You can notify customers who are interested in a specific product when the stocks are running low (i.e. the number of available products falls below the specified amount) with the Low in stock product catalog change type. The Product Catalog Updates program compares the current product catalog to the one that was checked when you sent the last campaign and notifies customers when the requirements are fulfilled.
You can use the Repeatable Block in your low in stock campaign. For more information, see Adding the Repeatable Block to campaigns using Product sets.
If you selected the Low in stock option, then you need specify the following values:
- Stock amount field - The custom field in the product catalog that stores the stock amount. The calculation only works with numeric fields. If you select a field that does not contain a numeric value, then the calculation will fail. For more information, see Which fields can I select from the product catalog when setting up the low in stock calculation?
- Low in stock threshold - Contacts will be notified when the number of available products falls below the specified value.
Please note that you can only enter integers into the Low in stock threshold field. If the Stock amount field in your product catalog contains float values, then the Product Catalog Updates program will process the data as follows: For example, if a product’s Stock amount is 100,5 in your product catalog and the Low in stock threshold is set to 100, then it will not notify your contacts in this case.
When you have configured the required fields, follow the instructions in Creating a Low in stock campaign.
Creating a Low in stock campaign
When you are ready with configuring the Product Catalog Updates trigger, proceed as follows:
1. Add a Decision node to your program, select the Included in segment template and choose a segment including contacts whose opt-in status is true.
2. Go to Channels > Triggered Email > Mail Streams and create your Triggered Email campaign.
3. Add a Repeatable Block to your campaign and configure it as described in Adding the Repeatable Block to campaigns using Product sets and select the Low in stock Product set.
FAQ
When does Interactions trigger a low in stock notification?
This is how Interactions triggers a low in stock notification:
- It checks if there are changes in your product catalog by comparing the most up-to-date version to the one that was checked when the program ran the last time.
- It sends a low in stock notification when the available stock falls below the specified threshold.
- The notification is sent only once to avoid bombarding costumers with the same low in stock campaign. So, if the stock stays below the threshold, then it will not trigger a low in stock notification again.
Let’s say that you would like to send a notification when the stock falls below 50 and your program runs every day. For example:
- On Monday, the number of available products is 60.
- There are only 49 items on Tuesday. As a result, the audience interested in this product will receive a low in stock notification.
- On Wednesday, there are only 10 products left. However, in this case, Interactions will not trigger a low in stock notification again as your contacts already received the campaign on Tuesday when the number of available items fell below the specified threshold.
Can I select localized fields for calculation?
Yes, you can. Localized stock amount fields should be stored as separate custom fields. If you have different markets with stock amounts, then you need to build multiple programs. Make sure to use the right filter in the journey so that only contacts in the specific market will be targeted.
Can I use localized fields in the content?
Currently, you can’t, however, the Personalization Team is already working on a solution. You can select localized price or availability fields in Price drop or Back in stock campaigns. In such campaigns, the localized standard fields are sent within the payload (i.e. title, price, old_price, MSRP, link, image, etc.).
Which fields can I select from the product catalog when setting up the low in stock calculation?
All the custom fields in your product catalog are listed but the calculation will only be valid if you select a field containing numeric values. If the calculation fails due to an invalid value type (e.g. string), then you will receive a detailed notification including the item IDs which contain invalid values: “During the last run of the “<Program name>” low in stock program, we found <X> non-numeric values in the selected “<Field name>” product catalog field. Examples of the affected item IDs: <Y>. Make sure that the “<Field name>” field only contains numeric values.”