More than 1.3 billion people use Facebook Messenger. 90 million businesses use Facebook. 20 billion messages are exchanged between customers and businesses every month on Messenger!
On average, a person spends more than 2 hours on Messenger every day.
Its popularity and high usage makes it a perfect channel to recover customers you lost to out of stock products.
However, if you’re using Facebook Messenger for your back in stock strategy, you need to do it correctly.
We’ll tell you the best practices to follow when using Facebook Messenger for your back in stock campaigns.
Source: Octane AI
Facebook Messenger back in stock alerts best practices
1. Use urgency and FOMO in your copy. Always
Even though shoppers had shown interest in the product and subscribed to its restock alerts, it’s not easy to get them to purchase it when it’s back in stock.
There are many reasons for this: shoppers had simply subscribed, they aren’t interested in it anymore, bought it from elsewhere or found an alternative.
As a marketer, it’s your job to entice these subscribers back to the product page and to make a purchase.
And that’s why you need the popular concept of FOMO and urgency.
When there’s urgency and a fear of missing out something, we humans react faster. Because these concepts have a psychological effect on us.
See the below statistics:
Source: Finance Online
Some tips to use FOMO and urgency in Messenger restock alerts:
- Your copy should have the right words that create FOMO
- Show that the product is in high demand
- If there’s an offer attached to the product, let people know it’s not going to last forever
- Use numbers to show how many people are buying it, how many pieces are left
- Offer limited-time offers
2. Provide a direct link to the product page
Why do customers like to shop with some brands more than others? Why do they enjoy some online experiences more than others?
It’s simple — customers like brands that make their shopping experience easy. One key ingredient to achieve this in your Messenger restock notifications is a link that takes them directly to the product page.
How does this simple feature help?
- It makes the shoppers’ life easier
- Shoppers don’t have to put any effort in finding that product on your website
- It makes purchase quicker in just a few clicks
- It has a greater recall factor – the URL, product image, etc.
Here’s an example:
3. Keep it short and sweet
Studies show that consumers are finding the constant flurry of promotional messages overwhelming. The study found that the one thing that makes consumers ‘sticky’ is decision simplicity — the ease with which they can find important information about the product and buy the product.
When sending a Messenger restock notification, it’s important to craft your copy in the right manner. The trick is to keep it short and simple.
Why?
Because it’s easy to read and understand.
Some cues to get your copy right:
- Personalize the message (91% of customers are more likely to shop with brands that know their customers)
- Speak one on one – For example, I, you, your
- Include images of the product in the message
- Avoid complicated industry jargon
- Keep the approach friendly and personal
- Keep it interesting and informative
4. Show an image and short description of the product
It might happen that there was a considerable gap between the time the shopper subscribed for the notification and when the product got restocked. It’s common for shoppers to forget about items.
This is when having an image and a short description of the product can help immensely.
- Images have a greater recall value
- The short description can give a quick gist about the product
- A message with an image and a description is visually appealing
5. Remind subscribers why they are receiving the message
When reaching out to customers, it’s always better to set the context to why you are messaging them. That way they know what to expect from your message and there are no surprises.
Here’s what you should do:
- Tell them clearly that it’s a restock notification
- Remind them that they had subscribed to receive the message
- Remind them about the product
- Show them an image of the product
- Share a short description of the product
- Share any other important information such as discounts, deals, etc.
6. Make your call to action button easy to find
Another key factor of your Facebook Messenger message is the call-to-action (CTA) button. Now, you probably know that a CTA is a must to have in every marketing Facebook Messenger message. But there’s a lot of different things you can do with the CTA button.
Let’s look at some best practices for CTA in Facebook Messenger:
- Have a CTA button that has text in it, not just an icon. That way you’re telling your subscribers clearly what they have to do
- You can get creative with where you display the CTA and how many times. For example, you can have the CTA button twice in a message
- You can even link the images in your message to the product page
- Make it easy for the receivers to copy and paste your message or forward it to another person if they want to
Here’s an example that shows three different CTAs:
7. Send follow up messages to your subscribers
An average person sees between 6000 and 10,000 marketing messages per day, which include ads, promotional messages from brands, and communication on different channels.
It’s possible that your subscribers receive a lot of messages. And they might have missed your back in stock message. So what do you do?
When you notice that the subscriber hasn’t responded or taken an action after receiving your message, send them a follow up message.
You could create a drip campaign. Here are some cues to get it right:
- If you have data of products that customers have browsed, send them a notification before the item goes out of stock. For example, remind the customer to buy the product as it is selling out fast and might get sold out
- Once they subscribe to a restock alert notification, send them a notification as soon as the item gets restocked. It’s best to automate this process with the help of an app like Appikon Back in Stock
- When you notice that the subscriber hasn’t taken an action, send them a reminder that the item has been restocked
- Create urgency by telling them it’s selling out fast
- Offer them an incentive such as free shipping or a discount if they buy it within a limited-period of time
8. Offer an incentive on the restocked item
There are many brands that offer free shipping for orders over a certain amount. For example, Amazon made shipping free for all orders over 20 euros and doubled its turnover.
This example shows us how incentives make customers feel good. Psychologists say that reciprocity plays an important role in motivating shoppers to take action. When you give something to your shoppers, such as a discount, free shipping, reward points, etc, they feel obliged to give back to you by way of making a purchase. It works!
You can use the power of incentives in your back in stock Facebook Messenger messages to increase your sales.
Some types of incentives that you can use are:
- A gift
- Free shipping
- Buy 1 Get 1
- Reward points
- Money-back guarantee
- Discount on next purchase
- Vouchers
- Percentage discount
- Fixed amount discount
- Time-sensitive incentives
9. Automate your Messenger back in stock campaign
No matter if you’re a small business or large; at a growth stage or established; to run your back in stock campaigns successfully, you need to rely on an efficient tool – an app.
Imagine you’re a small business and have about 30 items on your site. One or two of them go out of stock. If you rely on manually keeping a check on your inventory, it might be days by the time you come to know some items have stocked out.
That’s why you need a tool to help you – Appikon Back in Stock app.
Here’s how the app can help you:
- Set up Facebook Messenger back in stock campaigns
- It brings up the notify me button as soon as a product goes out of stock
- Enables shoppers to subscribe through different channels – you can choose all or select
- Sends alerts when the item is restocked
- Sends follow ups and discounts announcements
10. Measure and optimize your back in stock campaign
Just like any other marketing campaign, it’s important to monitor and analyze the performance of your back in stock Facebook Messenger campaign as well.
Monitor the number of clicks, impressions, click-through rate, engagement, responses, etc. Depending on your campaign goal, create a list of metrics that you’d want to monitor. Then, monitor them.
Based on your analyses, optimize your campaign. For example, if subscribers are opening your messages but not clicking on the CTA button, is it time to try a new CTA button? Or perhaps offer them an incentive to entice them to take action?
Here’s an example of a back in stock campaign:
Ready to make the most of Facebook Messenger?
Facebook Messenger is now a leading channel to tap into your audience’s attention. However, you should complement your Messenger strategy with other channels – email, SMS, WhatsApp, web push, etc.
That’s exactly what Appikon Back in Stock is designed to do. The back in stock app enables your shoppers to subscribe through the channel they prefer.
All you need to do is install the Back in Stock app and get started with your campaigns.