Launch a Black Friday Offer That Sells Out With a Waitlist

Black Friday is an exciting opportunity to boost your sales with a new offer or promotion.

For that to happen, though, you need to stand out from your competitors, manage your inventory successfully, and meet your customers’ expectations (and let’s face it: every year, they see so many Black Friday discounts that most of them become white noise).

So, how can you set yourself up for success? By creating a sense of urgency and exclusivity with a waitlist for your Black Friday offer!

Here’s how.

What makes a successful Black Friday offer?

First things first! Before planning your Black Friday waitlist, you need the right offer for your target customers. So, you should consider:

Compelling discounts or bonuses – The main question buzzing in your customers’ minds around Black Friday is: “Why should I buy this RIGHT NOW instead of waiting or choosing a competitor?”

So, your offer must be so good that it automatically answers that question, becoming a no-brainer. For example, this could be a substantial discount, an exclusive bundle packed full of value, or a unique bonus or perk that’s only available around Black Friday

Urgency and scarcity – Highlight that it’s a time-limited offer, and include anything else that can create FOMO. For example, is there only a small number of 1:1 slots available? Is your stock limited? Use it in your marketing to encourage customers to take action ASAP
Clear and simple messaging – A confused mind doesn’t buy! So, communicate your offer clearly, articulating its value in a way that resonates with your target customers. Provide simple instructions on how to claim it too, to avoid both friction and confusion
Targeted marketing – The goal is to reach the right people with the right message at the right time. So, focus on the audience or segment for whom you planned this offer, and show them something so relevant and valuable that they can’t help but WANT to take action!

For example, you could use social media posts, paid ads, and email marketing to direct them to your Black Friday waitlist, attaching a ScoreApp quiz to ask them questions and personalise your marketing accordingly (more on that soon!)

Seamless customer experience – If your offer sounds incredible but is difficult to claim, most people will give up. So, make sure it integrates smoothly with the rest of your e-commerce store, website, or app, including mobile optimisation and enough customer support to handle high traffic

Once you have the right idea and plan, you might be tempted to share it with everyone. Instead, here’s why you should start with a waitlist for your Black Friday offer.

How can a waitlist increase Black Friday sales?

A waitlist is a list of people who are interested in something you offer (in this case, your products or services and, specifically, your upcoming Black Friday deal). Why build and promote one?

Create urgency and scarcity – When something is available to everyone and easy to access, it loses its perceived value. Instead, ONLY releasing your offer to your waitlist (or giving them a higher discount or early access) makes it exclusive and, therefore, more desirable. For example, Glastonbury Festival doesn’t just advertise its tickets: it promotes a waitlist. No wonder it always sells out in under 1h!
Capture your leads early – Dropping your Black Friday offer out of the blue makes it harder for it to gain traction. By then, your customers might have already decided to buy from your competitors. Instead, plan ahead! By promoting your waitlist first, you’ll get your audience intrigued and have time to nurture them directly with more personalised emails
Build anticipation – Use the initial announcement to plant the seed, but keep watering it: stay top of mind and get your audience excited by teasing and talking about your upcoming offer. Once Black Friday is around the corner, your subscribers will be ready to take action!
Manage inventory and demand – A waitlist helps you gauge demand too, allowing you to plan your inventory more confidently and avoiding both under- and over-stocking

Using ScoreApp for your Black Friday waitlist

You can take all this one step further by attaching a quick quiz to your Black Friday waitlist. When you ask strategic questions to your audience, you can:

Segment them, personalising your Black Friday campaign – For example, you can show them tailored messaging or send them the offer that’s most relevant to their needs and preferences (based on their quiz answers)
Choose to include personalised quiz results – Wow your audience from the start with a Black Friday waitlist quiz along the lines of “What’s your fashion aesthetic?” or “What’s your traveller profile?”

Either way, you’ll collect valuable data to make your exclusive campaign super relevant.

With ScoreApp, it’s a breeze to create your Black Friday waitlist landing page as well as your quiz, connecting them with your CRM and email marketing platform.

Create your Black Friday waitlist with ScoreApp today and for FREE

Step-by-step guide to launching a waitlist for your Black Friday offer with ScoreApp

Now that you know just how much of a game-changer this Black Friday strategy is, how can you get started? In 6 easy steps!

Step 1: Define your Black Friday offer

Make sure you’re crystal clear on this before you set up your waitlist! That way, you can get your messaging right on its landing page and ask strategic questions in your quiz.

So, put together an unmissable offer for your specific target customers, and add a sense of urgency (psst: if you need more tips, go back to the section titled “What makes a successful Black Friday offer?”).

Step 2: Set up your waitlist on ScoreApp

Plan your waitlist questions – How do you need to segment your list? This will really depend on your type of business and offer. To give you an idea, though, it could be based on demographics, your audience’s biggest problem, main goal, or preferences (like dividing them by fashion style)
Build your waitlist quiz – With ScoreApp, you can start from our library of templates or use our intuitive drag-and-drop-builder. Then, customise your new quiz so that it matches your brand
Create your Black Friday waitlist landing page – Write compelling copy that speaks directly to your target customers, teases your upcoming offer, and tells them it’ll ONLY be released through that waitlist. You can also build trust by including reviews from past customers. Don’t forget to add a strong call to action, too
Set up your full waitlist funnel – Connect your waitlist to your existing CRM and email marketing platform (ScoreApp integrates directly with the most popular ones, and you can add more third-party apps through Zapier). That way, it’ll all work together smoothly

Step 3: Promote your waitlist to build hype

Now that your Black Friday waitlist is ready to be launched, it’s time to talk about it… EVERYWHERE!

Make it impossible to miss on your website, from the main hero section to pop-ups
Post about it on social media (including teasers and reminders), inviting people to sign up
Send it to your current email subscribers, which will give you a chance to segment them
Drive more traffic to it fast with paid ads

Step 4: Engage and nurture your waitlist leads

Avoid this common waitlist mistake: making a show-stopping first impression with your initial landing page… only to never contact your subscribers again until it’s time to promote your offer!

Instead, set up a strategic waitlist email sequence to stay top of mind and get your audience excited about your Black Friday deal. For example:

Welcome your new waitlist members, and make them feel special by reminding them they’ll get exclusive or early-bird access
Send them interesting updates, sneak peeks, and special waitlist-only content regularly
Encourage engagement by personalising your emails
Send some reminders closer to the date, creating both excitement and FOMO

Step 5: Launch your Black Friday offer

The big day is here!

Automate your main launch emails so that all your waitlist subscribers can access your offer before everyone else (with ScoreApp, once it’s set up and connected with your email marketing platform, you’ll never have to worry about it)
Send more than one email, highlighting the urgency and scarcity around your Black Friday offer
Personalise your emails to boost your chances of success (for example, by showing different messages, discounts, or landing pages based on someone’s quiz answers)
Sell out confidently

Step 6: Convert waitlist leads into loyal customers

Your waitlist strategy will allow you to enjoy a successful Black Friday, but it doesn’t have to end here! Use it to:

Upsell and cross-sell more products or services based on each lead’s past purchases and quiz answers
Send them a separate quiz for feedback, improving your future experience even further
Surprise them with exclusive deals and waitlist-only content (sorry, everyone else!)

In other words, keep building trust, wowing your subscribers, and turning them into loyal fans.

Much better than sending the same 10% discount to everyone and then going back to business as usual after Black Friday, right?