STOQ Back in Stock Alerts: Complete Feature Overview

STOQ's back in stock alerts let your customers sign up to be notified the moment an out-of-stock product is available again. When inventory is restocked, STOQ automatically sends personalized alerts via email or SMS — turning missed sales into recovered revenue without any manual work on your part.

What Are Back in Stock Alerts?

Back in stock alerts solve a simple problem: customers want a product, but it's currently out of stock. Instead of losing that customer forever, STOQ adds a Notify me button to your product pages. Customers enter their email (or phone number) and STOQ watches your inventory. The moment you restock, alerts go out automatically.

You can also show the Notify me button on in-stock products — useful for collecting interest on items that frequently sell out, or for building a waitlist before a product goes out of stock.

Here is the flow at a glance:

A product goes out of stock (or you choose to show the button on an in-stock product).
STOQ displays a Notify me button on that product page.
Customers sign up with their email or phone number.
When the product is restocked, STOQ detects the inventory change and sends an alert automatically.
The customer receives a personalized notification with a direct link to purchase.

How to Get Started

Setting up back in stock alerts takes just a few minutes. Here is how.

Step 1: Enable the App Embed

STOQ uses Shopify's app embed system to display the Notify me button on your storefront. You need to activate it once.

In the STOQ app, go to Home.
Follow the onboarding checklist — click the step to Enable app embed.
This opens your Shopify theme editor. Toggle STOQ's app embed on and click Save.

Note: STOQ requires an Online Store 2.0 theme. Older 1.0 themes do not support app embeds and are not compatible.

Here's our detailed guide on how to check if the app embed is enabled

The signup widget is the Notify me button and form that customers see on your product pages. By default it appears on out-of-stock products, but you can also enable it for in-stock items.

Go to Back in stock alerts in the STOQ sidebar.
Click the Settings tab.
Under Signup widget, click Customize widget to open the widget editor.
Adjust button text, colors, form fields, and layout to match your brand.
Click Save.

Here's out detailed YouTube tutorial on how to add a "notify me when back in stock" button on Shopify

Step 3: Configure Your Notification Templates

STOQ sends automatic alerts when products come back in stock. You can customize the email and SMS templates.

Go to Back in stock alerts → Settings → Notifications.
Click Customize on your restock alert template.
Edit the subject line, body, design, and call-to-action.
Click Save changes on the top right.

Tip: You can also create reminder campaigns that follow up with customers who haven't purchased after receiving the initial alert.

Here's our detailed guide on how to customize your back in stock email template

Step 4: Set Delivery Preferences

Control when and how STOQ sends your alerts.

Go to Back in stock alerts → Settings → Delivery settings.
Configure these options:

Market setup — Choose between single market or multiple markets to control which inventory locations trigger alerts.
Notify trigger — Send alerts when restocked only, or also when the product is published to your Online Store.
Batched delivery — Send all alerts at once, or in batches (e.g., 100 per unit every hour) to avoid overselling.
Minimum quantity — Set a minimum stock level before alerts are sent (e.g., only send when at least 5 units are available).

Notification Channels

STOQ supports multiple channels to reach your customers wherever they are.

Email

The primary alert channel. STOQ sends branded HTML emails with product images, pricing, and a direct link to purchase. You can fully customize templates including subject lines, layout, and content.

SMS

For faster engagement, enable SMS alerts. Customers can sign up with their phone number, and STOQ sends a text message the moment a product is restocked. SMS typically delivers higher conversion rates than email.

Note: SMS alerts are available on paid plans. Your signup form can collect either email only, phone only, or both — depending on which channels you enable.

Reports and Analytics

STOQ provides detailed reporting on your back in stock performance. Go to Reports → Back in stock to access five tabs.

Products Tab

View product-level data across three views:

Demand — See which products have the most waitlist signups and who is waiting for each variant.
Engagement — Track impressions, clicks, and signups on your Notify me button (requires the analytics pixel to be enabled).
Revenue — See revenue and orders recovered from your back in stock alerts.

Here's our detailed guide on how to use the products report in STOQ to understand demand, engagement and revenue

Current Waitlist Tab

View all active signups waiting for a restock — filterable by product, variant, date, and channel (email/SMS).

Notifications Sent Tab

See all alerts that have been sent, including delivery status, open rates, and click-through data.

Sales Recovered Tab

Track orders that came directly from your back in stock alerts, including revenue attributed to each notification.

Customers Tab

View individual customer signup history and notification activity.

Overview Dashboard

The Overview tab inside Back in stock alerts shows a visual dashboard with:

Summary cards — Total revenue, total orders, average order value, unique customers, waitlist signups, notifications sent, emails sent, and SMS sent.
Revenue/Orders chart — A time-series chart of recovered revenue or orders over time.
Notifications vs Orders chart — Compare notification volume against resulting purchases.
Signups chart — Track new waitlist signups over time.
Top products table — See your highest-performing products sorted by revenue or orders, with per-variant breakdowns.

Integrations

STOQ connects with popular marketing platforms so your back in stock data flows into your existing workflows.

Marketing Platforms

Klaviyo — Sync waitlist subscribers, trigger Klaviyo flows for restock alerts, and send notifications directly through Klaviyo.
Omnisend — Sync subscriber data for marketing automation.
Mailchimp — Sync waitlist signups to your Mailchimp audience.

Shopify Ecosystem

Shopify Flow — Trigger automations based on back in stock events (e.g., new signup, product restocked, notification sent).
Shopify POS — Allow in-store staff to collect back in stock signups via a POS tile.
Shopify Customers — Sync waitlist subscribers as Shopify customer tags for segmentation.

Other Integrations

Postscript — Send SMS alerts through your existing Postscript account.
Custom webhooks — Use STOQ's API to push events to any third-party platform.

Key Features at a Glance

A quick reference of what STOQ's back in stock alerts include.

Feature	What It Does
Notify me button	Appears on out-of-stock product pages (can also be shown on in-stock items)
Signup form	Collects email, phone, or both — fully customizable
Automatic alerts	Sends notifications the instant inventory is restocked
Email templates	Branded, customizable email designs with product data
SMS alerts	Text message notifications for faster conversions
Batched delivery	Send alerts in batches to prevent overselling
Minimum quantity	Only trigger alerts above a stock threshold
Location-based alerts	Trigger based on specific warehouse/location restocks
Market-based alerts	Send alerts only when a product is restocked in the customer's market
Per-product templates	Assign different notification designs per product
Reminder campaigns	Follow-up emails for customers who haven't purchased yet
Engagement analytics	Track impressions, clicks, and signups on your Notify me button
Revenue tracking	Attribute sales directly to your back in stock alerts
CSV export	Export waitlist and product data for offline analysis
Integrations	Klaviyo, Omnisend, Mailchimp, Shopify Flow, POS, and more

Known Limitations

STOQ requires an Online Store 2.0 theme. Online Store 1.0 themes do not support app embeds and are not compatible.
SMS alerts require a paid plan and are subject to SMS sending limits based on your plan tier.
Batched delivery and location-based alerts require a paid plan.
Notification limits are per-calendar month. If you reach your plan's limit, alerts queue until the next billing cycle or you upgrade.
Back in stock alerts rely on Shopify's inventory tracking. Products with inventory tracking disabled will not trigger notifications.
The analytics pixel (for engagement tracking) requires the write_pixels and read_customer_events Shopify permissions.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely Cause	Fix
Notify me button not showing	App embed is disabled or theme is incompatible	Go to Home and check the app embed step in the onboarding checklist; ensure you're using a 2.0 theme
Alerts not sending after restock	Alerts are disabled or minimum quantity not met	Go to Back in stock alerts → Settings → Notifications and confirm alerts are enabled; check your minimum quantity threshold
Customer didn't receive alert	Email went to spam or SMS blocked	Ask the customer to check spam/junk; verify their phone number format is correct
Dashboard shows zero revenue	Order attribution window has passed	STOQ attributes orders within a set window after the alert is sent; orders placed later may not be counted
Notifications sent but no orders	Low conversion or irrelevant audience	Review your email template design, ensure product pricing is competitive, and consider batched delivery to prevent overselling
Button not showing on in-stock products when expected	"Show on in-stock" setting is disabled	Enable the option to display the Notify me button on in-stock products in your signup widget settings

FAQs

Q: How does STOQ know when a product is restocked?
A: STOQ monitors Shopify inventory webhooks. When a variant's inventory level changes from zero (or below your minimum quantity) to a positive number, STOQ triggers the alert automatically.

Q: Can I use back in stock alerts and preorders at the same time?
A: Yes. STOQ supports both features independently. You can have preorder offers on some products and back in stock alerts on others. A product cannot have both active simultaneously on the same variant.

Q: What happens if a product sells out again before all alerts are sent?
A: If you're using batched delivery and the product sells out between batches, STOQ pauses the remaining alerts. Customers in the queue stay on the waitlist for the next restock.

Q: Do customers need an account to sign up?
A: No. Customers only need to provide an email address (or phone number if SMS is enabled). No Shopify account or login is required.

Q: Can I send alerts through Klaviyo instead of STOQ?
A: Yes. When the Klaviyo integration is enabled, you can route all back in stock alerts through Klaviyo's email and SMS infrastructure instead of STOQ's built-in delivery.

Q: Is there a limit to how many customers can sign up for one product?
A: No. There is no cap on waitlist signups per product. However, your plan's monthly notification limit determines how many alerts you can send.

Q: Can I customize the Notify me button per product?
A: The button design is global (set in the Signup widget customizer). However, you can assign different notification templates per product from the Back in stock alerts → Products tab.

Q: Does STOQ work with headless / Hydrogen stores?
A: STOQ's app embed is designed for Shopify's Online Store channel with a 2.0 theme. For headless setups, you would need to integrate STOQ's signup API directly into your custom storefront.

Updated on: 10/07/2026

Was this article helpful?

Thank you!