What is a waitlist?

The first kind is the one shop software builds in. Squarespace’s help article describes product waitlists as a way to “notify interested shoppers when sold-out products are back in stock”: once you switch them on, shoppers can leave an email address on the product page while the product is sold out.

The other two kinds are usually run by hand, with a form, a spreadsheet or a message thread. The list works the same way every time: a name, a way to reach the person and the reason they asked.

Squarespace’s article shows how much a waitlist tool decides for you. At the time of writing, it works like this:

• Shoppers sign up with an email address on the product page, and only while the product, or the variant they picked, is sold out.
• You see each variant that has a waitlist, the number of sign-ups and the email addresses in the order they joined. The article says you cannot export the list or get a notification for each sign-up.
• You can email the list only after the product is back in stock. One Email all message goes to everyone, and afterwards the list is removed from the panel. You cannot view the sent email or the former sign-ups.
• You can edit the subject line, title and body of the default email, and Google reCAPTCHA is switched on automatically to reduce spam sign-ups.
• Adding shoppers to your mailing list is a separate, optional switch. The article also says waitlists are only available for physical and service products.

Other tools work differently, so treat this as one example, not a rule. Whatever you use, find out three things before you rely on it: whether you can export the list, whether you can choose who gets the email, and what is kept after you send.

A kombucha brewer sells out of her ginger batch in a day. Over the next two weeks, 60 people leave an email address on the sold-out page. The next batch is 40 bottles. All the numbers here are invented to show the sums, not benchmarks.

1. Sign-ups: 60 people asked to be told.
2. Guess the buyers. If half of them buy, which is a guess for the sum and not a typical rate, that is 60 × 0.5 = 30 orders.
3. Compare with the batch. 40 bottles cover 30 orders with 10 to spare, so one email to the whole list is safe.
4. Test the worst case. If two thirds buy, that is 60 × 2/3 = 40 orders, exactly the batch. A few more and someone finds it sold out again, so say in the email how many bottles there are.

The list does two jobs. It tells you who to email, and it shows how many people wanted the thing, which is more direct than a count of likes. What it cannot tell you is how many of them will pay.

• Saying nothing at sign-up. Tell people what they will get, for example one message when the product is back, so it does not feel like a newsletter they never chose.
• Letting the list go cold. An email sent a year later, without warning, reaches people who have forgotten they asked.
• Promising a date you cannot keep. “We will email you the day it is back” is safer than “next Friday”.
• Emailing before there is stock to buy. Someone who clicks through and finds it sold out again has little reason to trust your next message.

Tip: If followers keep asking “when is it back?” in your comments, a keyword such as WAITLIST can start a chat that collects an email address. DMFast can run that flow and export the addresses as a CSV for your own email tool.