The perfect waitlist - What to ask, why, and how to get the most out of your leads

Setting up a waitlist is easy; there are hundreds of tools for it. Using a waitlist as a tool to validate your initial product and market hypothesis is a lot harder: What do you ask? How much is too much? And what do you do with the insights?

A waitlist can serve several purposes. Smart entrepreneurs recognize that they don’t know more than they know about the space they are starting to build in. Setting up a waitlist and generating some excitement around it is one of the cheapest and fastest ways to learn.

Fast and cheap is good, and waitlists are good. In its simplest form, a waitlist is just an email field and a sign-up button. However, this is almost always a wasted opportunity. Why?

When you manage to get someone onto your landing page and they are excited enough to trust you with their email address, they are willing to spend 30 more seconds and answer a few of your questions. But what if they don’t?

Waitlist Friction Is Your Friend

“But what if they drop out because the waitlist survey is too long?” many worry. Worry not, because they are doing you a favor. Why?

Because if people are not willing to spend 30 seconds on your survey, they will never go through the effort to deal with your hopefully crappy MVP. But they will provide feedback, which might lead to taking your offering down the wrong path. Many people have opinions, but you should only listen to the voices of people who already have or very likely will buy from you. Friction can help you separate the wheat from the chaff.

So, what does the perfect waitlist survey look like?

In this article, you’ll discover how to approach composing your list of questions for the waitlist survey. Your goal: You attract customers who actively participate on launch day.

Before going into the details, let's briefly explore why having an ideally crafted waitlist survey is essential.

Why A Well-crafted Waitlist Is Crucial For Your Launch

A well-crafted waitlist survey contributes to the overall success of your product launch in several ways. As an example, if you have a new product and you are looking to create awareness, a well-crafted waitlist can benefit you in the following ways:

• It helps you form a group of people who are genuinely interested in your product. By collecting information like their email addresses, you can create a community of potential users who may become loyal customers.
• It provides valuable insights into customer needs and pains, helping you tailor your offerings to meet their specific needs.
• Lastly, a well-structured waitlist can be a powerful marketing asset, creating buzz and anticipation around your upcoming launch.

Now that you know why you need a waitlist, what information should you seek from your leads? In the next section, we’ll uncover the essential questions you should include in your waitlist survey.

What To Ask On Your Waitlist Survey

Determining the right questions for your waitlist survey is essential and can vary based on your survey's purpose. Since the questions itself depend highly on the product or service you’re creating the waitlist for, this section provides examples and highlights key questions to gather valuable insights from your potential users.

Questions About Problem Awareness & Urgency

This will help you probe the market's challenges, ask about any current products or services they use, what they like or dislike about them, how urgently they need a solution, and the impact of the problem on their daily lives or work. Some examples of questions you can ask in this survey include:

• What specific challenges or problems related to [your industry/niche] are you currently experiencing?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how urgently do you feel the need to find a solution to these challenges?
• Can you describe a situation where these challenges had a significant impact on your personal life/work/business?

Question About Feature Preferences & Willingness to Pay

This question will help you inquire about the features they consider essential, how they want it built, and how much they are willing to invest in a solution. You can ask questions like:

• Are there any features you would like to see in our [product/service]?
• When would you find [product/service] too expensive?
• Would you prefer a [product/service] with a lower upfront cost and additional charges for advanced features, or a higher upfront cost with all features included?

Willingness To Beta Test Or Provide Feedback

Asking this question will help you gauge their interest in trying out pre-launch versions and their willingness to provide constructive feedback. Examples of questions you can ask here include:

• Would you be open to providing detailed feedback on your experience with our [product/service] during the beta testing phase?
• Are you interested in being part of our exclusive beta testing group for [product/service]?

Communication Preferences & Expectations

Ask how they prefer to be contacted and the level of engagement they expect from your end. Ask questions like the following:

• How frequently would you like to receive updates about our [product/service]?
• Through which channels do you prefer to receive updates and information about our [product/service]? (Then include options like: Email, SMS, In-app notifications, Social Media, and Others)

Questions About Demographics And Contact Information

This question helps you gather details like age, gender, location, and contact information to build a profile of your potential users and a foundation for personalized engagement.

Which tool to use? Go free & open-source

Building your waitlist survey has never been simpler or faster, especially now that you have a clear understanding of the questions and how to structure them. Rather than starting from scratch, leverage a tool that streamlines the process.

Enter Formbricks, an open-source survey solution designed to capture targeted user feedback precisely when it matters most in their journey. Utilizing the world's largest open-source survey stack, Formbricks empowers you to effortlessly create a personalized waitlist survey within minutes of signing up on the platform.

As you craft your survey, Formbricks provides the flexibility to incorporate logic jumps based on responses and include various survey types, such as multi-select, single-select, NPS, and rating surveys, among others.

Moreover, customization extends to the presentation of your survey. Whether you prefer a link-based survey or embedding it in your app, Formbricks caters to your needs. For instance, if you have a waitlist landing page, you can easily embed the survey by installing the Formbricks widget. Implementing a survey trigger is equally straightforward, whether based on the inner text of a button (e.g., a "Join our waitlist" button on your landing page), the page URL of your landing page, or CSS selector. Formbricks puts the power of efficient, tailored survey creation at your fingertips.

As an illustration, we've crafted a sample link waitlist survey featuring a blend of questions from the provided examples. Check it out here.

However, it is not enough to just have a waitlist and know how to build it; you need to take actionable steps to make the most of the leads you have amassed. In the next section, we’ll explore a few ideas to convert your subscribers into actual users when you launch.

How To Get The Most Out Of Your Leads

The ideas in this section will guide you in extracting the full potential of your leads.

Boost lead conversion with incentives

Encourage engagement by offering incentives that resonate with your audience. Whether it's exclusive access, discounts, special perks, or even gift cards, providing something extra can motivate your leads to convert into active users.

Utilize FOMO

Create a sense of urgency and anticipation. Highlight the unique aspects of your launch and the benefits users will enjoy. By emphasizing exclusivity and limited-time offers, you can fuel FOMO, driving more conversions from your waitlist.

Optimizing Conversion Rates through Timely Launches

Understanding the crucial role of timing in converting waitlist subscribers to active users is key. The data underscores this importance, revealing that for waitlists active for less than a month, conversion rates hover around 50%. Contrastingly, when a waitlist extends beyond three months, the conversion rate significantly drops below 20%. This emphasizes the need for a strategic and timely launch to maximize engagement and capitalize on the initial interest of your audience.

Nurture Engagement through Consistent Interaction

Regular and proactive communication is the key to fostering a lasting relationship. Don't reserve updates solely for the launch day; instead, provide ongoing insights into your progress.

Consider sending out regular monthly updates encompassing new features, noteworthy news, engaging content, or any other relevant information. This consistent stream of information keeps your audience informed and invested in your journey.

Key Takeaways

So far, we've tackled the "whys" and "whats" of waitlist surveys—their benefits, key questions, and even how to build one easily with Formbricks.

Concluding the article, we explored four ideas to get the most out of your leads. But remember, while crafting your survey, make sure you keep it short and direct. According to SurveyMonkey, 45% of respondents express comfort with surveys that take up to 5 minutes of their time. As a result, when crafting your survey, prioritize conciseness and directness. Ensure your messaging acknowledges the respondent's valuable time and expresses gratitude for their willingness to participate.