Our waitlist feature is a great tool for your event with high ticket demand. You can also use it to screen attendees before allowing them to purchase tickets. You can configure your waitlist to trigger when a certain ticket type sells out, or when your event reaches maximum capacity.
How Does it Work?
Trigger the Waitlist When a Ticket Type Sells Out
When a specific ticket type sells out, instead of seeing a "sold out" label, registrants will see the Waitlist button for that ticket type.
When they sign up for the waitlist, they will get an email saying they have been added to the list and will be informed if a ticket becomes available.
To allow them to get the ticket, you must increase the number of tickets and then release them from the waitlist. The registrant will then receive an email with a link to claim or purchase their ticket.
Trigger the Waitlist When The Event Capacity Is Reached
When the number of event registrations is the same as the Number of Registrants Allowed per Event, the Waitlist button will appear for all ticket types even though there are tickets still available.
When they sign up for the waitlist, they will get an email saying they have been added to the list and will be informed if a ticket becomes available.
To allow them to get the ticket, you must increase the Number of Registrants Allowed per Event and then release them from the waitlist. The registrant will then receive an email with a link to claim or purchase their ticket.
If you increase the Number of Registrants Allowed per Event and DO NOT release registrants from the waitlist, the event slots will be available through the registration page, allowing anyone to buy any available ticket. Releasing them from the waitlist reserves the event slots/tickets for them until their claim link expires. When claiming period expires, then the ticket will be available again through the registration page.
If the number of unsold tickets is the same number of registrants released, the waitlist button goes away and it will say it's sold out because in this scenario those unsold tickets are reserved for those released registrants. If you want more registrants to join the waitlist, you can increase the ticket quantity.
If you need registrants to automatically be registered for the event after approving their request, use the Attendee Approval feature instead.
Enable the Waitlist
Go to Attendees > Manage Waitlist
Enable the waitlist toggle
Update the waitlist button text (optional)
Choose the Waitlist Trigger
On Waitlist Trigger, select to prompt the waitlist when a specific ticket type sells out or your total event capacity is reached.
Other Waitlist Settings
Maximum Waitlist Size - this is the number of tickets you'll have available for people on the waitlist. You can leave this as "0" for unlimited tickets.
Phone Number Required - enable this if you want to collect their phone number when they join the waitlist.
Manually Release Waitlist Tickets - enable this if you want to manually select who can start buying ticket(s). If you choose to release tickets automatically, the first one in the list will be released and will receive the Waitlist Ticket Release email once a slot becomes available.
Time to Respond - this is how long attendees can claim their tickets once a spot opens up for them.
Join Waitlist Email Subject - this is the subject of the email that they receive once they are added to the waitlist.
Join Waitlist Confirmation Message - this is the email they receive once they are added to the waitlist. There is a static message that appears in the email, so you can leave this blank if you don't have a customized message for them.
Waitlist Ticket Release Subject - this is the subject of the email they receive once you release them from the waitlist.
Waitlist Ticket Release Message - this is the email they receive once you release them from the waitlist. There is a static message that appears in the email, so you can leave this blank if you don't have a customized message for them.
Join the Waitlist
Instead of selecting the number of tickets in the registration process, the Join Waitlist button will appear.
When joining the waitlist, registrants will be asked to enter their name, email, phone number (if required), and the number of tickets they want to purchase.
After they submit, they will get the Join Waitlist Confirmation Email.
Make Tickets Available for Waitlisted Registrants
If the trigger for the waitlist is when a ticket type sells out, you must increase the number of tickets to make it available for them before releasing registrants from the waitlist.
Go to Registration > Set Up Tickets
Open the ticket settings
Increase the Quantity to the number of registrants that you want to approve
Click Save
In the example below, we sold one ticket, and four people signed up for the waitlist. We must increase the quantity to five to allow those four registrants to buy the tickets.
Notes:
If you increase the ticket quantity to accommodate the registrants to be released from the waitlist, the tickets will be available on the registration page until you release them from the waitlist. Once released, the tickets will be reserved for the released registrants until their claim link expires.
If you've increased the ticket quantity to more than the number of people you released from the waitlist, the excess tickets will be available on the registration page. (e.g. 2 more tickets added, only 1 person released, 1 ticket will be reserved for the person release, 1 ticket will be available on the registration page)
A spot will open up if a purchased ticket is cancelled or deleted. If your settings is to manually release from the waitlist, then you must release the registrant to claim the spot.
Make Event Slots Available for Waitlisted Registrants
If the trigger for the waitlist is when the event capacity is reached, you must increase the Number of Registrants Allowed per Event to make a ticket available for them before releasing registrants from the waitlist.
Go to Registration > Set Up Tickets
Scroll down and go to Limit Event Capacity
Increase the Number of Registrants Allowed per Event to the number of registrants that you want to approve.
In the example above, the number of registrants allowed to register is originally just 1, and that 1 slot is already sold. The waitlist has been triggered even though there are still 2 out 3 tickets available. To make the ticket available for the registrant in the waitlist, we increased the number of registrants allowed to 2.
Notes:
If you increase the event capacity to accommodate the registrants to be released from the waitlist, the tickets will be available on the registration page until you release them from the waitlist. Once released, the slots will be reserved for the registrants on the waitlist until their claim link expires.
If you increase the event capacity to accommodate the registrants to be released from the waitlist, but the number of available tickets is less than the number of registrants to be released, the last ones to claim will not be accommodated. You must also increase the number of tickets so everyone released can claim their ticket.
A spot will open up if a purchased ticket is cancelled or deleted. If your settings is to manually release from the waitlist, then you must release the registrant to claim the spot.
Release Approved Registrants From the Waitlist
Now that you have increase the tickets / event capacity in the previous step, you can release the registrants from the waitlist.
Go to Attendees > Manage Waitlist
Click the View Waitlist
Select the people you want to release from the waitlist to allow them to buy a ticket.
Click Release Tickets
Note: Currently there is no option to download the waitlist, you may reach out to support if you need the list in a CSV file.
Claim the Ticket
After registrants are released from the waitlist, they should receive the Waitlist Ticket Release email with a button to Claim Your Spot. This button will redirect them to a page where they can purchase the tickets.
Note: There is no option to automatically be registered for the event after getting released from the waitlist, they must claim their ticket. If you want them to automatically be registered after approving their request, you must use the Attendee Approval feature instead.