Back in Stock: SMS Setup

What?

When enabled, the sign-up form will include the option for the user to include their mobile number as well as the email address.

When the product is restocked, the customer will receive the notification type they opt in for, Email, SMS or Web-push.

Why?

When enabled - SMS notifications on average convert at 3x the rate of email notifications. Prioritize SMS to ramp up your sales!

Pricing

SMS notifications will cost $0.015 per message. SMS is not currently not included in any of our monthly plans, so all SMS notifications will be charged in addition to your plan. Usage charges will appear on the same Shopify invoice as your monthly payment.

How to Setup

First, Enable SMS Notifications

(Shortcut to SMS Notifications page)

Go to Back in Stock Alerts -> Configuration

2. Under tabs look for Notification Channels

Enable both checkboxes and hit Save changes.

You will see the boxes get greyed out with a notice that SMS approval is underway.

You may wish to reach out to our support to get your request reviewed faster. Our team approves requests on average within 1 business day.

4.After it has been approved on our end, you may wish to return to confirm the notice is gone. SMS should be enabled automatically already.

Customizing SMS Template

You can now adjust your SMS template via visiting this page

Customization -> Notification Templates -> SMS (tab). Shortcut to SMS Template

The SMS message has a maximum of 160 characters, the SMS message will need to be tailored to fit inside this limit.

The template requires that the shop.name, product.title, variant.url are present in the template.

The shop.name is your stores name.

The product/variant.title is the title of the product. You will generally want these next to each other, as if the product has variants the variant title may be used.

The variant.url is a link directly to the product.

There are also some optional variables, like the variant.price; this will print the product/variants price in the SMS.

For a full technical breakdown of All variables types, refer to this indepth article.

Shop.name

Take a look at the length of your store name in the Template preview:

In the options you can input the number of characters - including spaces in the name:

This will give you a more accurate count of how many characters you have available; if your store name is long, you may want to shorten the number of characters – Using OrbosUniverse for example, this could be shortened to 5 and just show Orbos.

product.title & variant.title

The product title and variant title can also be configured: for a product, if the title is bigger than the 'truncated' size, it will … at the end of the name to denote there is more text:

On average our example store uses shorter product names, so we have set this to 17 characters, the variant.title_unless_default will be the name used if the product has variants.

Once you have set these, you can see how many characters you have available and adjust the template body.

Examples:

Recommendation: Use SMS with Campaign Sequences

SMS notifications work powerfully with campaign sequences to maximize conversions:

Strategic SMS Usage

Single alerts: One-time SMS when products restock
Campaign sequences: Multiple SMS follow-ups with different messaging

Set up SMS campaigns: See Back in Stock: Campaigns to create timed SMS sequences. Each campaign step can have unique SMS messages and delays.

Combine with email: Use both email and SMS in the same campaign for maximum reach - customers choose their preferred notification method.

FAQ

Can I turn SMS notifications on for existing notifications?

No. Existing notifications were created with the customer's email address and a phone number is required to send it by SMS.

Can we send SMS notifications to customers in any country?

SMS Notifications can be sent to customers in any country, but they are currently only available for stores using the Latin/Roman alphabet in SMS messages.

Can I test out SMS notifications and then turn it off at will?

Sure, try it out and see how it goes! You can always turn it off if it’s not working for you. If SMS feature is enabled and then disabled, however, any pending notifications that haven't yet been sent will not send when your product is back in stock. This is because if a user opts for SMS notifications (not email) we won’t have a way to contact them if SMS feature is turned off.

How do I see how many I’ve sent? (to gauge popularity or cost)

Your account's Notification Report will show all notifications created with a phone number and exactly when it was sent.

Can we use our existing Short code for SMS delivery?

It is not possible to use a custom Short code at this time.

Can we include a product image in the SMS message?

No; at this time the message is text only.

Removed/Disallowed words;

In compliance with S.H.A.F.T the following words are automatically removed from any SMS message; Vape/Vaping, CBD/Marijuana/Cannabis.