How to build a waiting list before you launch

A waiting list is one page that says what you are making, for whom, and asks for one thing: an email address. Build it in four parts: a clear promise, a single field, a thank-you message that says what happens next, and a plan to put it in front of real people one by one. Ask for permission plainly, say what you will send, and let people leave whenever they want.

Updated 3 October 2026

What is a waiting list, and why build one before launch?

A waiting list is a sign-up page for a product that is not ready yet. Each person who joins is telling you, with a small action, that the idea matters to them. That makes it a cheap test of demand, as described in how to validate a business idea without spending money. It also gives you a group of people to talk to while you build.

A sign-up costs the visitor almost nothing, so treat it as a weak signal. It becomes a strong one when you write back to the people on it and some of them answer, book a call or pay.

What should the page say?

Keep it short enough to read in half a minute. Use four things.

A headline that names the outcome for a named person. Say what changes for them, not how you build it.
Two or three lines of detail. What it does, who it is for, and when you expect to open.
One field and one button. An email address and a button that says what happens, such as "Tell me when it opens".
One sentence of promise. For example: "One email when we open, then nothing else unless you ask. Unsubscribe any time."

For example, someone building a booking tool for dog walkers in Malmö could write "Fewer missed bookings for dog walkers" as the headline, add two lines on how it will work, and open the list to walkers in the city first. This is an example, not a real product.

After the click, show a thank-you message that repeats the promise and asks one question, such as "What is the hardest part of your week?". The answers are worth more than the sign-ups.

How do I get the first people to the page?

Do not wait for visitors. Send the page, one message at a time, to the people you already talked to and to people in places where you are an active member. Say who you are and why you are writing. Then ask each person who joins whether they know one more person who has the same problem. The advice in how to get your first 10 customers applies here too.

Some teams add a referral step, so that people who share the page move up the list. One team published the code of such a page on GitHub. Its README calls it a skeleton Rails application for quickly starting a viral prelaunch campaign, and says that every user is given a unique referral code, which is how the application knows who referred a new user. The owners archived it on 21 March 2019 and warn that the project is unmaintained and has dependencies with known security vulnerabilities. So do not run that code today. Treat it as a reminder that the idea is simple: one code per person and a count of who joined through it.

What are the privacy rules for collecting emails?

Different places have different rules, and the rules of the place where your visitors live are the ones that count. These are the points from the official pages I read. They are not legal advice.

In the European Union, the European Commission says that for consent to be freely given, the individual must have a free choice and must be able to refuse or withdraw consent without being at a disadvantage. Its example of a valid act is an electronic tick-box that the individual has to explicitly check online, or a signature on a form. The UK data protection regulator, the ICO, adds that silence, pre-ticked boxes or inactivity should not therefore constitute consent. So leave any consent box empty and let the visitor tick it.

The Commission also lists what you must tell people when you collect their data. This includes the purposes for which you will use the data, the length of time it will be stored, and the individual's right to withdraw consent at any time. Put these in a short note next to the button and in a longer privacy page. Delete the list, or ask again, once your promise has been kept.

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says its CAN-SPAM rules cover any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service. A launch email that promotes your product is such a message. The FTC says it must include your valid physical postal address, and you must honor a recipient's opt-out request within 10 business days. The cold email guide covers these rules in more detail.

How do I email the list without landing in spam?

Gmail publishes rules for senders. Since 1 February 2024, all senders who email Gmail accounts must set up SPF or DKIM authentication for their sending domains, and must keep their spam rate in Postmaster Tools below 0.30 percent. Senders of more than 5,000 messages a day must also support one-click unsubscribe. A new waiting list is far below that number, but the first two rules apply to everyone.

In practice: send from your own domain, not from a free address; set up the authentication your email service describes; and put a clear unsubscribe link in every message. Send a short welcome the same day, and a real update every few weeks. People forget a list that goes silent.

How do I know the waiting list worked?

Decide the number before you start. For example: "Thirty people from my target group join, and ten of them answer my one question." If you reach it, call the ten. If you miss it, change the promise or the audience before you build anything. A list that grows with the wrong people is a bad sign, however large it looks.

What is a quick checklist?

One page, one promise, one field.
An empty consent box, if your visitors are in Europe or the UK.
A note that says what you will send, how long you will keep it, and how to leave.
A thank-you message that asks one question.
A plan to message the first ten people by hand.
Authentication set up on the domain you send from, and an unsubscribe link in every email.
A number that counts as success, written down before launch.

The free idea check shows what to learn before you build the page.

Can Easeable help with this?

Easeable helps you structure an idea and take it into execution, including your first page. Describe your idea in the box at the end of this page.