How to create a waitlist for your product launch
A waitlist is a signup page you publish before your product exists or is ready. It shows you whether anyone cares, and it gives you people to launch to. This guide walks through building one in an afternoon.
1. Decide what the waitlist is for
Pick one goal before you build anything. Common ones: check that the idea attracts interest, find your first ten users to interview, or launch to a warm audience instead of a cold one. Write down a number, such as 100 signups, so you know when it is working and when to change the pitch.
2. Write a one-screen page
Your page needs a headline that says what changes for the visitor, one or two lines of detail and a single form. Skip menus, long feature lists and extra buttons. Everything on the screen should push toward the signup.
- Headline: the outcome, in plain words. "Send invoices in ten seconds" beats "The future of billing".
- Detail: who it is for and what they will get first.
- Form: only the email field. Every extra field makes signing up harder.
3. Add the signup form
You can build the form yourself or embed one. With EarlyTrap you create a project, add a form under Widget, style it in Config and paste one snippet into your page. Create the project with your site's address, domain only and with no page path. It must start with https://www. (for example https://www.yoursite.com), and the form only saves emails on pages served from that address. See the EarlyTrap waitlist widget, or go straight to a guide for your setup:
- Add a waitlist form to Webflow
- Add a waitlist form to WordPress
- Add a waitlist form to Squarespace
- Add a waitlist form to Next.js
4. Say what happens next
Under the form, tell people what they will receive and roughly when: "We will email you once, when the beta opens." A clear promise makes signing up feel safe and stops people from forgetting who you are.
5. Take it to where your audience already is
A waitlist page does not attract visitors on its own. Share it in the communities where your users already talk, in your own posts, in your email signature and in any profile that lets you add a link. Explain the problem you are solving first and put the link second.
6. Keep the list warm
Send a short update every few weeks: what you built, what changed, what you need from them. People who hear from you now are more likely to remember you at launch. In EarlyTrap you can send a broadcast to your whole list from Emails & Broadcasts.
7. Launch to the list first
When the product is ready, email your waitlist before you announce it anywhere else. Keep the message short: what it is, why they are getting it first and one clear link. If the list is large and your product needs support, invite people in groups so you can fix problems as they appear.
Common mistakes
- Asking for too much at signup. Start with the email.
- Going silent after people sign up.
- A vague promise. "Something big is coming" gives no reason to stay subscribed.
- Never testing the form. Submit your own email before you share the page.
Checklist
- One goal with a number.
- A one-screen page with a single form.
- A line saying what happens after signup.
- A plan to share the link in three places.
- A first update scheduled two to three weeks after the page goes live.