How to use the out of stock sign-up form

You will learn

Learn how to collect email subscribers who want to hear updates about out of stock items to a particular list, so you can notify them when items are back in stock. By collecting subscribers via the out of stock form and adding them to a specific list, you can send them a tailored welcome series, give them the opportunity to backorder the product (if you’ve set up a backorder page for your site), or message them via a campaign once you’ve restocked. This form is a great opportunity to collect subscribers, even if you are experiencing out of stock issues or supply delays. 

Before you begin

There are 2 important things to keep in mind about this process:

• You must set the form live manually after your product goes out of stock. 
• If you want to collect subscribers for multiple products, you’ll need to create separate forms (and accompanying lists) for each out-of-stock product and display each form on that specific page. 

Process overview

The necessary steps to set up this process are:

1. Create a list to add subscribers to.
2. Set up an out of stock form for your product.
3. Message subscribers with your desired content.

Then, repeat this process if there are other out of stock products you’d like to collect subscribers for. 

Create your list

First, you’ll need to create a list for your form subscribers to be added to.

1. In your Klaviyo dashboard, click the Audience dropdown and select the Lists & segments tab.

2. In the upper right corner, click Create List/Segment and then choose List.

3. Name your list [Product] Out of Stock Subscribers, with the specific product included if you’re enabling the form for multiple products, choose any tags you would like to use, and click Create List.

4. Your list will be set to double opt-in by default. If you’d like, you can learn how to enable single opt-in, but we recommend that you stick with double opt-in. 

Next, you’ll need to set up your form in order to add subscribers to your list. 

Set up your form

1. To set up your out of stock form, navigate to the Sign-up forms tab to be shown the forms library.

2. Scroll down and click on the Looking for something? form.

3. In the popup, you can edit the form name and choose the [Product] Out of Stock Subscribers list.

4. Click Create Form.

5. You’ll be brought to the form builder where you can customize your form and success message to fit your goal and brand. 

6. Under Targeting & Behavior, make sure to set your form to Only show on certain URLs, and then add the URL of the product page you’d like your form to appear on. Here, you can also set other form behaviors, such as device and visitor targeting.

7. When your product goes out of stock, you’ll need to set the form live manually in order to collect subscribers at the right time. 

Message out of stock subscribers

This form is a great way to collect subscribers, even if a product is out of stock, and there are many ways to reach out to customers who’ve signed up to hear about out of stock products. Here are a few different options:

• Create a welcome series for form subscribers who’ve never signed up before and are new to your brand. You can tailor this welcome series to mention that they will receive another email when the item they are interested in is restocked.
• If you’ve set up a way to allow customers to pre-order products on your site, send a campaign to out of stock subscribers with a link to backorder the product. This is a great way to give subscribers first dibs on backordering, if the page isn’t otherwise findable or linked from the product page on your site. 
• Once the product has been restocked, send a campaign to subscribers with a notification that you’ve restocked and a link to the product.

Additional resources

• Understanding how back in stock flows work
• Understanding the double opt-in process
• How to create an email welcome series