Product Notifications

[Dan Cole]

We do use the Pro Addon app.php/addons/supporters_code/s02e09_notifications which is very useful. We only show it on products where quantity <=0 informing customers that they can elect to be notified when back in stock.

Thanks ...I installed that add on as I was looking at this and it's a beautiful addition and I'm sure it's very helpful to those who are using it.

Dan

[Dan Cole]

Maybe I'm a special case, but it needed to be said.

Tongue in cheek. You're definitaly special Fred. It is nice to see you here and working on a Pheonix upgrade.

Dan

[Kofod95]

Have you also changed the text accordingly, like Steve has done, and mentioned the possibility of being notified about big price increases and product changes?

No, I left it as is, as we were considering expanding with notifications if reviews were placed (and made visible) and possible alternative products we could marketing that way. By not telling what we might use it for, we are not limiting our options

//Daniel

[lambro28]

I use it soley for letting customers know when we restock a part.

It ONLY displays when an item is out of stock (deleted it from check out confirmation etc), and users can sign up to be notfied when we have new stocks.

Our customers really like this feature, and it saves all the stacks of "can you let me know when you get more in" emails and how to save all that info. The email template is edited so it reads just to let you know we have more stocks just in blah blah.

All major online shops have this feature, so dont junk it, just update it to out of stock notifications, it is a BIG BONUS for us.

[heatherbell]

app.php/addons/supporters_code/s02e09_notifications

The Admin Side is invaluable, showing the number of customers that have subscribed and the automatic e-mailing with a button.

[14Steve14]

Do any shopowners have 1000s of subs on a product?

Whilst we have thousands of customers we have very few that have used the notifications system. The most we have ever had request notifications for products is less than 10 per product.

Whilst I appreciate that we have been keeping on top of the notification requests we only have just under 3 pages showing, with 26 per page. Most are in single figures. The highest is 4.

[burt]

I was intrigued enough to spend a couple of hours hardcore coding on a grey saturday afternoon...just as a "proof of concept", here's what I ended up with;

1. Hook (no core code changes as it's a hook)

This hook listens to the admin side product EDITING part of the admin page to determine if the products stock has increased.

If YES, the stock has increased;
1a. It adds an Email to the Queue
If NO, the stock is unchanged (or decreased)
1b. It does nothing.

Note here that the hook does not listen to the product ADDING part of the page, as a new product would, I think, have no people subscribed to its product notifications.

2. A Queued Email scheduler module (no core code changes as it's a module)

This allows shopowner to make a Email Template, as so;

q_update_stock.jpg

The result

An email is placed into the Queue automatically, as so, based on the explanation in point #1a above;

q_queue.jpg

And looking at the Debug, you can see the email (with replacements [{{FNAME}} to Mickey etc), ready to go;

q_debug.jpg

Conclusion

Wow, that is some hardcore putting together of jigsaw pieces to make a nice picture. I guess it shows the really great flexibility that Phoenix has, as this is all done with no core code changes at all!

[burt]

I was intrigued enough to spend a couple of hours hardcore coding on a grey saturday afternoon...just as a "proof of concept", here's what I ended up with

Now I know that this is possible, it opens up loads of new possibilities.

EG shop to customer;

- as admin setting a review to "live", put a "your review is live, thank you" email into the Queue sent in 1 day
- as admin updating an order to complete, put a "request review" email into the queue sent in (eg) 30 days

I'm sure there are more shop->customer scenarios.

EG shop to supplier

- as someone is checking out and stock goes low, send email to supplier - might be possible but would probably need some extra admin page to set up supplier details etc

None of these exist, but could be made to exist if someone sees value in the system enough to make it so.

[lecarlb]

This system should remain intact. In fact, it should be enhanced. Here are some reasons:

1. Keep past customers "in the loop" on products they've already purchased or shown some interest. Never miss an opportunity to sell.

2. Tap into "impulse buying" decisions by creating a "sense of urgency".

3. Helps shop owners identify the products with the most interest. And if you're into SEO, you can use this for internal linking purposes to distribute page authority.

Focusing on #2, we're in this instant gratification age where there's a "I want it now" mentality and your competitor is a Google search away. How to create a sense of urgency?

Follow, like, share. To show the level of interest.

This system can be enhanced by showing visitors how many asked to be notified (follow), how many people have the particular product in their carts (like), how many of the products have been purchased during a time period and maybe integrating the social media share buttons into this. Sites like Ebay and others do something similar.

Also, making this feature available to both registered customers and guests by simply asking for an email address. If you're worried about bots, there's several things already coded to reduce that. You can't completely eliminate fake accounts.

Before deciding to scrap something, do some research to determine whether it scrapped or made better.

[lecarlb]

Is it possible to allow guests to request product notifications?

My guest/registered customers are about 50/50.