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Low in Stock + Product Recommendations

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  • Updated

Low in Stock campaigns drive urgency-based purchases by notifying interested users when products they’ve engaged with are running low in inventory. By leveraging scarcity, these campaigns increase conversions and help clear remaining stock while keeping messaging timely and relevant.

What You’ll Learn

In this guide, you’ll learn how to:

  • Configure a Low in Stock event generator to detect scarce inventory for high-intent users.

  • Set up real-time triggers that deliver alerts the moment thresholds are met.

  • Build a Low in Stock email template that surfaces key product details.

  • (Optional) Enhance the message with personalized product recommendations.

Before You Begin

Prerequisites:

  • Access to Email by Optimove

  • Access to Optimove Personalize for product recommendations

Required Data:

  • User Interaction Events (Mandatory)

    • Identify high-intent users (e.g., PRODUCT_VIEW, ADD_TO_CART).

    • Key fields: userid, url, product_id

  • Online Order events (Mandatory)

    • Exclude converted users.

    • Key fields: userid, product_id

  • Inventory (Mandatory)

    • Live inventory data and product metadata.

    • Key fields: price, stock, product_id, sku_id, variant_id, isavailable, release_date, product_image, product_description, product_url

Low in Stock overview and data requirements.

Setup Process

Step 1: Configure the Low in Stock Event Generator

  1. In Optimove Personalize, go to Smart Campaigns → Event Generators → Add New Event Generator.

  2. Complete the following fields:

    1. Info: Enter a name/description.

    2. Channel & Provider: Select Email & Optimove.

    3. Use Case: Choose Low in Stock.

  3. Parameters:

    • Stock Threshold — define the inventory level that triggers alerts.

    • Activity Window — set how many days of user and purchase history to analyze.

    • User Activity Type — e.g., product_view, add_to_cart.

    • User Activity Frequency — minimum number of interactions.

    • Number of Recommendations — number of products to include in the message.

  4. Frequency Capping — controls how often customers receive alerts (e.g., minimum hours between alerts, daily maximum).

  5. Messages:

    1. Choose External.

    2. Enter an External Template ID (e.g., low_in_stock_daily). This will be the event name; it can only contain alphanumeric characters and underscores (no spaces).

    3. Note the Available Fields for use in later steps.

  6. Schedule: Set to Always On (recommended) for real time, or restrict to certain days/hours.

  7. Save: Use Test Mode to validate accuracy, then switch to Enabled.

Step 2: Set Up Matching Event in Optimove Settings

  1. In your Optimove instance, go to Settings → Events.

  2. Create a New Event:

    • Click Add Event.

    • Event Display Name: Use the same name as the External Template ID from Step 1.

  3. Add Event Parameters:

    • Add all parameters shown in the Available Fields section of the Event Generator.

    • Ensure all parameters are present before saving.

ℹ️ Common Mistakes
If the event display name and event generator name do not match, your campaign will not trigger.

Step 3: Set Up Real-Time Trigger

Configure the Trigger:

  • Set up a trigger for your campaign based on the event created in Step 2.

  • Full instructions: Managing Triggers.

Step 4: Build the Low in Stock Email Template

  1. In Email by Optimove, create a new Triggered Email template.

  2. Build your email template as usual by pulling in text and graphics onto the template builder.

  3. Leave space for your low-in-stock item and product recommendations.

  4. When ready to add data, open the Personalization menu and select the parameters to show.

    • Note: The available parameters are dictated by the Available Fields in the Event Generator.

  5. If you are not including additional product recommendations, save the template and skip to Create the Real-Time Low in Stock Smart Campaign. Otherwise, continue to add recommendations.

Step 5: Include Product Recommendations in your Template (Optional Step)

Optionally, in addition to the Low in Stock item you can include Optimove Personalize recommendations to further personalize your email campaign.

This requires two additional steps, if you only want to include the low-in-stock item, skip this section.

  1. Create a placement

    1. In Optimove Personalize, create a new Placement by going to Recommend → Placement Manager → New Placement.

      1. Placements are used to deliver product recommendations; you can configure recommendation models to recommend items that match your campaign strategy (e.g., personalized popular items).

      2. For more details on creating placements see here.

  2. Create a Smart Banner

    1. In Optimove Personalize, create a new Smart Banner by going to Smart Content → Widget Library → Visual Banner Editor.

      1. Banners are how you can design and embed recommendations into your email campaigns.

      2. Configure:

        1. Banner Name (unique)

        2. Select the placement created in previous step

        3. CTA URL (fixed, templatized, or dynamic)

        4. Define the number of items and grid layout

        5. Dimensions (match them to your email container to ensure fit).

      3. Design the banner, similar to Email, using the drag-and-drop editor and merge tags to include recommendation content from your connected placement.

      4. Preview and QA your banner (sample profiles and edge cases before launching your campaign).

      5. Save the banner.

      6. To place the banner within your Email+ template, open the template, drag an Opti-X Banner content block into the template, and select the banner you want to place.

    2. For more details on creating Smart Banners with the Visual Editor see this article:

      Full article on how to build a Smart Banner with the Visual Banner Editor

      Now, simply choose from your existing Opti-X Smart Banners.

Step 6: Create the Real-Time Low in Stock Smart Campaign

  1. Go to Campaigns → Smart Campaigns → New, and choose Triggered.

  2. Select the Low in Stock event as the trigger.

  3. Define eligibility criteria and set throttling rules.

  4. Choose your channel (e.g., Email) and set the campaign to Always On.

  5. Configure goals, measurement, and save.

Smart Campaigns and Triggered Campaigns in Optimove.

Testing and Previewing

Before deploying your campaign, use the built-in tools in Optimail to preview your Low in Stock email as different customers. Use the instant preview option to confirm layout and data rendering, or send yourself a test email to see the final version live in your inbox.

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