A back-in-stock notification should carry 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, add that in one sentence; leave out promotion, discount codes and any second product. The customer asked for this news, 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.
You do not need a new text every time stock comes in. A few situations call for an extra sentence or a different text: a size that arrives in small numbers, a changed price, a product that comes back during a sale or as a pre-order, and a product that will never return. With the criteria below you can decide when to mention low stock and whether to send a second message about the same product, and adapt the eight sample texts to your own products.
What a back-in-stock notification must include
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. Close that gap in the first line with a phrase such as “you were waiting for” or “you asked us to notify you about.” 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.
Write the variant the way the customer sees it on your site; in cosmetics that may be a shade name or number, for a phone the storage size and color. If the variant name in your admin panel is a stock code such as “SYH-38-STD,” that code can end up in the message and the customer cannot tell what has arrived. Before you switch notifications on, check the variant names of your most-awaited products and replace codes with the names shown on your site.
If your e-commerce platform can give you a product link that opens with the size or color already selected, use it; the customer will not have to look for their size again. Avoid shortened links: the customer should be able to see that the address they are about to tap belongs to your store.
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 is not a back-in-stock notification either. It is a campaign message, so send it separately through WhatsApp bulk messaging and only 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 believe your next notification. 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, do not mention it at all. 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.
Take two hypothetical products. Six units of a linen dress arrive in size S, and 45 people are waiting for that size: “Only a few arrived in this size” is true and gives the customer a real reason to hurry. On the same day, 150 units of a basic black T-shirt arrive and 12 people are waiting for it: here the same sentence would mislead. If you can choose the text product by product, use the sentence only in the dress notification. The 45 people waiting for size S also tell you to order more of that size next time; we touch on how the waiting list feeds into purchasing in our guide to increasing e-commerce sales.
When you do mention 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 tap 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.
If you also sell the same stock on a marketplace or in a physical shop and those sales reach your site late, an order placed from the notification can land on a product that is no longer in the warehouse. In that case, write to the customer before any parcel leaves and ask whether they want to wait for the product or cancel it for a refund. Keep this exchange separate from the notification text and make it a message written for that customer.
8 sample back-in-stock messages
The examples are written for WhatsApp. Every back-in-stock message example below follows the same order: your store’s name, the product and variant the customer was waiting for, one extra piece of information if needed, a link if there is something to buy, and the opt-out line at the end. 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 opt-out line points to the “Stop promotions” button added at the bottom of the message. Do not ask customers to type a single word such as “STOP”; if your system does not act on that word, the customer stays on the notification list.
1. The size the customer was waiting for is back
{{store name}}: Hello, the {{product name}} ({{size}}) you asked us to notify you about is available again. Product page: {{product link}}
If you do not want to receive these notifications, just tap “Stop promotions” below.
For most restocks, this short text does the job.
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, tap “Stop promotions” below.
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}}
If you would rather not get these notifications, you can tap “Stop promotions” below.
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 us to notify you about is available again. Order here: {{product link}}
You can opt out of these notifications with the “Stop promotions” button below.
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 us to notify you about is available again. No more stock will arrive this season. Product page: {{product link}}
To stop these notifications, tap “Stop promotions” below.
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.”
6. The product came back during a sale
{{store name}}: The {{product name}} ({{size}}) you asked us to notify you about is back in stock. It is currently on sale: {{sale price}} TL instead of {{price before discount}} TL. The sale runs from {{start date}} to {{end date}}. Product page: {{product link}}
If you do not want these notifications, just tap “Stop promotions” below.
If the product is already part of a sale running on your site, it is right to show the sale price; that is not the same as adding a separate discount code to the notification. But a notification that presents the price as discounted counts as a discount announcement.
Türkiye’s Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices requires any advertisement containing a statement that a discount applies to show clearly the price before the discount, the dates on which the discount starts and ends and, if the discounted quantity is limited, that quantity (Article 14). For such a sale, unlike the general advice in the low-stock section, “only a few” is not enough; give the number. For goods, the same article takes the lowest price applied in the last ten days before the sale started as the price before the discount; if your list price is higher than that, do not use it in the message.
For the announcement to customers who are not on the waiting list, our campaign message examples include a text written for a product that comes back while a sale is running.
7. The product is open for pre-order
{{store name}}: The {{product name}} ({{color}}) you asked us to notify you about is now available for pre-order. If you order today, it will ship on {{dispatch date}}. To order: {{product link}}
To opt out of these notifications, you can tap “Stop promotions” below.
If the product goes on sale before it reaches your warehouse, do not say “in stock” or “available again”; the customer may expect it within a few days, and the delay can turn into a complaint. State the dispatch date in the message. If your platform shows a pre-order product as in stock, check in advance which text the automated notification will use.
8. The product will not be coming back
{{store name}}: The {{product name}} ({{size}}) you asked us to notify you about has been discontinued and will not be restocked. Thank you for waiting.
To opt out of back-in-stock notifications, tap “Stop promotions” below.
If you will never sell the product again, do not leave the people waiting for it without word; a customer who has waited for months may end up writing to your store to ask. One closing message is enough. Suggesting a similar product may be tempting, but the customer asked to hear about this product only; add a recommendation and the message becomes a campaign announcement.
Send a short confirmation when the request comes in
If your system can send a message the moment the request is made, send the customer a short confirmation. They then know from the start whose number will be writing to them weeks later; they can save your number, or change their mind right away if they signed up by mistake. WhatsApp’s Business Messaging Policy also says users should expect the messages they receive. The same policy says you may contact people on WhatsApp only if they have given you their number and confirmed that they want to receive messages from you. If your request form says plainly that the news will come by WhatsApp, the customer knows what they are agreeing to.
{{store name}}: We will let you know on this number when the {{product name}} ({{size}}) is back in stock. If you do not want this notification, just tap “Stop promotions” below.
The confirmation may also have a legal role. If you record the request as consent to commercial messages, Article 7 of the commercial electronic messages regulation requires that, when consent is obtained electronically, the recipient is told within 24 hours that the consent has been received, with the option to refuse; consent obtained through İYS (İleti Yönetim Sistemi, Türkiye’s Message Management System for commercial electronic messages) is exempt. A confirmation message with an opt-out line can carry that information too.
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 6 of the same regulation lists the messages that do not need prior consent: information about changes to, use of and maintenance of goods or services already purchased, and notifications about purchases and deliveries. Back-in-stock notifications are not explicitly among them. The article adds that no goods or services may be promoted or advertised in these consent-free notifications. Treating the customer’s request as consent is therefore the more cautious route. If you store the request as consent, Article 7 requires consent obtained outside İYS to be registered in İYS within three business days; consent that is not registered is invalid.
Article 8 of the regulation also requires a commercial electronic message to contain information that identifies the sender: for merchants (tacir), the MERSİS (Central Registry Record System) number and the trade name; for tradespeople (esnaf), their first name, surname and Turkish national ID number or tax ID number. Where space is limited, as in an SMS, merchants must include 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 and where the identifying information should go in the message.
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 there is a price or sale sentence, the figures and dates match the product page.
- 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.
- Tapping “Stop promotions” from your own number actually takes you off the notification list.
Do not send a second notification to customers who did not buy
One notification per customer per restock is enough. The customer has already received the news, and a second message about the same product 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.
If you also announce the same product by bulk message during a sale, keep the customers on the waiting list out of that send if you can, so they do not get the same news twice on the same day. For an overview of the other message types that go out automatically on WhatsApp, see our article on WhatsApp e-commerce automation.
