How to Promote Your "Notify Me" Button to Increase Sign-Ups

Most Shopify stores install a back-in-stock app, set up the Notify Me button, and then wait. The button is there. Shoppers who find an out-of-stock product and notice the button will sometimes sign up. The list grows slowly, one passive sign-up at a time.

This is the baseline. But it's leaving a lot on the table.

The stores that get the most out of their back-in-stock system don't just install the button and hope — they actively drive traffic to it. They talk about it in emails, on social, in ads, and in their customer service. They make the sign-up feel like a benefit, not a fallback.

This post covers exactly how to do that.

First: Make Sure the Button Is in All the Right Places

Before you promote anything, confirm the button is actually showing where it should. Remind Notification lets you enable the Notify Me button on product pages, collection pages, and your homepage. Each one can be turned on or off independently in Back in stock → Customize.

Collection pages are worth a specific mention. Many store owners enable the button on product pages but not on collection pages. This is a missed opportunity. Shoppers browsing collections often don't click through to every product page — they scan thumbnails and titles. If a product is sold out and the Notify Me button appears right on the collection page, they can sign up without an extra click.

For other pages — custom landing pages, blog posts, featured product sections — you can add the widget manually through Shopify's theme editor. Go to Themes → Customize → find the page → add the RN - Back Stock & Low Stock app block. This is useful for dedicated "Coming Soon" pages, restocking announcements, or any place where you're writing about a product that isn't currently available.

For a full breakdown of which sign-up placements work best across your store, the post on the best places on your Shopify store to capture email addresses is worth reading alongside this one.

Promote Sold-Out Products on Social Media

Most brands avoid posting about sold-out products. It feels like advertising something you can't actually sell. But the opposite is true — sold-out products are some of your strongest social proof.

"This sold out in 48 hours" is a powerful statement. It tells your audience that this product is worth wanting.

Post about sold-out products with a call to action: "Sold out — but not forever. Click the link in bio to sign up for a restock alert and be the first to know when it's back." Direct the link to the specific product page, not just your homepage.

On Instagram and TikTok, Stories work especially well for this. A quick "We sold out of [Product Name] — here's how to get notified when it returns" video or image, with a link sticker pointing to the product page, is low-effort and can drive a meaningful number of sign-ups from an already-warm audience.

For products with high waitlist numbers, you can even share that data: "Over 200 people are already on the waitlist for this one." That turns your subscriber list into social proof for the next restock.

Send an Email to Your Existing List About the Waitlist Feature

Your general email list doesn't know your back-in-stock notification system exists unless you tell them. A simple email explaining how it works can drive a surge of sign-ups from people who have already visited your store and found products unavailable.

The email doesn't need to be complicated. Here's a simple structure:

Subject: Never miss a product again

Body: Have you ever visited our store, found something you wanted, and discovered it was out of stock? We've added a feature to fix that.

On any sold-out product page, you'll see a "Notify Me When Available" button. Enter your email (or phone number for an SMS or WhatsApp alert), and we'll contact you the moment the product is back in stock.

No more checking back manually. No more missing the restock.

CTA: Browse our store → [link]

This kind of email works especially well if you've recently had popular products sell out. Shoppers who experienced that frustration firsthand are the most likely to use the feature.

Mention It in Customer Service Conversations

Every time a customer contacts you asking about a sold-out product, you have a sign-up opportunity. Instead of just saying "That item is out of stock, sorry," include a next step: "You can sign up for a restock alert directly on the product page — just click the Notify Me button and we'll email you as soon as it's back."

This turns a potentially frustrating customer service interaction into a helpful one. The customer gets a solution. You get a sign-up.

If you use a helpdesk tool, consider adding a template reply for out-of-stock questions that includes this language. It costs nothing to add and consistently directs interested shoppers to the sign-up.

Highlight the Multi-Channel Options

One of the advantages of Remind Notification is that shoppers can choose how they want to be notified — email, SMS, or WhatsApp. This is worth mentioning when you promote the feature, because it changes how some shoppers perceive the sign-up.

Some people are cautious about giving out their email. Offering an SMS or WhatsApp option can lower that barrier. Others specifically prefer texts or messages over email because they're more likely to see them. When you mention the Notify Me button in your marketing, don't just say "get an email alert" — say "get an email, SMS, or WhatsApp alert."

WhatsApp is particularly worth calling out if your audience skews toward markets where WhatsApp is the primary messaging channel — Europe, Latin America, India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. For these customers, a WhatsApp notification is more likely to be seen and acted on than an email.

Feature the "Notify Me" Button in Your Product Photography and Store Design

A small but underused tactic: show the button in your store's visual design rather than treating it as purely functional. If you have lifestyle photography that shows your product pages, include a screenshot or mockup that features the Notify Me button. This normalizes the experience and primes shoppers to look for it when they encounter an out-of-stock product.

Some stores also add a brief note in their navigation or a banner: "Missed a product? Sign up for restock alerts." This is a passive but always-visible reminder that the feature exists.

Run a "Coming Back Soon" Campaign Before a Restock

If you know a product is returning in the next few weeks, build anticipation around it. Rather than simply restocking and sending an email, create a short campaign:

Week 1: Post on social: "By popular demand — [Product Name] is coming back soon. Get on the waitlist: [link]"

Week 2: Send an email to your list: "One of our most-requested products is coming back. Sign up to be first."

Day before: "Tomorrow. [Product Name] is back. If you're not on the list yet, sign up now: [link]"

Day of: Notify subscribers. Post to social simultaneously: "It's back — and the waitlist is already getting their notifications now."

This sequence does something important: it creates a sense of occasion around the restock. Instead of a quiet inventory update, it becomes a product drop. Shoppers who missed the product the first time are primed and ready. The sign-up list going into the restock is larger than it would be if you'd said nothing, which means the restock email reaches more people and recovers more revenue.

The key is to link every piece of content in the campaign directly to the product page, where the Notify Me button is live and ready to capture sign-ups.

Measure What's Working

Remind Notification's reporting shows you how many requests each product has received and what percentage of notified subscribers went on to purchase. Use this data to identify which products and which promotion tactics are driving the most sign-ups.

If you run a campaign around a specific product and see a spike in sign-ups, you know that approach works for your audience. If a certain social post outperforms others at driving product page traffic, replicate the format for the next sold-out product.

The goal isn't just a bigger list — it's a list of genuinely interested shoppers who are ready to buy when the restock arrives. Promotion is how you build that list faster than waiting for it to happen passively. Once the habit is in place, every future stockout becomes an opportunity rather than just a loss.