How to use SMS in your back in stock flows
You will learn
Learn how to use SMS in your back in stock flows with Klaviyo.
By adding an SMS to your back in stock flow, you can alert subscribers when products they’re interested in are restocked and help them return before items sell out again. Quiet hours can delay sending even after a product is restocked.
Before you begin
Before you add SMS to your back in stock flows, note the following:
- You must have already turned on SMS in your Klaviyo account.
- Individuals must be current SMS subscribers to receive text messages from a back in stock flow.
- Supported setups for SMS back in stock flows include Shopify, BigCommerce, PrestaShop, and Magento 2 stores, as well as stores with inventory-aware catalogs synced via custom catalog feed or API. See Understanding how back in stock flows work for other supported integrations.
- You must have set up back in stock for your ecommerce store and use a flow triggered by Klaviyo’s Subscribed to Back in Stock metric:
- Limit the number of text messages in your back in stock flow to 1 or 2 SMS.
Use SMS in your back in stock flows
There are 2 options for using SMS in your back in stock flows:
- Use SMS and email together in a flow (recommended)
- Make a separate, SMS-only back in stock flow
These options have a similar setup. When choosing between them, note that:
- The first method is more omnichannel, and it will be easier to analyze how your audience responds to SMS versus email
- For either option, review the back in stock flow’s settings (e.g., minimum inventory and customer notification rules). These settings are shared across all back in stock flows in your account.
Since the omnichannel approach is easier to maintain, analyze, and improve, we only go over that approach in this article.
Add SMS into a back in stock flow
- Navigate to the Flows tab.
- Either:
- Locate your existing back in stock flow (if you made one previously).
- Search for a back in stock flow template:
- Click Create flow
- Search “back in stock”
- Select one of the back in stock flows
- Name the flow in the modal
- Click Use template
- Add a conditional split after the Back in stock delay.
- Set the split to If someone can or cannot receive marketing > cannot receive > text message marketing.
- Click Save for the conditional split.
- Drag Text message onto the No path. Profiles who can receive text message marketing follow this path.
- Place the back in stock email on the Yes path, or keep it there if it is already in place. Review its content so profiles who cannot receive text message marketing can receive the restock email if they are eligible for email.
- Select the SMS and next to Content, click Edit.
- Add in your content:
- Example: “[Name of item] is back in stock! Grab yours before they’re gone again:”
- Replace [Name of item] with an event variable for the product name or the Product Title catalog tag for your integration. Catalog tags use the back in stock event to find the product in your catalog. See the catalog examples below or the guide to finding event variables and examples.
- Example: “[Name of item] is back in stock! Grab yours before they’re gone again:”
- After the text, insert the Product URL catalog tag for your integration to link to the restocked product. Add other product details from the examples as needed.
- Catalog tags are specific to your integration. Use the examples for your ecommerce platform below:
BigCommerce
Product Detail | Dynamic Event Variable (BigCommerce Stores) |
Product Title | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='bigcommerce' %} {{ catalog_item.title }} {% endcatalog %} |
Variant Image | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='bigcommerce' %} {{ catalog_item.variant.featured_image.full.src|default:catalog_item.featured_image.full.src }} {% endcatalog %} |
Product URL | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='bigcommerce' %}{{ catalog_item.url }}{% endcatalog %} |
Product Price | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='bigcommerce' %}{% currency_format catalog_item.metadata.price|floatformat:2 %}{% endcatalog %} |
Variant Title | {% catalog event.VariantId integration="bigcommerce" %} {{ catalog_item.variant.title }} {% endcatalog %} |
Variant URL | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='bigcommerce' %}{{ catalog_item.url }}?variant={{ catalog_item.variant.id }}{% endcatalog %} |
- Shopify
Product Detail | Dynamic Event Variable (Shopify Stores) |
Product Title | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='shopify' %} {{ catalog_item.title }} {% endcatalog %} |
Variant Image | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='shopify' %} {{ catalog_item.variant.featured_image.full.src|default:catalog_item.featured_image.full.src }} {% endcatalog %} |
Product URL | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='shopify' %}{{ catalog_item.url }}{% endcatalog %} |
Product Price | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='shopify' %}{% currency_format catalog_item.variant.price|floatformat:2 %}{% endcatalog %} |
Variant Title | {% catalog event.VariantId integration="shopify" %} {{ catalog_item.variant.title }} {% endcatalog %} |
Variant URL | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='shopify' %}{{ catalog_item.url }}?variant={{ catalog_item.variant.id }}{% endcatalog %} |
- Magento 2
Product Detail | Dynamic Event Variable (Magento 2 Stores) |
Product Title | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='magento_two' %} {{ catalog_item.title }} {% endcatalog %} |
Variant Image | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='magento_two' %} {{ catalog_item.variant.featured_image.full.src|default:catalog_item.featured_image.full.src }} {% endcatalog %} |
Product URL | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='magento_two' %}{{ catalog_item.url }}{% endcatalog %} |
Product Price | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='magento_two' %}{% currency_format catalog_item.variant.price|floatformat:2 %}{% endcatalog %} |
Variant Title | {% catalog event.VariantId integration="magento_two" %} {{ catalog_item.variant.title }} {% endcatalog %} |
Variant URL | {% catalog event.VariantId integration='magento_two' %}{{ catalog_item.url }}?variant={{ catalog_item.variant.id }}{% endcatalog %} |
- Click Preview & test and preview the SMS with a Subscribed to Back in Stock event. Check that the product name appears correctly and that the link opens the intended product. If you use a Variant URL, also check that it selects the intended variant.
- Once you confirm that the back in stock message appears as expected, click Done to close the preview, then click Next to save and return to the flow builder.
- Review the SMS and email before activating the flow. Select Review and turn on or Update status at the top of the flow builder.
- Under Flow status, choose Live. Select Now if the timing options appear, then click Save. Confirm that the SMS and email you intend to send are Live.
Outcome and next steps
You can now send back in stock flow messages via SMS.
Optimizing the flow
We recommend keeping an eye on how your audience responds to these messages, as it’s important to make sure you’re seeing high engagement.
If engagement is low, test whether your audience prefers email or SMS. Each business is unique, and so is their audience. Your audience may prefer to receive back in stock alerts via email rather than SMS.
Additional resources
- How to configure back in stock alert emails
Learn how to use pre-built templates or configure a custom template for a back in stock flow email. When creating a back in stock flow email, it's important to set up the message so that it shows the right product data. Klaviyo supports back in stock flows for accounts with Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento 2, PrestaShop, Shopware, and SFCC integrations, as well as accounts with inventory-aware catalogs sync via custom catalog feed or API. The instructions below cover Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento 2 integrations.
- Understanding how back in stock flows work
Learn about how back in stock flows work, how contacts move through them, and how they appear different from most other metric-triggered flows. For instance, they have the back in stock delay component, which is unique to this type of flow.
- Guide to Klaviyo Helpdesk
Learn about Klaviyo Helpdesk, which helps you manage support conversations across all channels, powered by the data you already have in Klaviyo.
- SMS marketing strategies for all levels