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Join us for an insightful episode where we delve into the power of waitlists and other effective marketing strategies. Discover how waitlists can create anticipation, gauge audience interest, and nurture your warmest leads. Learn valuable techniques to stack your waitlist with bonuses, provide early access, and potentially offer discounts. Uncover how combining these tactics with a waitlist can not only build relationships but also lower your ad costs by targeting engaged audiences.

In this episode, we chat about…

✨ Harnessing the power of waitlists [03:00]
✨ Strategies for effective waitlist management [05:37]
✨ Creating urgency and maximizing impact [09:19]
✨Lowering ad costs with waitlist engagement [15:30]

Episode Transcript:

I am recording this on the day of the solar eclipse. I was in, I live in a city that got a 98% totality. So we did not hit totality. But it was really, really cool to be outside. Um, we were able to be outside for. Like. I always say like halfway through the beginning part. And then the kids were like in and out for those like 15, 20 minutes leading up the whole family is outside in those darkish moments at 98% totality, it gets dark, but like not dark, dark, and we weren't able to take off our glasses at any point. But it was a really, really cool experience.

The first thing I did was Google when the next solar eclipses, not just like in Canada or the United States are happening, but worldwide. So I could see like, is there anywhere that I want to go travel? So, I asked hubs how he felt about Spain because in 2026, there is a total eclipse that passes through the Northern part of Spain. And we've talked about going on a European adventure. Eh, and I was like, well, maybe it should be that one. Because I've now clearly obsessed with eclipses. So we'll see what happens.

I would love to go to Spain anyway. I was there when I did my backpacking trip years and years and years ago in third year of university. But I haven't been back and I would love to go back. So who knows? We might be planning a trip to Europe in 2026. We're not going anywhere this summer and we're not going anywhere next summer, because I've posted about this a few times on my Instagram stories over the last like year or so, but we are really, really, really close to paying off our mortgage.

And so we're, it's almost like a year from now. It's the first week of April. Our mortgage. Well, it will be our last mortgage payment because we're going to, when it's up for renewal and you know how, like when you're up for that renewal, there's a period of time where the mortgage is open and you can pay it out.

So we're going to do that. And I'm like super, super excited. But to ensure that that's possible. Financially possible. No traveling this summer or next summer, so sad face, but it would be really, really, really, really, really cool. To go to Spain in 2026 for our like, back to travel, if you will, and get to experience a total eclipse there. We'll see. That's so far away that who knows what's going to happen between now and then, but that'd be really cool if that was able to happen.

Okay. End my little ramble about my life and my dreams and what's coming and who knows what. And let's talk about the power of wait lists and some other tips to help you spend less on ads.

Let's start with what is a waitlist and why is it important? Waitlist is exactly what it sounds like. It's a list of people who are waiting for something. These are really powerful for events, live events or online events. Especially bigger ones like a summit or conference. Or any sort of live event. Concerts often we'll use waitlists so that the people who are the most interested are on that wait list.

And as soon as the tickets become available, they're sent that email, right? Same with a live event. You're waiting for it or a book release. So that, you know exactly when the CD or the book or whatever it is, is released. And so that is the main goal of a waitlist is so that the people who are excited about it ready for it can sign up and get notifications through email, maybe text so that once it is available, whether it is a product, a course, a digital offer of some sort or a physical object, like a book, or if it's a live event, either online or in person that those people who are excited are the first ones to know.

Why we love waitlist because it builds up that hype early. And it's also a really good way to judge the interest in your audience. If you have an audience of like 10,000 people and four sign up. There's issues probably around your messaging, probably around the way you've positioned yourself, positioned the offer, positioned whatever it is, you're trying to entice people. And so before you really dive in and are in the selling phase of whatever this is, you can pivot your marketing, pivot your messaging so that it's more enticing and you can get more people hyped up excited and on that wait list.

And it gives you a really, really early glimpse at your messaging effectiveness and your offer positioning effectiveness. So I really like it for that. It's also a really great way to get your warmest leads excited. Because you're probably going to promote the waitlist to your email list first. And then do you other social media following and potentially in Facebook groups or cold outreach, but a waitlist is typically going to be your leads already, like people who are already in your circle, getting them even more excited and hyped up and hopefully having them share with their friends to increase the size of your audience.

The last thing that I like to do, this is kind of like a two-parter. The last thing I'd like to do. With waitlist is sending out emails. Having my clients send out emails regularly, even more so than just the weekly emails that we're already sending. So if you are hyping up for something, then you might be sending out your regular email every single week to your entire list, and then your waitlist will get a second email. And within some of those waitlist hype emails, you can actually embed questionnaires, Google forms, or yes, no type answers that you want people to hit reply and answer to.

So you can get even more feedback from the waitlist and it can be very valuable insight. I would also like to mention that you don't need something brand new. Or. Yeah, you don't need, this does not need to be for something brand new. I am on two, well, three, technically three different wait-lists for two different coaches. I have no intention of signing up for either of their programs. There was probably a time that I might have, but currently where I am right now, I am not interested in signing up for either of their programs, but I love being on their wait list because they send out such valuable information.

So the first one is Stacey Boehman. She has the 200 K program and $2 million group. So I'm on both the wait list for that. And then the other one is Lacey Sites. She's a one-to-one life coach. Who has a really cool payment structure where there's a low, monthly base rate and she does like a profit sharing where 10% of your revenue is like additional fee.

So she's not just a coach. She's very invested in the businesses because your success is her success. Right. So. I really like both of these coaches, Stacy and Lacey. And their wait lists emails are packed with amazing value. And it's very, very helpful to get that information sent directly to me.

If you're like, well, I don't have anything new coming up or I'm a one-to-one business. Like how could I possibly have a wait-list definitely check out these two business coaches because they are so effectively using waitlists to build the audience, nurture their audience and also create urgency. If you want that spot with Lacey and you know that there are going to be 40 applications. Then that is so much urgency to like get your application in on time.

And then with Stacy Boehman, her waitlist. The urgency is it's a pretty intensive application process and it's only two, maybe three days that it's open.

So. Really, really like waitlist for all different types of offers, new, old one-to-one group programs, live events, books, because. Of, yeah, let's just recap quick.

So, because builds build relationships, can build your email list, is a sense of urgency that you need to get in. And we're going to talk a little bit more, how you can even add more to that sense of urgency. And you can make your audience just feel like they're a part of something. Feel like they're part of a community, part of something exciting that's going on. And people love that.

To increase the sense of urgency. These are some of the techniques that I recommend recommend. And you can use them with, or without the wait-list. I like to stack the waitlist with at least one of these other ones, which include bonuses, early access and potentially discounts. Not a huge, huge fan of discounts. There are some pros. There's some cons. Absolutely. It can be a sense of urgency if the discount's only available for 24 hours or a very short period of time. Or if the regular price is like a thousand dollars and in the open cart. It's only $800. I also on the flip side of it, know some people are really against discounts because it's not fair.

If some people pay 800 and other people pay a thousand. There's also the idea of people waiting. If you always are putting it on sale, then they'll just wait for it to be on sale.

When it comes to pricing fairness, I have never asked somebody else. Like, how much do you spend on your TV or how much should you spend on your MacBook or how much did you spend on your, whatever it is, fill in the blank and then been shocked, disgusted and appalled. Or whatever feelings you might think that I didn't get the same price as them because my Mac book had a price tag on it. And when I pressed submit on the checkout. Or whatever it was like pay now I knew what the price tag was and I was okay and I accepted it. And just because so-and-so beside me had a $200 coupon or whatever. I don't even know. I'm just making this up. But let's just say personally in the classroom next door to me, or whoever, had a $200 discount. And got their Mac book for $200 less than me. Like I said yes to this price. I accepted this price.

So if somebody accepts the price. Again, back to that course or program that's a thousand dollars and you discount it to 800. If someone accepts the price of a thousand dollars. And someone else lucked out or waited or had a code or whatever it might be in paid $800. There. Like the person who paid a thousand was not pressured into it.

Hopefully. I do not recommend pressuring people to do things they don't want. They're an adult. They made a decision. Hopefully you have a sales process that answers people's questions makes them feel confident in their purchase. And it takes them through a journey so that they are confidently saying yes, And then they've accepted that price, right?

And then the other piece of the puzzle of like people waiting until something goes on sale. Sure. Yeah. I wait at the grocery store until all of oil goes on sale. I know it goes on sale in four to six week. Like waves, if you will. And that if I wait. I will get some olive oil for three or $4 less than if I just buy it right away. So when it does go on sale, I buy two or three or four bottles so that we have them in our pantry.

And then I don't have to buy it when it's not on sale. The next time it goes on sale. We're we've depleted that what we had and we buy it again. Right. So, yes, there's definitely people, especially if you're putting your offer on sale, you're giving discounts out frequently. You might have people that wait. But you also have people who just jump in, right?

Like it doesn't matter if we run out of olive oil, it doesn't matter if the price is jacked $3. We use olive oil for pretty much every single meal. Come at me if you want. Not here for a health discussion. It's just how we cook. But, we use olive oil all the time. And so. Um, if we've run out of our stash, for whatever reason missed the sale, didn't realize we were low. Who knows what it could be. Then we just buy it at the regular price and we accept it, but then the next time it goes on sale, we try to stock up.

So there will always be people if you're offering something that they really, really want, they really, really need, they are going to be willing to jump in right now at that full price. And then also you'll have people who will wait for the discount or the code or, or whatever. So. Those are my thoughts about discounts, but they can be a really great form of urgency. When you are offering them for a short period of time, it is a good way to entice people to join the waitlist, because you can say that people on the wait list will be provided with discount code and save 10% or $50 or whatever it is that you want.

You can also give a special bonus to people who have joined the waitlist. You obviously need to be careful with this, that you're not. Creating some sort of bonus that is necessary for your course or program. Because you would want everyone to have that. For example, my Dream List Essentials. I have an ad tracker that I often will use as a bonus, but it's. It's not really a bonus.

It's kind of essential. So I call it a bonus, but everybody gets it. Something that would be more of like an early bird or waitlist bonus would be the one-on-one call. Right. You can get a one-to-one call if you join the wait list. And you joined the program before day two is over a relate within the 1st 48 hours. So. Just making sure that the bonus is something that's really powerful, really great, but not necessary for everyone so that it can be a true bonus.

And then giving early access, you can absolutely do that giving. Like opening the cart for people to join the program. 24 hours early. If they're on the wait list. This is even more effective. If you have a certain number of spots, like if you only have 10 spots, the waitlist gets first access and then anything else is released to the public. That's a huge enticer to get people onto your waitlist.

If they really want to get in, they need to be on the wait list or they'll miss out on those spots. So all of these, the bonus early access discount codes can be used with, or without a waitlist. I think adding the waitlist in and combining the two, like two of them, I wouldn't combine anymore. Is going to be your most powerful because getting on the wait list. Is probably awesome.

But then giving somebody like an extra incentive especially if you're first starting out with the waitlist, once you have a more established waitlist. The urgency of the program itself can be more than enough. So you'll just have to like go with what makes sense to you and what makes sense to your business and from there, you'll be able to make those decisions.

So. I hope that this was helpful and with a bit of a different spin on that creating urgency and using the waitlist to lower your ad costs. Oh, we didn't even talk about that. How it can lower ad costs. Oh my goodness. I'm so glad that in my wrap up. I said that.

So these techniques, especially creating a waitlist can help lower your ad costs because you're getting people excited. And you are. Using other techniques to build your. Relationships and you're building the rapport with people. Ad costs are going to be more expensive when you're running ads to cold people.

So if you have a wait list, you can run ads to just the waitlist. And you can also use ads to build the waitlist. You're not paying to make the sale. You're paying for the email address, which is going to be cheaper. And so. It can be a really great way, a really great strategy to get someone on your email list, whether through a lead magnet or the waitlist, and then use the waitlist as that nurture piece, the intensive, extended nurturing beyond what your normal email list will get.

And that way you can, the more nurturing, the more relationship building, the more connection somebody. Has with you the faster they will buy. And so by getting people on to your wait list, building that urgency, it really helps to lower the ad cost because you're doing so much of the heavy lifting on the other side.

And you're not relying so much on the ads. Do the heavy lifting for you. So that was a little, like a really quick wrap-up of it, but. I hope that this episode was helpful and I will be back in your ear next Saturday with a new Saturday strategy session.