Hiding Out-of-Stock Items or Offering Notify Me

Out-of-stock pages that still draw search or campaign traffic, high exits from those pages, or support tickets asking when items will be back all make the choice between hiding and notifying worth testing. If the visible arm leads, visitors sign up and return to buy once stock arrives; if the hidden arm leads, clicks on similar products carry the purchases. If exits stem from stale or wrong stock data, fix that first. Before launch, confirm that a visible product never looks purchasable only to fail at checkout, and that alerts go out once the predefined stock condition is met; do not delete or redirect product URLs.

Purchase rate after an item is out of stock

Compare purchases, including alternative products, per assigned visitor from a shared eligible entry point over the same fixed follow-up period.

Also track

• Back-in-stock signup rateReport signups per assigned visitor in the visible-product arm; the hidden-product arm has no equivalent form.
• Page exit rateCompare exits from the experience assigned to each visitor.
• Similar-product click-through rateCheck whether visitors use the alternative recommendations.

• ExperienceCompare hiding an out-of-stock product with keeping it visible alongside one fixed back-in-stock form.
• FormKeep form fields and eligibility rules unchanged.
• AlternativesUse the same rules for alternative products in both arms.
• AssignmentAssign visitors before product visibility diverges and keep their assignment consistent.

1. 1The deciding measure is the purchase rate after an item is out of stock over the fixed follow-up period, which includes purchases of alternative products. Back-in-stock signups exist only in the visible arm, so a high signup count does not make that arm the winner by itself.
2. 2The result belongs to the whole experience of visibility plus notification, so do not read the gap as the effect of the form alone. Purchases prompted by alerts take time, so compare the arms at the end of the fixed follow-up period, and treat the result as valid for the list or surface you tested.
3. 3Out-of-stock pages may draw few visitors, so a short test can leave the difference unclear. Find the visitors you need per arm with the sample size calculator and divide by daily eligible visitors per arm to get the run length. Then add the fixed follow-up period on top.