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 your event reaches maximum capacity.
When registrants sign up for the waitlist, they will get an email saying they have been added. If you're allowing the registrant to purchase a ticket, you must increase the number of tickets and then release them from the waitlist. The registrant will then receive an email informing them that they can now purchase the ticket.
Set Up an Event Waitlist
Go to Attendees > Manage Waitlist in your admin console
Enable the waitlist toggle
Update the waitlist button text (optional)
On Waitlist Trigger, select to prompt the waitlist when a specific ticket type sells out or your total event capacity is reached.
Specify the other details for your waitlist requirements.
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 buyer will receive the Waitlist Ticket Release email once a ticker 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
To approve the waitlisted registrant, 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 type for editing
Increase the quantity of tickets to the number of tickets 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.
Note: If you increase the quantity to accommodate the registrants in the waitlist, the tickets will not be available on the registration page; they will be reserved for the registrants on the waitlist.
Release Approved Registrants From the Waitlist
Now that you have allotted tickets 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
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will refunding or deleting a ticket automatically release a spot on the waitlist?
No
If the ticket is released, will the registrant get the ticket automatically?
No, they will receive an email saying they can now claim their spot. They need to click the button/link in the email to purchase it.
If I increase the number of tickets and still have people on the waitlist, will those new tickets be available on the registration page?
If you've increased it to the same number of people on the waitlist, those tickets will not be available on the registration page, as those tickets are to be allotted to the people on the waitlist.
If you've increased it to more than the number of people on the waitlist, the tickets will be available on the registration page without the tickets allotted to the waitlist.
If you have 1 person on the waitlist and you increase the ticket quantity to 2 more, only 1 ticket will be available for sale on your registration page, and the other ticket will be reserved for the waitlisted person.