Product

Best Practices for Waitlist Forms

Launching a waitlist form? In this post, we take a look at best practices.

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Launching a waitlist for your startup can be a smart strategy to build anticipation, generate buzz, and acquire early adopters.

In this post, we’ll cover the basics of building a waitlist form.

Why build a waitlist form?

1. Gauge interest in your product

A waitlist form can help you gauge interest in your product before you invest a significant amount of time and money in building it. By collecting email addresses from potential users, you can see how many people are interested in your product and use that information to make decisions about how to move forward.

2. Funnel high-value users into private beta for product testing and validation

A waitlist form is a great way to capture and identify a set of target users for the purpose of product testing, feedback, and improvement. By onboarding a limited number of high-value users, you’ll be able to identify and fix any bugs or issues as well as refine the product before it is released to a larger audience.

3. Gather a warm audience for your public product launch

A waitlist form can also help you build an audience of users with expressed interest in your product. By collecting email addresses and other information from potential users, you can set expectations, share launch updates, and build anticipation and excitement for the public launch.

When should I build a waitlist form?

Before launching a waitlist, you should have a minimum viable product (MVP) or a prototype that is on a clear path to launch. This will ensure that you can start delivering value to your early adopters as soon as possible.

Occasionally, founders will launch a waitlist before they have any form of product, simply to gauge interest and decide whether it is worth the time and effort to begin building in the first place.

What should a waitlist form collect?

If your main goal for the waitlist is to build a list of potential customers, collecting only their email addresses may be sufficient. However, if you want to learn more about your potential customers and their preferences, you may want to ask for additional information such as their name, location, and a brief description of their needs or interests.

Some additional questions you might consider asking on your waitlist form include:

  • What specific problem are you hoping our product/service will solve for you?
  • How did you hear about us?
  • What features or benefits are you most excited about?
  • Would you be interested in participating in user research or providing feedback during the development process?

Keep in mind that every question you ask on the waitlist form will increase the amount of time it takes for someone to sign up. Therefore, it's important to balance your desire for information with the need to keep the form simple and easy to use.

How to build a waitlist form

There are many online tools available that allow you to create custom forms. If you’re interested in building a beautiful, brand-native waitlist form, we recommend Feathery.

Feathery offers a waitlist template that can be easily customized to match your design system and can be launched in minutes. The platform offers the ability to easily embed your form anywhere on your site or share it via a Feathery-hosted URL, which can also be customized to match your brand.

Additionally, Feathery offers native integrations to sync form submission data to your CRM or send an automated email confirming receipt of submission.

Best practices for waitlist forms

Here are some best practices for waitlist forms:

  • Keep the form simple: The simpler your form, the more likely people are to sign up. Only ask for the information you need.
  • Provide an incentive: Consider offering an incentive for people to sign up, such as early access to your product or a discount code. This can help increase signups and generate buzz around your launch.
  • Use clear and concise language: Make sure the language on your form is easy to understand and clearly explains what people are signing up for. Avoid using technical jargon or complicated language.
  • Make it visually appealing: Use design elements such as colors, images, and fonts to make your form visually appealing and on-brand. This can help grab people's attention and make your form stand out.
  • Test your form: Test your form thoroughly before launching it to ensure it works properly and doesn't have any technical issues. Make sure it looks good on different devices and browsers.
  • Promote your waitlist form: Once you launch your form, promote it through all available channels, such as social media and email marketing. The more people who see your form, the more signups you're likely to receive.
  • Follow up with signups: Once someone signs up, follow up with them via email to confirm their subscription and provide any additional information they may need. Consider sending periodic updates to keep them engaged and excited about your launch.

Conclusion

By following these steps and best practices, you can create a waitlist form that not only generates interest in your product or service but also provides value to potential customers and helps build a strong foundation for your launch.

Interested in building a waitlist form? Get started now with Feathery’s free waitlist form template.