Log In
Sign Up

How to set up the back-in-stock waitlist

Shoppers buy on the merchant’s WooCommerce store. The waitlist form on out-of-stock product pages is injected by the WooDonkey Companion plugin. There is no shortcode.

What it is

The Waitlist feature is managed in your WooDonkey dashboard. Navigate to the sidebar, select Advanced Tools, then Waitlist. The page title is Waitlist and is divided into four sections: Sign-up tracking, General, Sign-up form, and Notification email. Click Save Changes at the bottom. A Settings saved toast appears.

The WooDonkey Companion plugin injects the waitlist sign-up form onto out-of-stock product pages on your WooCommerce store. The email’s design and content are managed in the email builder, accessible via Manage emails, which opens Site Settings, then Emails & Automations.

How it helps you

Waitlist shows which out-of-stock products shoppers still want. A shopper can join from the product page. They receive a restock email only after you turn on Enable back-in-stock emails, and only for products that come back in stock from that point on.

What is included

Waitlist covers demand tracking, the storefront form, and the restock email.

  • General: Enable the waitlist (for all visitors), Test mode – only admins see the form, and Enable back-in-stock emails. All three default off.
  • Sign-up form: Title, Button text, Success message, size, alignment, colors, padding, radius, border, button colors, live Preview. Fields inherit site field styling. Button colors are set here. Defaults include Title Want to know when it’s back in stock?, Button text Notify Me, Title alignment Right.
  • Sign-up tracking: Subscribers, Tracked products, Emails sent, Purchased, plus a product table with Waiting, Notified, Purchased, Stock.
  • Send notification emails everyone waiting for that product. It does not require Enable back-in-stock emails. Automatic restock send does, and also needs Enable the waitlist.
  • Export CSV downloads waitlist.csv, capped at 5000 rows. There is no generic CSV import. Import from legacy plugin appears only if WooBIS data is found.
  • Manage emails opens the Back in stock notification template. Merge tags include {customer_name}, {product_name}, {product_link}, {product_price}, {product_image}.
  • Dashboard: Waitlist – most-requested products appears after the first subscriber.
  • No shortcode. No form on in-stock products. No form on a variable parent via the stock HTML path.

How to turn on and manage each capability

  • Open Waitlist: In the sidebar, open Advanced Tools, then Waitlist.
  • Turn the waitlist on or use Test mode: In General, turn on Enable the waitlist (for all visitors), or Test mode – only admins see the form.
  • Design the sign-up form: In Sign-up form, set Title, Button text, Success message, and the styling fields. Watch Preview.
  • Save Changes: Click Save Changes.
  • Arm back-in-stock emails: Turn on Enable back-in-stock emails only after the list looks right. Shoppers can join while this is still off.
  • Design the notification email: Click Manage emails, then Edit template on Back in stock notification.
  • Watch sign-up tracking: Use the stats, the table, and Search product…
  • Send a notification or export CSV: Click Send notification on a product with Waiting above 0, or click Export CSV.
  • Import from the legacy plugin when the button appears: If you see Import from legacy plugin, click it. No emails are sent by that import.
  • Read the Dashboard snapshot: On the Dashboard, open Waitlist – most-requested products after you have subscribers.

What to know before you start

  • All three General switches are off by default.
  • There is no shortcode. Companion injects the form on out-of-stock product pages.
  • AJAX errors on the storefront are hardcoded in Hebrew, even on an English store.
  • Signup is limited to 10 per hour per IP. Duplicate waiting signups for the same email and product are rejected.
  • Manual Send notification can fire while Enable back-in-stock emails is still off.

Problems you may hit, and how to fix them

  • Symptom: Form missing. Fix: Companion on, Enable or Test mode on, product out of stock, not a variable parent.
  • Symptom: Automatic emails not sending. Fix: Turn on both Enable the waitlist and Enable back-in-stock emails.
  • Symptom: No shortcode to paste. Fix: There is none. Companion injects the form.
  • Symptom: Send notification disabled. Fix: Waiting is 0.
  • Symptom: No CSV import. Fix: Only the WooBIS button appears, and only if that table exists.
  • Symptom: Dashboard snapshot missing. Fix: It shows after the first subscriber.

Related reading