Stock notifications is a functionality enabling customers to subscribe to notifications for out-of-stock products becoming available again. By integrating Finqu's stock notifications with the Mailchimp service, you can automate message delivery.
Prerequisites for using stock notifications
Stock notification functionality requires the following:
1. Compatible themes:
The following themes include a feature allowing customers to subscribe to stock notifications:
Aurora
Bloom
Wave
Celesta
Veloura
Nova
2. Mailchimp service:
Note: The Mailchimp service is required for automatic notification delivery. If you do not wish to subscribe to the paid Mailchimp service, you can download a list of emails and manually send messages (instructions).
Stock notifications utilize Mailchimp for message delivery. You should have at least the Mailchimp Standard package. Within this Standard package, you can activate the "Transactional Emails" feature, which is used for sending stock notifications to customers.
Mailchimp's total price consists of the Mailchimp package price + how much you use the "Transactional Emails" feature.
Example pricing (based on Mailchimp's prices as of March 19, 2024):
Mailchimp Standard package. Price: $20.
Up to 25,000 availability notifications per month. Price: $20.
Total price: $40, approximately 36.98 € / month.
You can view Mailchimp's prices on their website at https://mailchimp.com/pricing/marketing/.
The website allows you to try different prices depending on the number of messages. If you send more than 25,000 stock notifications per month or use Mailchimp for newsletter delivery and need more delivery capacity, you can adjust the calculator to see how it affects the price.
Automatic stock notifications (Mailchimp):
1/5: Mailchimp Installation and Connection
Sending stock notifications via Mailchimp requires installing the Mailchimp application and connecting it to your Mailchimp account. Note that you need an account with Mailchimp for this.
Go to the Apps section in the top right corner menu.
Click Install next to Mailchimp.
Accept the application installation and allow access to the data.
Click the Open button next to the Mailchimp application.
Click the Connect button.
Sign in to your Mailchimp account.
Allow access to your Mailchimp account by clicking the Allow button.
2/5: API Key Creation and Copying to Finqu
To use Mailchimp for stock notifications, you should create an API key there and copy it to Finqu. It is done as follows:
Go to the Mailchimp application details in Finqu.
On the page, there is a "Mailchimp Transactional" section with an empty field for the API key.
Below the field is a guide on how to create an API key. Click the link provided to access this Mailchimp service (Mandrill). Sign in with Mailchimp if necessary.
Click the New API key button.
Click the Create API key button.
Copy the key by clicking the Copy button.
Close the notification.
Return to Finqu and the Mailchimp application details.
Paste the copied key into the designated field in the "Mailchimp Transactional" section.
Click the Save button.
3/5: Adding Default Message Template
Stock notification messages are sent via the Mailchimp service. Therefore, a message template should be created there. You can create this message template with one click as follows:
Go to the Mailchimp application details in Finqu.
On the page, there is a "Default Message Template" section.
Click the Create or Update a Template button in the section.
Finqu automatically creates a message template in the Mailchimp service in the background.
You can modify the template via the Mailchimp service if desired. In the "Default Message Template" section, you'll find a link that takes you to edit the template.
4/5: Linking the Domain
Messages sent from the Mailchimp service require that you have linked your domain to their service.
If your domain is hosted with Finqu, you can link it by selecting it from the menu in the "Domain" section of the Mailchimp application.
If your domain is hosted elsewhere, you should obtain specific DNS records from the Mailchimp service and add them to your domain. Instructions for doing this can be found on the Mailchimp service website at https://mandrillapp.com/settings/sending-domains.
5/5: Stock Notification Settings
The final step in setup is defining the settings for stock notifications.
Find the "Notification Settings" section on the Mailchimp application page.
From the dropdown menu, select the message template you created in step 3.
Turn on "Automatic Delivery" if you want messages to be sent automatically when a product is back in stock.
Enter the following information in the fields provided:
- Subject is the title that will appear in the customer's email.
- From Name is your online store's or company's name.
- From email is your online store's email address. This will appear as the sender in the customer's email, and replies to this address will go to it if the customer replies to the message.
Monitoring Stock Notifications
Through the online store's inventory, you can see which products have had stock notifications ordered. You can find them by going to Products > Inventory > Actions > Stock Notifications.
There, you'll see the following four sections:
All: Contains all products for which availability notifications have been ordered.
Waiting inventory: Contains products whose stock is still out.
Notification Available: Contains products whose stock is no longer out. Products appear here if availability notifications are not sent automatically.
Sent: Contains products whose stock is no longer out, and for which availability notifications have already been sent to customers.
If you have the Mailchimp integration that sends availability notifications automatically, you don't need to worry about sending messages separately. Instead, you can mainly monitor the situation through the sections listed above and see which products have had availability notifications ordered.
Manually Sending Stock Notifications
If you don't use Mailchimp and its automatic notifications, you can also send messages manually. This can be done as follows:
Go to Products > Inventory > Actions > Stock Notifications.
Open the "Notification available" section.
Click the "Export" button and confirm the data export.
Go to the top right corner menu and select "Data Transfer".
Click the file name and download it to your device.
The CSV file can be opened, for example, in Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel, and from there, you can copy emails or edit the CSV so that you can import data to another system you use for sending messages.