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Back in Stock Flow not sending to suppressed profiles

  • 20 August 2021
  • 7 replies
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  • Contributor II
  • 3 replies

Hi there,

I think there is a logic error in the back in stock flow. Every now and then we see that a suppressed user signs up for the queue, but then does not receive an email because he is suppressed. In my understanding, the flow should be sent regardless of the status of the user (active or suppressed), as this is a separate signup and no newsletters are sent on it.

I had already contacted the support with this problem, but unfortunately no solution could be found. Do you have similar problems? Have you found solutions how to work around the problem?

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Best answer by alex.hong 21 August 2021, 00:11

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Userlevel 7
Badge +58

HI @Erik ,

Thanks for posting to the Community and glad to hear you’ve started a back in stock flow!

Apologies to hear that you have yet to find a solution for the problem. 

An interesting case I found was that (assuming you are using Shopify) if you are using a Back In Stock API to manage lists and profiles/suppressions, there is an issue with the coding and users need to add the “subscribe_for_newsletter: true” for the submission being made in their html scripts. When people have List ID being sent, they also requires another line to be submitted with it so that this issue does not occur.

 

Please keep the Community updated with your findings and solutions if possible!

Alex

 

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@alex.hong , when you say “subscribe_for_newsletter: true”, is that what needs to be in place of the “subscribe_checked: true” code? Or in addition to?

For our Back in Stock flow, we used the API key for our List ID from our Master List, which should also be unsuppressing an email once they sign up for the Back in Stock as far as I understand it. But it has not, and at least one profile has been skipped for their alert email because they were were suppressed, even though they signed up to join the list.

Userlevel 7
Badge +58

Hi @caitlinlmh,

So in this case the subscribe_for_newsletter line was something that some customers did not include when they were also sending their List ID. This allows for the profile to update when customers sign up for a back in stock alert. It will now removes their "suppressed" status and allows them to receive back in stock notifications even if they've previously unsubscribed to all emails.

I believe subscribe_checked: true is used in place for when customers subscribe in addition to BIS. It would be a separate thing added so that you can take off the suppression. I would double check with your developer to see that the  “subscribe_checked: true” is also included in your API calls and report back.

 

Best,

Alex

 

 

Userlevel 1
Badge +4

Hi @alex.hong ,

I noticed the same behaviour (skipped BIS notification due to suppression of the profile) which doesn’t seem sensible to me – assuming that the customer might have unsubscribed from the newsletter but is still expecting to be notified and won’t check the availability on its own again.

We’ve integrated the BIS using the provided snippet (https://help.klaviyo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001895651-How-to-Install-Back-in-Stock-for-Shopify) into our vintage Shopify theme (not 2.0).

What do I have to do to make sure the notification will also be send out to suppressed profiles?

Or do I have to change the integration to API (I hope not as my knowledge about that is probably not sufficient…)?

Thanks,
Stephan

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +58

Hi @stephan ,

This could be a case where you would want to utilize transactional emails so that suppressed users receive these emails. 

First you will create a Flow and build out the email(s) to be sent within the Flow. Once you have configured all the content in your flow, you can reach out to the Support Team and use the subject line "Transactional Email Request" so that the email(s) reach the appropriate team for review. In your message, include:

  • URL link(s) to the flow(s)
  • Flow name(s)
  • Subject line of the email(s) that are transactional

 
Once support verifies that your email is transactional, you will see a green badge on the email card. You will also see the transactional status enabled for a given email under the email’s settings.

Userlevel 1
Badge +4

Hi @alex.hong ,

Thank you for the reply – I’ll try that.

 

Userlevel 1
Badge +4

HI @alex.hong ,

I’ve received feedback from Support, unfortunately they don’t see a BIS-notification as a transactional email but with sole purpose for marketing :

Thank you for reaching out and for sharing the Community post. Unfortunately, Back in Stock emails cannot be marked transactional as they contain marketing material whose sole purpose is to engage the recipient and increase the likelihood of a sale. We have more information about the types of emails that are considered transactional in our guide on How to use flows to send transactional emails. 
 
What I would recommend is adding a "subscribe/opt in" checkbox to your back in stock signup modal so that customers give your permission for marketing emails/to send them an email and if they were suppressed/unsubscribed, they will be unsuppressed by checking that box. Here's instructions on how you would set that up in your Back in Stock integration/coding in Shopify:
 
https://help.klaviyo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001895651-How-to-Install-Back-in-Stock-for-Shopify#optional--prompt-customers-to-opt-in-to-marketing10

 

I find this debatable as of course all we do is increase the likelihood of a sale and in this case it’s not some random up-sell but the recipient asked specifically for the service of a notification which then won’t be fullfilled.

Anyhow – of course opting in is a thing we can additionally ask for, even though it sets another obstacle, but in our case as we are not resellers but only occasionally do larger reproductions, the timespan between signing up (and opting in) and the restock can be quite long.
Long enough it seems that someone receives a newsletter he’s unsubscribing from, not aware of the impact that has on the notification he’s waiting for.

 

This might be a smaller detail and even an exceptional case but I wonder if not more people face that issue and how others are dealing with it?
As we normally have rather limited stock, the BIS function is pretty crucial for us and any unintentionally missed notification are actual missed conversion.

 

Thanks for your help!

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