How Do You Write a Notification Message for Restocked Products?

A back-in-stock notification should contain five pieces of information: your store’s name, the product’s full name, the size or color the customer was waiting for, a direct link to the product page and a way to opt out. If stock is genuinely low, mention that in one sentence; anything more just makes the message longer. The customer asked for this news themselves, so you do not need to persuade them. It is enough for them to see at a glance what has arrived and where to buy it.

What to put in a back-in-stock notification

The person receiving the notification may have asked for it days or even weeks ago, and may not remember which product they were waiting for. Use a phrase such as “you were waiting for” or “you asked to be notified about” in the first line to close that gap. The message should also include:

• Your store’s name. The customer may not have saved your number in their contacts, so they should see who the message is from in the first few words.
• The product’s full name. “The product you were waiting for has arrived” is not enough, and neither is “linen shirt.” If you sell five different linen shirts, include the model name.
• The variant the customer was waiting for: size, color, shoe size or volume. If they were waiting for size 38, the message should say 38.
• A direct link to the product page. A link to the home page or a category page makes the customer search for the product all over again.
• A short line saying how to opt out of these notifications.

If stock is low, you can also add one sentence that says so. We explain further down when to do that.

When you write the greeting, keep in mind that the person who asked to be notified may not be a member of your site. In stores that use WhatsApp back-in-stock alerts, the customer chooses a size or color and leaves their phone number, and membership is not required. If a phone number is all you have, use a greeting without a name instead of one that begins “Hello ,” with the name missing.

What to leave out of the message

The customer asked to hear about a single product. Article 8 of Türkiye’s Regulation on Commercial Communication and Commercial Electronic Messages also requires the content of a commercial electronic message to be consistent with the consent obtained from the recipient. So do not turn a back-in-stock notification into a campaign announcement.

A line such as “Take a look at our new season too” pushes the link to the product the customer was waiting for into the background. An “available again” announcement sent to customers who did not ask to be notified does not count as a back-in-stock notification. It is a campaign message, so send it separately through WhatsApp bulk messaging and limit it to customers who have agreed to receive campaign messages. Use only one link; the customer should not have to think about where to tap.

Do not try to pitch the product; describing the fabric, the ingredients and the features is the job of the product page. If you are not reserving the product for the customer, do not say “we have reserved it for you.” Avoid false urgency as well. If you write “only a few left” while two hundred units are sitting in the warehouse, the customer may not take your next notification seriously. You do not need a discount code either. The customer was already waiting for the product; if you add a code, you cut the profit on an order that might have come in without one.

Mention low stock only when it is true

Say that stock is low if fewer units arrived than there are people waiting, or if the product sold out within a few days last time; otherwise, say nothing about it. If a single automated text goes out for all your products, leave the low-stock sentence out of it, because it will not be true for every restock.

When you do say it, give a fact instead of a cliché. “Stock is running out fast” is a sentence every store writes; “Only a few arrived in this size” gives the customer the information they need to decide. Avoid giving an exact number. The number is out of date after the first order, and the customer may read the message hours later; saying “only a few” is safer.

How many people the notification goes to also affects how believable the text is. If five units have arrived and you tell a hundred people to “buy now,” at most five of them can get the product, and those who click later land on a page that says “sold out.” In Pushouse, the notification goes to as many people as there are units that have arrived.

5 sample back-in-stock messages

The examples are written for WhatsApp. If you also send the same notification by SMS or email, the information can stay in the same order; in an email, move the product name into the subject line. Where the examples say {{store name}}, put your store’s name. The other fields change with the product and the customer; which of them are filled in automatically depends on the system you send from. Replace the fields with their equivalents in your system, and do not add endings to them. For example, writing “{{product name}}s” gives you broken text such as “Linen Dresss.” The word STOP in the opt-out line is also only an example; use the word or button your system actually acts on.

1. The size the customer was waiting for is back

{{store name}}: Hello, the {{product name}} ({{size}}) you asked to be notified about is available again. Product page: {{product link}}

If you do not want to receive these notifications, just reply STOP.

For most products, this is enough.

2. Only a few units arrived

{{store name}}: The {{product name}} ({{color}}, {{size}}) you were waiting for is back in stock. Only a few arrived in this size, and we have not reserved one for you. You can buy it here: {{product link}}

To opt out of these notifications, reply STOP.

If you say plainly that you have not reserved the product, a customer who visits the site in the evening and finds it gone has already been warned.

3. The product is back, but its price has changed

{{store name}}: The {{product name}} ({{size}}) you were waiting for is back in stock. Its current price is {{price}} TL. See it here: {{product link}}

To opt out of these notifications, reply STOP.

The customer may remember the price they saw when they asked to be notified, and if it has gone up, noticing that on the product page can shake their trust. State the current price in the message, but do not give a reason for it. If your prices change often, say “the price has been updated” instead of giving a figure, because the figure you wrote may be out of date by the time the message is read.

4. A product with no size or color options

{{store name}}: The {{product name}} {{volume}} you asked to be notified about is available again. Order here: {{product link}}

To opt out of these notifications, reply STOP.

For products such as shampoo, coffee and olive oil, volume or weight takes the place of size and color.

5. The product is back for the last time

{{store name}}: The {{product name}} ({{size}}) you asked to be notified about is available again. No more stock will arrive this season. Product page: {{product link}}

To opt out of these notifications, reply STOP.

Use the sentence “No more stock will arrive this season” only if it is true. It tells the customer not to wait, without saying “last chance.”

Does every message need an opt-out line?

Yes, put it at the very end of every message. WhatsApp’s Business Messaging Policy requires you to respect the request of anyone who does not want to receive messages, and recommends explaining clearly how to opt out. In Pushouse, a customer who wants to opt out leaves the list with a single message.

Article 9 of the Regulation on Commercial Communication and Commercial Electronic Messages likewise requires every commercial electronic message that is sent to include the option to refuse further messages, in other words a way to opt out. It must be possible to refuse easily and free of charge, through the same channel the message was sent on. Even a back-in-stock notification that the customer asked for may count as a commercial electronic message, because it offers a product for sale.

Article 8 of the Regulation also requires a commercial electronic message to contain information that identifies the sender: for merchants, the MERSİS (Central Registry Record System) number and the trade name, and where space is limited, as in an SMS, the MERSİS number. The sample texts here do not include this information. Check with your legal adviser whether your back-in-stock notification falls within this scope, whether the consent needs to be recorded in İYS (İleti Yönetim Sistemi, Türkiye’s Message Management System for commercial electronic messages) and where the identifying information should go in the message.

Do not send a second notification to customers who did not buy

One back-in-stock notification per product is enough. The customer has already received the news, and a second message will feel more like pressure than a reminder. If they added the product to their cart and then left, you are looking at an unfinished purchase. That is where the WhatsApp cart recovery message takes over, as long as the customer has agreed to receive cart reminders. The two flows should not repeat each other: the back-in-stock notification says the product has arrived, and the cart message says it is waiting in the cart.

Test the message on your phone before it goes live

Send the text to your own number and read it on your phone; that is the only way to see what long model names and the link actually look like. Run the test with the names and variants of the products that sell out most often. If your site shows the products of the week, the best sellers there are a ready-made test list. When the test message arrives, make sure that:

• The message starts with your store’s name, and the product name and variant look the same as they do on the product page.
• The link opens the product page directly on your phone.
• Any sentence about stock is true for every product the text will be used for.
• If you use a name field, the greeting still looks right when the field is empty. The text can be read on the screen without scrolling.
• Sending the opt-out word from your own number actually takes you off the notification list.

To plan back-in-stock notifications together with your other automated messages, such as cart reminders, see our article on WhatsApp e-commerce automation.