Instead of launching something out of the blue (and crossing your fingers), you can build and maintain momentum with a waitlist, setting yourself up for success.
For that to work smoothly, though, you need more than a basic “coming soon” landing page. You need a full waitlist funnel.
Don’t worry, though. While it must be strategic, your funnel doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, you can create a waitlist with Mailchimp and ScoreApp alone:
- ScoreApp will attract your audience and capture their details through a landing page, and once they’ve signed up for your waitlist, it’ll ask them questions to collect the insights you need
- You’ll then automate and personalise your emails accordingly, managing your waitlist with Mailchimp
So, let’s go through the steps to create a Mailchimp and ScoreApp waitlist funnel that keeps working in the background for you!
What is a Mailchimp waitlist?
A Mailchimp waitlist is a list of people who are interested in a product, service, or offer you’re looking to launch (and that you manage on that platform).
While there are lots of email marketing tools, Mailchimp is still the most popular one. If you’re already using it, it’s a no-brainer to build your waitlist on Mailchimp. Still looking for the right platform? You’re going to LOVE IT if you’re after something versatile and beginner-friendly, especially as an individual or small business.
Unfortunately, its landing pages aren’t the best, but you won’t have to worry about that: you’ll be building yours on ScoreApp and attaching it to your Mailchimp list (phew).
Benefits of building a waitlist funnel
Waitlists come with so many advantages! Some might be more or less relevant depending on your business model and goals, but overall, your ScoreApp and Mailchimp waitlist will allow you to:
- Gauge demand – Instead of going all in with a new product, check how many potential customers are interested enough to sign up for its waitlist
- Validate your idea – When you attach a quick ScoreApp quiz to your waitlist landing page, you can ask questions to get feedback on your initial idea. And if your audience isn’t 100% on board? Improve it accordingly without wasting months and a tonne of money building something that doesn’t sell
- Get to know your audience – With your ScoreApp quiz questions, you can ask them whatever you need to find out (from who they are to their needs and preferences)
- Pre-qualify your leads – Identify who would (and wouldn’t) be the right fit for your upcoming service. Then, nurture them accordingly, and only offer a call to your dream prospects
- Keep a filled pipeline – Build a waitlist even when you’re fully booked. That way, as soon as you have more availability, you can rely on an audience who’s ITCHING to work with you!
- Personalise your marketing – Your ScoreApp quiz can also segment your subscribers into groups depending on their answers. You’ll then get to tailor the rest of your Mailchimp waitlist funnel and emails, making them super-targeted and effective
- Nurture your waitlist subscribers, creating momentum – With your waitlist email sequence, you’ll get your audience EXCITED about your upcoming launch or announcement!
- Establish premium positioning, and inspire FOMO – A Mailchimp waitlist will position you as an exclusive option, whether you’re selling products (for example, by highlighting your limited stock) or services (by showing your clients that you’re in demand, not desperate or willing to work with anyone)
- Sell more easily – Your Mailchimp waitlist will be full of people who expressed an interest in your upcoming offer and who have already been nurtured. So, it’ll be a breeze to sell out (and when you do, raise your prices confidently)
5 steps to create a waitlist on Mailchimp using ScoreApp
Now that you’re clear on how much of a game-changer it’s going to be, how can you create your Mailchimp and ScoreApp waitlist?
Let’s go through each step together!
Step 1: Set up your waitlist with ScoreApp
Before you do anything, get clear on your goals: what are you hoping to achieve with this waitlist? This will allow you to find the right angle and strategy for it.
For example, you might want to validate a new product idea before developing it or build a pipeline of right-fit prospects to avoid droughts and famine.
Once you’ve identified your main objective:
- Create your waitlist landing page – Write compelling copy: lead with how your new offer will benefit your customers, and emphasise how exclusive it is, creating FOMO. Complement it with high-quality visuals and social proof (like reviews and user-generated content). With ScoreApp, you can start from scratch with our drag-and-drop landing page builder or choose a template from our library. Easy!
- Prepare your ScoreApp quiz questions – What do YOU need to know to segment your audience strategically and launch confidently? Work your way backwards to plan the right questions! (For example, if you want to pre-qualify your leads as a business coach, you could ask: “This new offer will only be relevant for agency owners with a +£500,000 yearly turnover. Is that you, too?”) Then, attach these questions to your landing page, and customise everything to match your branding
Step 2: Integrate ScoreApp with Mailchimp
For your ScoreApp and Mailchimp waitlist funnel to work smoothly, you must connect the two platforms (duh).
Luckily, as well as the most popular CRMs and third-party tools, we offer direct integrations with Mailchimp. So, this step couldn’t be easier!
- On ScoreApp, go to the Integrate section, and select Mailchimp
- Enter your Mailchimp API Key when prompted (psst: you’ll find it by clicking on your profile icon in Mailchimp, choosing Profile, the Extras drop-down, and then clicking API keys)
That’s it!
Or if you have multiple lists, just select the right one in the Settings section (for example, if you wish to keep this waitlist separate from your newsletter).
Step 3: Map your fields
Now, your ScoreApp landing page and Mailchimp waitlist are connected (hurray!).
So, whenever someone signs up for your waitlist and completes your ScoreApp quiz, they’ll be added (or updated) as a Mailchimp contact, and you can start emailing them.
To get the most out of your waitlist funnel, though, you want the two tools to share more data, communicating in a way they both understand and that makes sense for you.
You can put this in place by mapping your fields in the same Integrations section. It’ll really depend on WHAT you need to know and HOW you wish to personalise your waitlist emails, but in a nutshell:
- Map leads form fields – ScoreApp will automatically map your First Name, Last Name, and Email fields on Mailchimp. You can then add whatever additional fields would be relevant and useful for you (for example, someone’s phone number or website)
- Map result fields – Create different Mailchimp fields and tags based on your subscribers’ quiz results. This will allow you to segment them and personalise your emails accordingly (more on that soon!). For example, you could divide them into groups depending on their overall score or even their answer to a specific question, like “What’s your biggest marketing problem right now?”
Step 4: Nurture your Mailchimp waitlist subscribers automatically and in a personalised way
Your email sequence is one of the most important parts of your ScoreApp and Mailchimp waitlist funnel! It’s what allows you to nurture your subscribers and create momentum.
Once again, its focus will change depending on your goals, but you could consider automating emails that:
- Welcome your audience, set the right expectations, and reinforce the exclusivity of this list
- Remind your subscribers of their problem and how it’s affecting them
- Educate them, perhaps through additional resources (like blog posts that debunk their current misconceptions about your industry)
- Connect with them through stories and anecdotes that humanise your brand
- Build trust through case studies, reviews, and user-generated content
- Create urgency and FOMO (for example, by reminding them of what makes this upcoming offer limited)
- Announce your launch when the time is right, compelling your subscribers to take action NOW to avoid missing out
To make these Mailchimp emails more personalised and effective, use your ScoreApp mapped fields to either:
- Set up different automated sequences for each segment (for example, if you run events across the country and you asked your audience where they live, your nurturing sequences could only promote the one closest to them)
- Tailor certain elements within your emails (for example, the biggest problem each lead is facing)
Step 5: Test, review, and optimise your ScoreApp and Mailchimp waitlist
By now, you’ve pretty much created a strong ScoreApp and Mailchimp waitlist funnel (high five!). To get the MOST out of it:
- Test everything before launching it – From your landing page to your quiz and all your emails: do your automations work well? And is the entire funnel mobile-friendly (for example, with buttons large enough to be clicked with a thumb)?
- Run some A/B testing – Show different versions of your landing pages and emails to some subscribers, identifying what resonates the most with them
- Check your analytics – Both Mailchimp and ScoreApp come with handy built-in analytics. So, monitor them regularly to find out what performed best in your split testing and how your subscribers are engaging with your funnel. Then, optimise it accordingly (for example, if a lot of people exit your quiz after a specific question, you might want to remove it)
Create your Mailchimp waitlist with ScoreApp: build momentum, and launch with a bang
Gone are the days of dropping a new product out of nowhere and relying on guesswork (for smart business owners, at least).
Attract your audience and validate your idea with a ScoreApp landing page and quiz. Then, use those insights to personalise your Mailchimp emails and automations… and launch confidently!
So, to create your Mailchimp waitlist funnel, start by building your landing page and quiz with ScoreApp today and for FREE.
