When a popular product sells out, the shoppers who wanted it leave, and nothing brings them back. A WooCommerce back in stock email gives them a reason to return: they ask once, and your store tells them when the item is available again.
This guide walks through Back In Stock from both sides, the admin and the customer. By the end, you will have a signup card on sold-out products, email confirmation for new requests, a My Account page where customers manage their alerts, and branded emails that go out when stock returns.
What you need
- WordPress 6.6 or newer, WooCommerce 9.0 or newer, and PHP 8.1 or newer.
- Back In Stock, installed and activated, with an active license. Signup forms and alert delivery pause when license access ends.
- Working scheduled processing. The plugin uses Action Scheduler, with WP-Cron as a fallback, for confirmations, alerts and cleanup.
- A working email setup: your normal WordPress mail, including any SMTP plugin, or a SendGrid account.
Step 1: Check the notification settings
Open WooCommerce → Back in Stock. If another UFP plugin is active, you will find it under UFP → Back in Stock instead. Start on the Settings tab:
- Enable stock notifications shows the signup card on eligible out-of-stock products and processes alerts.
- When variations can be selected decides whether an alert follows the exact variation a shopper picks, or watches the whole product.
- Confirm email addresses is on by default. A new request stays pending until the customer clicks the confirmation link.
- Consent label is the text beside the required consent checkbox. Keep it about the one stock alert.
Click Save changes before you move to the next tab.
Step 2: Design the signup card
Open the Styling tab. Pick one of the six color palettes, such as Forest, Ocean or Minimal monochrome, then fine-tune individual colors if you need to. Under Card design, choose the card style, shadow, icon and Signup button layout.
In Card content, write the Heading, Description, Button label and Success message in your store’s own voice. The live preview updates as you edit. Under Position, choose where the card appears on Classic product pages and in Block product templates. Both default to Below add to cart.
Click Save changes, then open a sold-out product to see the result.
Step 3: Try a signup as a customer
On a sold-out product, the card invites the shopper to leave an email address. Signed-in customers see their account email already in place, with an option to change it. The consent checkbox is always required, so each request is a clear permission for one stock alert.
With confirmation turned on, the saved request now waits for the customer to confirm by email. The card shows that status, and the customer can ask for the confirmation to be sent again. Confirmation links expire 48 hours after the latest request.
Step 4: Let customers manage their alerts
Signed-in customers get a Back in Stock section in My Account. It lists their requests, including alerts sent to another address, with the status of each one. A Disable notification button removes an alert they no longer need.
You can change the section heading and introduction under Styling → Customer account and confirmation pages.
Step 5: See what customers are waiting for
Open the Notifications tab. Its Products view lists every product with subscribers. Search by product name, SKU or ID, and sort by Most subscribers or Longest out of stock to decide what to restock first.
Open a product to see each subscriber and the variation they chose. Filter by subscription state to separate requests that are still Awaiting confirmation from those Waiting for stock. The Email tracker view records confirmation emails, stock alerts and test messages.
Step 6: Personalize the emails
Open Email Personalization. It works like the Styling tab: start from a palette, add your logo, and choose whether to show the product image. Edit the Subject line, Heading, Message and Button label. The {product_name} and {store_name} placeholders keep each email specific to the item.
Check the desktop and mobile previews, and switch Email to preview between the back-in-stock alert and the email confirmation. An unsubscribe link is always included below your footer. Click Save changes when both look right.
Step 7: Test your email delivery
Open Email Settings → Delivery. The Sending method is WordPress (default), which uses wp_mail() and any SMTP plugin you already have. Add a Sender name and Reply-to email address if you want them. The SendGrid integration tab is optional, for sending through the SendGrid API.
Under Test your delivery, enter a Test recipient and click Send test email, then check the inbox and spam folder. Finally, run one full cycle on your store: sign up, confirm, put the product back in stock, and check that the alert arrives.
Good to know
- An alert is a one-time notification. It does not reserve stock, and it does not add anyone to a newsletter.
- Backorders are not restocks. Alerts wait for the requested item to be back in stock.
- “Accepted by sender” means your sending method accepted the email. It does not prove the message reached the inbox.
- Alerts depend on scheduled processing. If your site’s scheduler does not run, confirmations, alerts and cleanup wait.
- On multisite, activate the plugin on each site separately. Network-wide activation is not supported.
Frequently asked questions
Can customers ask for an alert for one size or color?
Yes. With Notify for the selected variation, the card appears for the sold-out variation a shopper picks, and the alert waits for that variation. When no variation can be bought, you can offer Notify when any variation returns instead, which is sent when the first option comes back.
Can I keep my existing SMTP plugin?
Yes. Leave the sending method set to WordPress. The plugin sends through the normal WordPress mail function, so your SMTP plugin keeps handling delivery. SendGrid is an optional alternative, not a requirement.
What happens when a customer no longer wants the alert?
They can disable it in My Account, or use the cancellation link that every email includes. A cancellation stops any queued work for that request, but it cannot recall an email that was already handed to the sending service.
How long are requests kept?
By default, 90 days. You can set Request and record retention on the Settings tab to anything from 7 to 730 days. Cleanup runs through scheduled processing, like the alerts themselves.
