An automated program triggered when a product is back in stock, which sends an email to customers who viewed it while it was unavailable.
The Back in stock Tactic using Relational Data is no longer available. For this reason, Emarsys recommends using Interactions-based Product catalog updates.
To create an Interactions-based Back in stock Tactic, follow the instructions in Creating a Back in stock Tactic in Interactions.
Currently, Emarsys Support will update your templates for Product catalog update Tactics. If you would like to understand the template update process better or update the template yourself, check Updating your template for Product catalog update Tactics.
Tactic details
Overview
This demand generation Tactic is enhanced with product recommendations in the same product category, with incentives for leads, defecting and active customers.
It supports the Revenue objective and contributes to the following strategies:
- Convert leads to first-time buyers
- Convert first-time buyers to active customers
- Retain active customers
- Win back defecting customers
- Win back inactive customers
Prerequisites
The prerequisites for the Back in stock Tactic to work are the following:
- Web Extend
- Predict
Channels
This Tactic has three versions, each specific for different channels:
Basic workflow
This Tactic looks for back-in-stock items appearing between two uploaded product catalogs. When it has the list of back-in-stock items, it calculates the affinity of customers. All customers are considered who have viewed the the product at least once between 12 hours and the last 90 days.
We monitor Predict product catalog's available field to be informed about back in stock events. Be aware, this field is a boolean field which means it can indicate if a product is available or not (TRUE/FALSE), but cannot indicate the stock amount. We compare the current product catalog state to the previous state.
Please bear in mind the following:
- Calculation happens at 14:00 UTC.
- Any Data Platform to Relational Data load after the calculation will replace the previous state, so only fresh data will be stored in the Relational Data database.
- Currently, we use the last 2 versions of the product catalog to feed our calculations. This means the calculation works only if a customer doesn't load their product catalog more than once a day.
- E.g: the product catalog load is scheduled to run every even hour. In this case, the back in stock calculation will compare the product catalogs uploaded at 12:00 and 14:00 and not the changes that happened from one day to the next.
- We suggest scheduling the Automation Center campaigns outside of the loading hours. The approximate loading hours for Back in stock Tactic is 14:00 to 17:00 UTC.
- Product views which are followed by purchase are not filtered out from the calculation.
Interactions programs
SMS-only variant
The SMS-only variant of the Back in Stock Tactic looks like the following:

The program starts with checking the Product Catalog if there was a product back in stock in the last one day. Then an SMS will be sent about the product being back in stock, to contacts who meet the following criteria:
- Opted in for SMS messages.
- Viewed the product in the last five days.
- Did not purchase the product in the last five days.
Email + SMS variant
The email + SMS variant of the Back in Stock Tactic looks like the following:

The program starts with checking the Product Catalog if there was a product back in stock in the last one day. Then an email and SMS will be sent about the product being back in stock, to contacts who meet the following criteria:
- Opted in for email and SMS messages.
- Viewed the product in the last five days.
- Did not purchase the product in the last five days.
- SMS message will be sent only to high-value customers, whose last purchase reached a certain amount.
Creating an email-only Back in stock Tactic in Interactions
1. Please contact your Client Success Manager or Emarsys Support.
2. Emarsys will create your Back in stock Tactic in Interactions.
3. Choose from the following options:
- If your template was created by Emarsys, you do not have to update it. You can proceed to the next step.
- If you use your own template, you need to update it by following the instructions in Updating your template for Product catalog update Tactics.
4. Open your Back in stock campaign and add the required tokens to the Repeatable block.
5. Once your campaign is ready, replace the original email campaign with your updated Back in stock campaign in the Tactic Interactions program.
6. Activate your Back in stock Interactions program.
You can check the results on the Strategic Dashboard.
Email-only legacy solution
Automation Center program
The email-only Automation Center program looks like this.

-
Entry node
The program starts with a Recurring filter node that runs every day and uses a relational segment that returns all customers who have products back in stock. -
Email path
The program then waits three days after the initial email before filtering for customers who made a purchase within the last three days. If TRUE, the contact exits the program. If FALSE, a reminder email is sent.