In today’s post, I’m getting serious about the do’s and don’ts of implementing a waitlist strategy as part of your launch. I want to discuss where waitlists belong in your launch strategy and where these strategies tend to go wrong. 

These waitlists are an important part of your overall strategy, but you have to ensure you’re doing it correctly for it to have the maximum impact. Don’t let your waitlist end up being a flop by attracting the wrong people for your particular offer. The below information and tips will help you to build a quality waitlist that is more likely to convert to sales.

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What is a Waitlist Strategy?

Let’s start with the basics: what’s a waitlist strategy? Until you learn this or do it, it can be hard to understand its purpose.

A waitlist offers a way for your audience to trade their contact information in exchange for something good. It could be early access to your program or an exclusive bonus that’s only available to this specific segment of your email list.

This works well if there’s some sort of scarcity aspect to your offer. Perhaps you have limited spots or you’re giving away a certain number of free coaching sessions to the first few buyers.

Essentially, waitlists are a way to allow your audience to show their interest in your offer. It gives these individuals extra time to think about your offer and decide whether they want to buy. 

This time allows people to plan, overcome objectives, and decipher whether they’re looking to invest in your product or service. I highly recommend incentivizing these waitlists, but you can decide not to if that works better for your business.

It’s also a good idea to give those interested in your offer a general timeline of when the official offer will become available. While there’s no set timeline around when you should open your waitlist in relation to opening your cart, you need to be transparent with your audience.

Where Waitlist Strategies Tend to Go Wrong

I sometimes see entrepreneurs set up waitlists as a quick way to build their email list. Many times, they choose to be secretive around what it is that they’re launching, simply implying that “something big is coming, sign up to learn more!”

But if you want the time and effort you’re putting into your waitlist to pay off, you need to pre-qualify your leads. That means you’re filtering them to ensure they’re a good fit for your offer. 

To do that, give your audience the information they need to decipher if you’re the right person for them to work with and to decide if this relationship will be the right fit. This will save you a LOT of time, and help you see more conversions come launch time.

The same applies to your waitlist strategy. You want to attract people who want to pay for your offer and that are quality leads. To pre-qualify these individuals, make it crystal clear who this offer is for before they join your waitlist.

Your waitlist signup page needs to have this information. What does this look like? You don’t need a full sales page on your waitlist page. You don’t need to add the nitty-gritty details. But, you do need to think about what your audience needs to know in order to make an informed decision about whether or not your offer is the right fit for them.

Nurturing Those on Your Waitlist

Finally, you really need to nurture those on your waitlist once they’ve signed up. Don’t ghost on them! Once they’re there, use it as an opportunity to build connection and trust while also building hype around the offer you’re launching.

You can:

• Welcome people to your waitlist and to this part of your community. 
• Assure them that they’re in the right space – affirm their decision to be there! 
• Send them a few emails and build credibility with them. 
• Send some case studies of people who have gone through your programs or get creative in how you interact with this segment of your audience.

Don’t assume that someone on your waitlist has all of the information they need to say “yes” once the cart opens.

Attract the Right People to Your Waitlist: The Bottom Line

Filling your waitlist with the RIGHT people is a must. This does yourself a service as well as your audience. Being super clear on your messaging way ahead of time allows for this, as do waitlist copy templates – like the one in The Copy Template Shop.

This will lead to individuals on your waitlist that are ready to convert once it’s launch time. And — let’s be honest — that’s what we all want!

Thank you for reading! If you love what you learned, be sure to connect with me over on Instagram and share your biggest takeaways. I’d love to hear from you! 

And if you’re ready to set up your launch sales copy for your upcoming offer, head on over to the Copy Template Shop to grab your sales copy templates today!

See you back here in the next post — and remember, I’m rooting for you, always!