Have you just cooked up a new offer or product idea? You have two main options: selling it ASAP or through a waitlist.
They both come with pros and cons, but each strategy tends to be a wiser choice in specific cases and for different businesses.
So, to help you make the right one, we’ve covered the main differences between waitlists and live sales (psst: ScoreApp can work with both).
Pros and cons of a normal sale or launch
With a normal sale or launch, you announce the release of a new product or service to your entire audience.
This usually includes a promotional period (for example, with an early-bird discount during the first two weeks) and then transitions into an evergreen model, with the offer always available for purchase.
Pros of a normal sale or launch
- Immediate results and sales – By releasing your new offer to everyone straightaway, you can get your first sales more quickly (as long as you have a strong and well-timed marketing strategy)
- Broad reach – Targeting your entire audience at once (especially on your website, email list, and through engaging social media posts) can maximise your visibility, increase your brand awareness, and grow your customer base faster
- Simplicity – A traditional launch is fairly straightforward, as you can simply announce your new release and start marketing it
Cons of a normal sale or launch
- Less urgency – When something is easy to access and available to everyone, it loses its perceived value. So, without the exclusiveness and urgency of a waitlist, your customers might not feel as compelled to invest in your new offer straightaway (or at all!)
- Lower engagement – When dropping an offer out of the blue, you’re putting it in front of an audience who hasn’t been nurtured and wasn’t already looking forward to it
- Risk of under- and over-stocking – If you’re not clear on the demand for that new product, you might end up running out of stock too quickly (which will disappoint your audience) or wasting money on unsold goods
- Higher risk of failing – Without validating your idea and nurturing your audience, you’re basing your new release on assumptions. No wonder over 1 in 2 product launches fail to hit business targets! However, with ScoreApp, you can remove this risk by asking strategic questions through a quiz lead magnet, fully understanding your audience’s problems, needs, and preferences (for example, a “Build Your Ideal Skincare Routine” quiz). Your quiz will segment them automatically based on their answers, and you can then personalise your launch emails to make them MORE effective. Psst: do this ASAP so that you’re then ready to launch!
When should you opt for a normal sale/launch?
A normal sale or launch tends to be the best option for the following types of businesses and promotions.
Retail businesses and product-based companies
If you run a product-based B2C company (like a clothing brand, electronics retailer, beauty and skincare products, and so on), you can easily stick to traditional launches, especially when releasing several items in one go, like a collection.
Seasonal promotions
Does your audience expect a discount around certain dates or events, like Black Friday, holiday sales, or end-of-year clearances? Then, with a normal sale, you can offer it to more people and get rid of your old stock faster.
However, you can also create more FOMO with a waitlist (for example, with an exclusive Black Friday offer).
Established products or service providers
Have you got a large and engaged customer base? Are your existing products or offers pretty well-known and straightforward?
Then, since you’re releasing it to customers who are already clear on the value you bring, a traditional launch should work just fine.
No-brainer B2B offers
If you run a service-based business and are after a quick cash injection, launch a smaller time-limited offer to your existing audience and email subscribers. You can also do that to test a new idea before developing it into a bigger package.
For example, if you mainly rely on big +£3k/month retainers but have been fully booked for a while, you could launch a £1k strategy day, with only three slots available over the next two weeks.
Pros and cons of a waitlist campaign
A waitlist is a list of people who are interested in what you’re about to launch.
So, with this strategy, you promote that upcoming offer (for example, on a landing page) and nurture your subscribers through a waitlist email sequence. Then, you either only release it to them or give them additional benefits, like early-bird access or discounts.
Pros of a waitlist campaign
- Urgency and exclusivity – When an offer is limited or harder to access, its perceived value GROWS. So, by creating a waitlist, you’re inspiring FOMO and an exclusive vibe, compelling your audience to act quickly as soon as the actual launch drops
- Reducing or removing the risk of failure – A waitlist will validate your new idea before you develop it. You can take this to the next level by attaching a ScoreApp quiz to its landing page (for example, “Help Us Create the Best Offer for YOU”). Ask questions to understand what your audience likes and dislikes about your concept, how much they’d pay for it, and so on. If you get lots of subscribers and the feedback is good? Use that data to inform your marketing, launching confidently. If it’s the opposite… Well, that’s annoying, but at least you get to improve your new offer WITHOUT spending a tonne of time, money, and energy developing something that doesn’t sell
- Improved customer engagement – Instead of releasing your offer without build-up, you’ll get to nurture your waitlist subscribers. This will strengthen their relationship with your brand, create and maintain momentum, and inspire FOMO, compelling more people to take action as soon as you launch the actual offer
- Personalisation – When you attach a ScoreApp quiz to your waitlist, you can nurture your audience in a more tailored way, which leads to a 20% increase in sales. How? Segment them automatically based on their quiz answers, and send them different or more personalised emails accordingly
- Gauge demand – When you know how many people have expressed an interest in your upcoming offer, you can plan your stock levels and marketing much more accurately
- Higher conversion rates – You’ll be releasing your new offer to a list of people who have already expressed an interest in it and who’ve been nurtured in a personalised way (= easier sales)
Cons of a waitlist campaign
- Longer lead-to-customer time – You need both a strategy and patience because growing a waitlist and nurturing your subscribers will require at least a few weeks
- Risk of drop-off – If you create a waitlist and then launch your product without any build-up, you might lose subscribers (who’ll find a similar offer elsewhere) and miss out on sales. This gets worse the longer you wait. So, this strategy is only worth considering if you pair it up with a waitlist nurturing sequence, acting as a bridge between your initial announcement and the launch itself
- Limited reach – Waitlist campaigns tend to result in more engaged but smaller lists. This is actually great for premium products because you’re much more likely to sell them to your niche audience. However, if your main goal is to attract a large number of new customers (especially for lower-cost offers), then you might be disappointed
When should you opt for a waitlist campaign?
A waitlist campaign is ideal for certain businesses and goals.
Big product launches or new services
In these cases, a waitlist tends to be a smarter choice because you’ll validate that idea and gauge demand instead of going all in (and running the risk of wasting your resources creating something that doesn’t sell).
So, share your initial concept with your audience, ask them what they like and dislike about it through your ScoreApp quiz, and use their answers to improve it accordingly.
Businesses with limited stock or availability
Maybe you sell handmade goods or niche tech products. Perhaps you run events.
Whatever it is, if you rely on limited stock or availability, a waitlist will help you manage demand. It’ll also offer priority access to your most loyal customers so that they don’t miss out.
High-value offers and brand status
Think of expensive items (like watches) and high-ticket services (such as a coaching programme requiring a bigger investment compared to competitors). Releasing them to everyone would diminish their exclusiveness!
So, to position yourself as a premium brand, create FOMO and urgency with a waitlist, elevating your status as well as the perceived value of your new offer.
So, which sales method is right for you?
- A normal sale or launch is better suited for B2C e-commerce stores, seasonal promotions, service providers looking for a quick cash injection, and established brands. It’s also the most logical option if you want fast and easy sales while reaching as many people as possible
- A waitlist is a better choice to validate your idea and gauge demand before creating a big product or service or when managing limited stock. It’ll also allow you to create urgency and sell at a higher price to a smaller but engaged segment, positioning yourself as a premium brand
Create a sell-out launch with ScoreApp
Whether you opt for a traditional launch or a waitlist, ScoreApp can help you remove failure and set yourself up for success.
- Attract your target audience through a valuable quiz lead magnet or waitlist quiz
- Use their insights in your marketing or to improve your initial idea
- Segment your subscribers based on their answers
- Nurture them in a more personalised way, building trust and momentum
- Sell out confidently
No more basing your launches on assumptions! Create your quiz with ScoreApp today and for FREE.
