_add_to_cart_button on WooCommerce or #add-to-cart on PrestaShop. Choose the Placement (After the button, Before the button or In place of the button) and the Button text. If the selector is not found on the page, the floating button takes over.
You do not need an address rule. Fullmetrix only shows the button on pages of out-of-stock products. A URL rule added by hand can actually stop the form from working.
Activate the form
Activate the form. An organization can only have one active Back in stock form at a time. If another one is already active, Fullmetrix refuses and asks you to deactivate the other one first.
Without an active automation, no alert goes out
As long as no Product back in stock automation is active, the form editor shows a warning. Sign-ups are collected, but no message is sent. They go out as soon as you start the automation, if the product is back in stock.
WhatsApp consent is still checked
Like any template, the alert only goes to a WhatsApp subscribed person. After your first alerts, open the automation's statistics and check that no subscriber exits because WhatsApp consent is required.
Measuring the result
Open WhatsApp, then Overview, and click the Back in stock tab. The period selector offers 7, 30 or 90 days.
Subscriptions counts people who signed up during the period and how many are still pending. Notifications sent counts alerts sent, with the share of subscribers already notified. Tracked products counts products with at least one pending subscriber, and the number of unsubscribes.
Attributed revenue gives the revenue of orders linked to your automation, with the number of orders and the average order value. An order counts if the customer read the alert in the 60 days before buying. This window is longer than for other messages, because a customer may wait for the right moment to buy a product they wanted.
The Conversion funnel follows the path from subscribed to notified to purchased. Top products lists the five most requested products. This ranking helps you decide what to restock first.
The automation's Stats page also gives the history of each send, with any failure reasons.
Frequently asked questions
Cart recovery
Set up end to end a WhatsApp automation that follows up with customers who left without paying, with their cart rebuilt and a promo code, then measure the sales you recovered.
Forms and surveys
Learn what forms and surveys are for, what to connect before you start and where to find them in Fullmetrix.