Overview
Back in Stock alerts add a "Notify me when available" button to out-of-stock products on your store. When a customer clicks it, they join a waitlist for that product or variant, and STOQ automatically alerts them by email, SMS, or push notification as soon as it's restocked, so you recover sales you'd otherwise lose to an out-of-stock page.
This guide maps out the Back in Stock alerts section, found in the left menu of the STOQ app, so you know where to go for any task.
Before you begin
Some Back in Stock features are limited on the free plan. Where a setting requires a paid plan, it's marked with an upgrade prompt in the app.
What do you want to do?
| I want to... | Go to |
|---|---|
| Set up Back in Stock alerts for the first time | Set up Back in Stock alerts |
| See signups, notifications sent, and revenue recovered | Overview tab |
| Turn the widget on/off for specific products | Products tab |
| Change the button's text, color, or position on the page | Design the Notify me button |
| Change what the signup popup/form looks like | Design the signup form |
| Decide which products/variants show the button | Notify me product eligibility |
| Set up email and/or SMS delivery | Back in Stock delivery channels |
| Customize the alert email | Back in Stock email alerts |
| Set up SMS alerts | Back in Stock SMS alerts |
| Wait until enough stock is back before alerting anyone | Back in Stock minimum quantity |
| Confirm the button and alerts actually work | Test Back in Stock alerts |
The three tabs
The Back in Stock alerts section is organized into three tabs.
Overview
A dashboard of your Back in Stock performance for a selected date range (last 30 days by default). It shows:
- Summary stats: total revenue, total orders, average order value, unique customers, waitlist signups, notifications sent, and a breakdown of emails vs. SMS sent
- Analytics chart: revenue or orders recovered over time, toggleable between the two views
- Signups chart: waitlist signups over time
- Notifications chart: notifications sent and orders unlocked over time
- Products by revenue table: your best-performing products/variants from Back in Stock alerts, sortable and groupable by product or variant, with CSV export
The Overview tab is currently in beta.
Products
Lets you see and manage which products/variants currently have the "Notify me" widget active, along with their signup counts and status. This is where you review coverage across your catalog rather than change global design or delivery rules, which live in the Settings tab.
Settings
Everything that controls how the widget looks and how alerts are delivered, split into four sub-tabs:
Signup widget
Use the Enable or Disable link to turn the "Notify me" widget on or off, see its current status ("Active now" or "Disabled") and form type (Embedded, or Button + Popup), and click Customize widget to open the editor. See Design the Notify me button and Design the signup form.
Notifications
Configure your email and/or SMS notification templates and connected sending channels. See Back in Stock delivery channels, email alerts, and SMS alerts. This is also where you set a minimum restocked quantity before alerts go out: see Back in Stock minimum quantity.
Delivery settings
Configure when and how alerts are sent:
- Market setup: choose single-market or multiple-markets mode, and optionally restrict alerts to specific locations or to locations linked to specific markets
- Notify when published or restocked: alert customers when you publish the product to your Online Store, in addition to restocks
- Batched delivery: send alerts to your waitlist in batches instead of all at once, spacing them out over 1-3 hour intervals
- Product option (variant) matching: notify customers only when the specific option they signed up for restocks, or when any option of the product restocks
- Language: send alerts in each customer's preferred storefront language, or always in your store's default language
Several of these (location- and market-based alerts, notify-on-publish, batching, and any-variant matching) require a paid plan; the app marks each with an upgrade prompt.
Integrations
Connect Back in Stock to Shopify, Klaviyo, Omnisend, and other marketing/automation tools.
Key concepts
- Notify me widget: the customer-facing button and form. Customers use it to join the waitlist for an out-of-stock product or variant.
- Signup / waitlist: each time a customer submits the form, they're added to that product's (or variant's) waitlist.
- Channels: the delivery methods available for alerts: email, SMS, and push notification, depending on your plan and setup.
- Delivery timing: controls for when an alert fires: immediately on restock, only above a minimum quantity, in batches, or also on publish.
FAQ
What's the difference between the Products tab and Notify me product eligibility?
The Products tab is per-product: it lets you override the button's visibility, add a restock note, or apply a custom template to individual products or variants (useful for VIP launches, seasonal items, or discontinued products) without touching your global settings. Notify me product eligibility is a shop-wide rule (tag-based) that decides which products are eligible for the button in the first place. The per-product override in the Products tab takes precedence over the shop-wide rule for that product.
Why don't I see any data on the Overview tab?
The charts and summary stats only populate once you have activity in the selected date range: signups, notifications sent, or recovered orders. A brand-new setup, or a date range with no activity, shows an empty state instead of a chart.
Does turning off the Notify me widget delete existing waitlist signups?
No. Disabling the widget in Back in Stock alerts → Settings tab → Signup widget just stops new customers from joining the waitlist, it doesn't clear signups you've already collected or stop restock alerts from being scheduled for them once the product is back.
Can I send Back in Stock alerts by SMS or push notification, not just email?
Yes. Email, SMS, and push are all supported channels: see Back in Stock delivery channels to turn them on. SMS carries a per-message carrier charge; check Back in Stock SMS alerts before enabling it.
Do I have to notify every waitlisted customer the moment a product restocks?
No, that's the default. Send alerts in batches over a few hours instead of all at once, or also alert customers when you publish the product (not just when it restocks), from Back in Stock alerts → Settings tab → Delivery settings. To require a minimum restocked quantity before anyone is alerted, use Back in Stock alerts → Settings tab → Notifications. Batching and notify-on-publish require a paid plan.
I sell in multiple countries: will customers get alerts for the wrong market's stock?
By default, alerts fire whenever any location is restocked, regardless of market. If you use Shopify Markets, switch to Multiple markets mode in Back in Stock alerts → Settings tab → Delivery settings and link locations to markets so customers are only notified when their own market's stock is replenished. This requires a paid plan.
Why does exporting the products table say it was 'sent to your email' instead of downloading?
CSV exports from the Overview tab's products table are emailed to your account's report address rather than downloaded directly in the browser.
Related guides
Set up Back in Stock alerts
Turn on the widget and configure your first alert from scratch.
Design the Notify me button
Customize button text, color, and placement.
Design the signup form
Customize the popup or embedded signup form.
Test Back in Stock alerts
Confirm the button and alerts work end to end.
