As a new product's launch approaches, customers start asking ‘When can I buy it?’ in social comments and emails. Replying with the date each time takes work, but you cannot take orders yet. Letting customers leave an email address on the product page gives them a way to wait for your announcement.
A pre-launch signup promises only to tell customers when sales open. It does not reserve an item or guarantee the right to buy. In SellRules, adding an announcement period to a pre-order schedule or enabling signups for Coming soon shows an email form on the product page. Subscribers receive 1 notification when pre-orders or sales open. The default badge during a pre-order announcement is ‘Waitlist’, though, which can make a new product look like a restock. Adjust the form wording before you announce it.
Below, we cover what signup promises, form wording, the email customers receive, schedule setup, testing on Free and checking the subscriber list after the start. For how the button switches at launch time, see automatically opening Shopify sales at launch time.
Signing up promises a start notification, nothing more
A notification signup collects an email address so you can announce the start. It is neither an order nor a reservation, so subscribers are not guaranteed a purchase. Explain this in the product description and beside the form to avoid complaints that someone signed up but could not buy.
| What customers want to know | What to say on the product page and form |
|---|---|
| When can I buy? | The planned pre-order or sale start date and time. If undecided, say something like ‘Expected early next month’ |
| What will I receive? | 1 email when pre-orders or sales open |
| Does signup guarantee a purchase? | It is not an order or reservation; limited quantities are first come, first served |
| When will it arrive? | An estimated shipping window |
| How can I unsubscribe? | They can stop notifications at any time through the email link |
Imagine a handmade candle shop opening pre-orders for a new design on November 8 at 20:00 (an illustrative example). ‘We'll notify you on launch day’ alone may leave people thinking they have already pre-ordered. ‘Pre-orders open on November 8 at 20:00. We'll email you then if you sign up. Signing up does not place a pre-order’ leaves less room for misunderstanding.
Treat the signup count as a sign of interest. Not everyone who receives the email will buy, so use past sales as well when deciding how much to purchase or make.
If you only want to hide the product until launch, you do not need signups; Shopify's scheduled publishing is enough. Signups help when you want to show the product page early and collect interest. For the wider sales decisions, see planning early-access and limited sales.
The default announcement badge is ‘Waitlist’: change the wording for a new launch
SellRules uses the same signup form for pre-launch notifications and sold-out products. Without changes, a new product shows the wording below too. The announcement badge appears during a pre-order announcement period; Coming soon shows ‘Coming soon’ instead.
| Location | Default wording | Example for a new product launch |
|---|---|---|
| Announcement badge | Waitlist | Pre-orders opening soon |
| Signup button | Get Notified | Notify me when pre-orders open |
| Intro text above the form | We'll email you as soon as it's available. | We'll send 1 email when pre-orders open on November 8 at 20:00. Signing up does not place a pre-order. |
| Email field placeholder | Enter your email | Leave as it is |
| Signup confirmation | You're signed up! We'll notify you when available. | You're signed up. We'll email you when pre-orders open. |
To change these, open ‘Button and label text’ in SellRules ‘Settings’, then ‘Edit and translate text’, and edit the ‘Back-in-stock sign-up form’ section. The ‘Coming soon’ label can be changed under ‘Coming soon message’ on the same screen. Clearing a field restores SellRules' built-in wording in the customer's language.
Your changes also appear on the form for sold-out products. If you use restock alerts too, wording such as ‘when it's available to buy’ works for both, whereas ‘when pre-orders open’ may not.
There is another shared screen: when customers follow the unsubscribe link, the heading is ‘You have been unsubscribed’. Pre-launch subscribers see this same page. If anyone asks, explain that it confirms they have stopped the notifications.
Subscribers receive 1 pre-order or sale start notification
The schedule type determines which email subscribers receive. In either case, it goes out once to each subscriber after the switch.
| Schedule setup | When the signup form appears | Email received (default subject) | Email button |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-order with an announcement period | From announcement start until pre-orders open | Pre-order start notification ([Pre-order Now Available] Product name) | Pre-order Now → |
| Coming soon with ‘Accept notification sign-ups during the announcement’ on | From announcement start until sales open | Sale start notification ([Now on sale] Product name) | Buy Now → |
The email uses the store language the customer saw when signing up. It includes a link to stop future notifications. The same person will not receive 2 emails for the same switch.
Start notifications do not go out automatically in these cases:
- The pre-order schedule has no announcement period: there is no signup form, so no signups are collected.
- You save the schedule after the pre-order start: the save screen says ‘The start date has already passed, so no start notice will be sent automatically after this save.’
- The schedule is paused: nothing is sent while paused. If the pre-order start passes during the pause, resuming does not send the notification automatically either.
- Notifications are disabled in notification settings (Standard and Pro): the save screen says ‘The start notice is turned off in notification settings, so it will not be sent.’
- The Free lifetime allowance has been exceeded: notifications are held rather than sent. If you move to Standard or Pro before the schedule ends, they are sent after being checked again.
If the notification was not sent automatically, export a CSV from ‘Back-in-stock subscribers’ and contact subscribers yourself. The section ‘After the start, check recipients in Back-in-stock subscribers’ below explains how.
Create a schedule with an announcement period in SellRules
Create the schedule under ‘Sales schedules’ in SellRules. Dates are saved in the store's time zone and must run in the order announcement start, pre-order start, regular sale start before you can save. Writing the dates down first makes entry mistakes easier to catch.
- Set the product status to ‘Active’ and publish it to the Online Store. A SellRules schedule does not publish the product.
- Choose ‘Create pre-order’ to take pre-orders, or ‘Create coming soon’ to start selling at launch without pre-orders, then select the product.
- For pre-orders, click ‘Add coming-soon period’ and enter the announcement start. From that time, the buy button changes to the signup button (‘Get Notified’ by default) and form. For Coming soon, turn on ‘Accept notification sign-ups during the announcement’.
- Enter the pre-order start (sale start for Coming soon) and what happens after pre-orders end. For pre-orders, adding a shipping estimate also displays it near the buy button while orders are open.
- Before saving, check ‘What happens when you save’ in the editor to see when subscribers will be notified, then save.
For ‘Block purchases during the announcement period’ and how switching works at the exact start time, see the launch-time switching article.
If the SellRules app embed is off in your published theme, creating a schedule will not show the signup form. If the announcement has started but the form is missing, check App embeds in the theme editor.
On Free, check your inbox and the subscriber list
Before the real launch, use a test product to go through signup and receipt of the notification. What you can check differs slightly by plan.
| What to check | Free | Standard and Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Email wording | Uses the default text; it cannot be edited | Edit ‘Pre-order start notification’ and ‘Sale start notification’ and send test emails |
| Whether it arrived | Check your own inbox. The status in ‘Back-in-stock subscribers’ and ‘Notification history’ show whether it entered the sending process | In addition, check individual sending results in the delivery log |
| Sending allowance | 15 emails in total since installation, including restock alerts and emails to yourself | 1,000 a month on Standard; 5,000 a month on Pro |
Test it as follows:
- Create and publish 1 test product that cannot be mistaken for a real item for sale.
- Create a pre-order schedule with the announcement starting now and pre-orders opening a few minutes later.
- Open the product page and check that the form uses your changed wording. Sign up with your own email address and check the confirmation message.
- Check that your address appears as ‘Waiting to send’ in ‘Back-in-stock subscribers’.
- After pre-orders open, look for the notification in your inbox and spam folder. Use your inbox to judge whether it arrived.
- When finished, delete the test schedule and unpublish the test product.
Free's lifetime allowance includes restock alerts and tests sent to yourself. Emails above it are held, then sent after another check if you move to Standard or Pro before the schedule ends. If a launch is likely to attract more signups than that allowance, move to Standard before announcing it so the notifications can go out together when pre-orders open.
Customer replies go to ‘Contact email address’ under ‘Settings’. Use an address you regularly check. A free email address is fine, but do not use a noreply@ address that cannot receive customer replies.
If nothing arrives, follow the same checks as in troubleshooting missing restock emails.
After the start, check recipients in ‘Back-in-stock subscribers’
Once pre-orders open, check ‘Back-in-stock subscribers’ to see whose notification was processed. Filter the list by email address, status or product.
| Status | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting to send | No notification has been sent yet | If it remains after the start, check the schedule and whether it is paused |
| Sent | Entered the sending process; this does not confirm receipt | If someone reports a missing email, ask them to check spam. On Standard or Pro, check the sending result in the delivery log |
| Excluded (Unsubscribed by customer) | The customer stopped notifications through the email link | Do not contact them |
| Excluded (Removed manually) | Your store clicked ‘Exclude from sending’ | Do not contact them |
Notifications held because Free's lifetime allowance was exceeded also show ‘Sent’. For launches with many signups, do not assume that status means the email arrived. When Free's lifetime limit is reached, your store receives an email explaining that notifications are held. You can also check the sent count in ‘This period's usage’ under ‘Plan & billing’.
To stop a signup from receiving notifications, select it and click ‘Exclude from sending’. This cannot be undone. You can also delete a signup, which cannot be undone either. While unsure, leave it in place without choosing either action. If an excluded customer signs up again on the product page, the status returns to ‘Waiting to send’.
To send your own postponement notice or a start notification that did not go out automatically, use ‘Export CSV’. The CSV includes columns such as email address, product name, variant, pre-order start date, estimated ship date, signup date and status. Remove rows marked ‘Excluded’ before sending: these are people who unsubscribed or whom your store removed.
If you later change a sold-out product's switch from ‘Back-in-stock notification only’ to ‘Pre-order’, existing subscribers do not automatically receive a pre-order start notification. Export a CSV, remove ‘Excluded’ rows and tell them yourself in this case too. See pre-orders or restock alerts for sold-out products for details.
What this article does not cover, and what the app does not do for you
SellRules handles the signup form on the product page and the start notification email. Your store prepares the following.
- Promoting the launch: you publish social posts and newsletters yourself. SellRules only notifies people who signed up through the product page form.
- Contacting subscribers about changes: postponements, cancellations and quantity changes are not sent automatically. Export a CSV and contact subscribers yourself.
- Stock available when the email arrives: the amount customers can buy depends on inventory and the pre-order limit. Nothing is reserved based on the number of subscribers. Simultaneous orders after a notification can slightly exceed the pre-order limit, so set it 1–2 units lower if you can supply only an exact quantity.
- Restock alerts for sold-out products: the form is shared, but the setup decisions differ. See setting up restock emails.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a notification signup and a pre-order?
A notification signup only collects an email address to announce the start; it is neither an order nor a reservation. A pre-order is a purchase that the customer pays for after checking the shipping estimate. Customers decide whether to buy after receiving the notification.
Can I use the signup count to decide how much to buy or produce?
Do not use it on its own. Signing up is not a promise to buy, and not everyone who receives the notification will order. Treat the count as a sign of interest, and use past sales as well when deciding purchasing quantities and pre-order limits.
Can I change the ‘Waitlist’ text on the product page?
Yes. In SellRules, open ‘Settings’, then ‘Button and label text’ and ‘Edit and translate text’. Under ‘Back-in-stock sign-up form’, adjust the ‘Coming soon badge’, button, ‘Intro text above the form’ and ‘Sign-up complete message’ to suit your new product launch. Clear a field to restore the built-in wording in the customer's language.
Can I test whether notifications arrive on the Free plan?
Yes. Create a schedule for a test product, sign up with your own email address and check your inbox when the start time passes. Free has neither test sends nor the delivery log, so check receipt in your inbox. Notifications to yourself also count toward Free's lifetime allowance of 15 emails.
Does SellRules automatically tell subscribers if a launch is postponed?
No. If you change the schedule, subscribers receive the start notification at the new pre-order or sale start time, but no separate postponement notice. To announce a delay, export a CSV from ‘Back-in-stock subscribers’, remove rows with the status ‘Excluded’ and contact subscribers from your store.
Next: pricing and moving from a test to your launch
Signups and start notifications are available from the Free plan. Choose 1 product for your next launch, then test signup and notification receipt with a test product before starting the real announcement.
SellRules plans and pricing
| Monthly price | LaunchEvery feature included |
|---|---|
| Monthly price | US$7.99 per month |
| Free trial | 10 days |
| Pre-order and made-to-order orders | Unlimited |
| Back-in-stock and sale-start emails (Notify Me) | Unlimited |
| Purchase limits | No limit on products |
| Customizable notification emails | Yes |
| Deposit payments | Yes |
Pre-orders, made-to-order, back-in-stock alerts, purchase limits, stockout switching, deposit payments and order processing are all included in the Launch plan.
The first 10 days are free. If you remove the app during the trial, you are not charged.
Back-in-stock and sale-start emails have no sending cap. The same goes for required messages such as order confirmations, shipping updates and balance reminders.
The Free, Standard, and Pro plans are closed to new sign-ups. Shops already on them keep their current terms.
Standard and Pro have no free trial; the Free plan takes its place. When you send notifications for repeated launches or want emails in your store's own words, move to Standard at US$9.90 per month. Standard includes text editing, test sends and the delivery log.
If you know how you want to use it, try Free from the Shopify App Store. For screen-by-screen instructions, see the SellRules user guide.
Features checked: October 25, 2026 (JizaiDev, the developer of SellRules, checked the code of the app published on that date, including its settings screens, product-page text and email wording). The product and dates are illustrative examples, not those of a real store. Check current pricing on the Shopify App Store listing.
