SPECIAL SERIES == Waitlists Aren’t Just for Hype 🧠 <== | BATHROOM Break #63 COLLAB: The Marketing Millennials + Do This, Not That

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson" Presented By Marigold

Episode: SPECIAL SERIES == Waitlists Aren’t Just for Hype 🧠 | BATHROOM Break #63 COLLAB: The Marketing Millennials + Do This, Not That
Release Date: July 7, 2025
Hosts: Jay Schwedelson (Do This, Not That) & Daniel Murray (Marketing Millennials)

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Introduction

In this collaborative episode of "Do This, NOT That," Jay Schwedelson teams up with Daniel Murray from the "Marketing Millennials" to deliver actionable marketing insights during their special series segment, aptly named the "Bathroom Break." Designed to fit into a short 10-minute window, this episode delves into the strategic use of waitlists in marketing, exploring their effectiveness and best practices.

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The Power of Waitlists

Time Stamp: [02:28]

Jay opens the discussion by highlighting the central theme: the power of waitlists in marketing. Daniel concurs, emphasizing the importance of building waitlists to collect valuable email addresses, which are crucial for overcoming the unpredictability of algorithms in digital marketing.

Jay Schwedelson ([02:28]): "So what are we even talking about? Is it worth doing waitlists in your marketing? Should this be a part of your arsenal or is this a bad tactic?"

Daniel Murray ([02:35]): "I do think that like building lists are really important marketing. Like you need to collect emails. So if you do not have any emails, like building a wait list or building a list of people is so important."

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Benefits of Implementing Waitlists

Email Collection and Audience Insights

Waitlists serve as a fundamental tool for email collection, allowing marketers to build a robust database of potential customers. This data is invaluable for assessing the effectiveness of landing page copy, offers, and overall marketing strategies.

Daniel Murray ([02:35]): "Building a list also lets you know, like gauges like is my landing page copy or the, the offer I'm having? Is it serving the people I thought was serving or not serving?"

Creating Hype and Social Proof

Jamie illustrates how waitlists can generate excitement and anticipation for product launches. By presenting limited availability or exclusive access, companies can create a sense of urgency and social proof, encouraging more sign-ups.

Jay Schwedelson ([04:42]): "We want to build up hype... it gives you a little peek behind the curtain before you go too far with your product, event or service."

Testing Market Viability

Waitlists provide early indicators of market interest. A high number of sign-ups can validate a product or event concept, while a low response may signal the need for adjustments in marketing strategies or offerings.

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Best Practices for Effective Waitlists

Offering Incentives

To maximize waitlist sign-ups, offering incentives is crucial. Whether it's entering participants into a raffle, granting VIP status, or providing exclusive access, incentives motivate potential customers to join the waitlist.

Daniel Murray ([05:00]): "There has to be an incentive of someone getting on the wait list... they enter to win something, they get a status like VIP."

Limiting Quantity for Exclusivity

Implementing limited quantities can enhance the appeal of a waitlist. Announcing that only a specific number of spots are available can drive urgency and make the opportunity appear more exclusive and desirable.

Daniel Murray ([05:40]): "Promising something or giving something away or giving status like VIP is a great way to do a wait list."

Rolling Launch Strategies

Instead of a single massive launch, a rolling launch involves releasing products or features in smaller batches. This approach helps manage demand, gather continuous feedback, and maintain sustained interest over time.

Daniel Murray ([04:42] & [05:10]): "It's always better to not rely on one big moment in marketing... a Rolling Thunder like launch where you're dropping little like nuggets on the way."

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Use Cases for Waitlists

Product Launches

Waitlists are particularly effective during product launches, allowing companies to gauge interest and build anticipation before the official release. This strategy ensures a ready audience eager to engage with the new product.

Event Registrations

For events, especially free virtual ones, waitlists can help manage attendance and increase participation by adding exclusivity. By offering bonuses like VIP swag boxes to early sign-ups, hosts can enhance engagement and collect valuable attendee information.

Jay Schwedelson ([04:10]): "The first 500 people that join the wait list for our free virtual event will be entered into to win this wild 50 different VIP swag boxes that we're giving out."

SaaS Beta Access

Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms can use waitlists to offer beta access to new features or products. This not only builds a list of interested users but also identifies super fans and assesses if the target audience is being effectively reached.

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Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Simplifying the Sign-Up Process

A complex sign-up process with multiple steps can deter potential sign-ups. Ensuring that joining the waitlist is straightforward and only requires necessary information increases conversion rates.

Daniel Murray ([05:20]): "If you're going to do a wait list it has to have... just giving status like VIP is a great way to do a wait list."

Ensuring Relevance and Value

Waitlists should align with the company's offerings and provide clear value to the participants. Misalignment can lead to disengagement and reduce the effectiveness of the waitlist strategy.

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Conclusion and Key Takeaways

In this episode, Jay Schwedelson and Daniel Murray underscore the strategic importance of waitlists in modern marketing. Waitlists are not merely tools for managing demand but are pivotal for email collection, building anticipation, testing market viability, and fostering customer loyalty through exclusive incentives.

Key Takeaways:

1. Email Collection: Waitlists are essential for building a robust email list, which is crucial for sustaining marketing efforts.
2. Incentivization: Providing clear incentives encourages sign-ups and enhances the perceived value of joining the waitlist.
3. Exclusivity: Limited quantities and VIP statuses create urgency and social proof, driving higher engagement.
4. Market Testing: Early sign-up data offers insights into market interest and guides necessary adjustments.
5. Sustained Engagement: Rolling launch strategies maintain ongoing interest and allow for continuous feedback and improvement.

By effectively implementing waitlists, marketers can enhance their campaigns, better understand their audience, and achieve more successful product and event launches.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Jay Schwedelson ([02:28]): "So what are we even talking about? Is it worth doing waitlists in your marketing? Should this be a part of your arsenal or is this a bad tactic?"

• Daniel Murray ([02:35]): "Building a list also lets you know, like gauges like is my landing page copy or the, the offer I'm having? Is it serving the people I thought was serving or not serving?"

• Jay Schwedelson ([04:42]): "We want to build up hype... it gives you a little peek behind the curtain before you go too far with your product, event or service."

• Daniel Murray ([05:00]): "There has to be an incentive of someone getting on the wait list... they enter to win something, they get a status like VIP."

• Jay Schwedelson ([04:10]): "The first 500 people that join the wait list for our free virtual event will be entered into to win this wild 50 different VIP swag boxes that we're giving out."

• Daniel Murray ([05:40]): "Promising something or giving something away or giving status like VIP is a great way to do a wait list."

• Daniel Murray ([05:20]): "If you're going to do a wait list it has to have... just giving status like VIP is a great way to do a wait list."

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Stay Connected:

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  • Marketing Millennials
  • Do This, NOT That
• Engage on LinkedIn: Share your thoughts and request topics for future episodes.

Sponsor Mention: A huge thank you to Marigold, the relationship marketing platform helping businesses grow by acquiring customers and turning them into superfans with top-tier loyalty solutions.

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This summary provides a comprehensive overview of the key discussions and insights from the episode, ensuring that listeners and non-listeners alike can benefit from the valuable marketing strategies shared by Jay and Daniel.

Transcript

[Daniel Murray]

Welcome to a new special series called the Bathroom break. That extra 10 minutes you either have to listen to marketing tips or use the bathroom. Or both. But I don't recommend both. But that's your choice.

[Jay Schwedelson]

This collab is going to be super fun. We have Daniel Murray from the Marketing Millennials and me, Jay Schwedelson from the do this, not that podcast and subjectline.com each episode in the series, we are going to go over quick tips about different marketing topics. And if you want to be in the bathroom, fine, just don't tell us about it. Thanks for checking it out. We are back again for another bathroom break and today we're crushing the power of wait lists. On the business and consumer side. I'm here with Daniel Murray, who is the marketing Millennial. I'm Jay Schwedelson from Do this, not that. So, Daniel, before we get into this, I'm curious about something. When you go to the supermarket, all right, are you like a self checkout guy and you crush self checkout or do you just go down the regular aisle because you don't want to have that random person come over because you have a problem with your self checkout and you don't know how to scan it? Or is this not a problem for you? Because oddly, I don't think I've ever done self checkout without needing somebody's help.

[Daniel Murray]

It depends on items. Like if I need, if I'm trying to go fast, I'm self checkout. But if I have like a whole card of just groceries and stuff, and it depends, like, yeah, I, I think it's definitely comes down to items for me. I like the ability to self check out. But if I, I hate the people who have a whole card of like 400 things in there and self checkout and I'm like, you could have just gone over here, please. You're just like holding out the self.

[Jay Schwedelson]

I just don't know how, like if I go somewhere and I get like, you know, maybe they have a prepared food section and I get it and then there's like all these buttons. You press, you weigh it or I, I'm not able to use the technology to self self checkout. And the other thing I read is that 15% of people steal when they do self checkout.

[Daniel Murray]

Oh yeah, that's a big problem.

[Jay Schwedelson]

That's crazy.

[Daniel Murray]

That's a big problem. That's, that's why a lot of companies I anti self checkout. Like when people go and do you steal?

[Jay Schwedelson]

I've never imagine you admitted that right.

[Daniel Murray]

Now I still, every time I've known like people in like high school and stuff that terrible people, so stupid, so bad.

[Jay Schwedelson]

All right, well, we're not going to be bad today. We're going to be talking about the power of weightless. So what are we even talking about? Is it worth doing weightless in your marketing? Should this be a part of your arsenal or is this a bad tactic?

[Daniel Murray]

I think, number one, I would say I'll be general. It depends. But I, I do think that like building lists are really important marketing. Like you need to collect emails. So if you do not have any emails, like building a wait list or building a list of people is so important because algorithms, you can't like email is algorithm proved as you know, you're the email guy. So building a list also it lets you know, like gauges like is my landing page copy or the, the offer I'm having? Is it, is it serving the people I thought was serving or not serving? So but it's always important to collect an email. I think there's way reasons not to do waitlist and we could talk about that and reasons not to call it a wait list. And those are the two things I would stray away. But I think most, in most cases a wait list is, is good for like a product launch or a big launch, like collecting emails.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Yeah. And I think that people get confused about wait lists and they think, okay, I'm not a direct to consumer product that's going to drop a new color of a fitness outfit. And so I can't do a wait list. And so for example, with my events, we put on these big free virtual events. Why would anybody want to get on a wait list for a free virtual event? That just sounds stupid. And it would be stupid if we say get on a wait list for that. So what we do is, and there's a reason we do it, we will say things like, okay, the first 500 people that join the wait list for our free virtual event will be entered in to win this wild 50 different VIP swag boxes that we're giving out. And the reason that we do that is number one, we want to build up hype. Number two, we dig into the data because let's say nobody registers to get some waitlist, like, oh, we have a clunker here, this thing's going to stink. Nobody wants in. Or we get a boatload of people that do sign up. We then look at the data and say, okay, cool, this is in our, you know, target audience. This is what we're going after or we have to tweak our marketing or tweak this. It gives you a little peek behind the curtain before you go too far with your product, event or service.

[Daniel Murray]

I would add on to that. I would say that it's always better to not rely on one big moment in marketing. Especially that because if you're going to do a big launch for example and you don't know how like social media is going to act on that day, you don't know how email is going to act on that day, you don't know how paid's going to act on that day. So having something like a Rolling Thunder like launch where you're. You're dropping little like nuggets on the way where you could do with wait list you could do first come first serve. You could say like get in our VIP circle to know when something happens. But I think the key here is also just like collecting. But I, I do think you have to if you're going to do a wait list it has. There has to be an incentive of someone getting on the wait list and and depends what type of company you are. So it either it has to be like they enter to win something, they get a status like vip. They have to have some sort of in because I see where I see people go wrong with this is that they collect emails for a wait list from a list that they already built and then it's like filling out 15 different spots where like they're not pre registering for them for like an event or stuff. And then now you have to get three different conversions which is so much harder. So promising something or giving something away or giving status like VIP is a great way to do a wait list or like for E commerce. I've seen it a lot where like an influencer drops a product and people get on the wait list because you know that there's hype and if you don't get on the wait list then you the product's going to sell out. So like a good way also do this is limited quantity like when you launch something like I we're only going to launch 100 something like say it ahead of time. That's a good test too is like only launching 100. You know you might have more in inventory but only launching a hundred products on this drop.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Yeah and totally and first of all that's like the biggest hack right now in direct to consumer marketing is everybody saying their stuff is sold out but they sold four of them. But it's great for social proof and on the business side, if you're like a SaaS platform and you know, you give people beta access to a new release, a new whatever, it. It's super valuable to build that wait list or be the first to try. Be the first to have access. So if you're not doing this, it is a really great way to figure out who your super fans are, to figure out if you're hitting your target audience, and to Daniel's point, to build up a new list of people. Sorry, before we wrap up this one, you know, back. Back to the supermarket. So now you're checking out. Are you. Do you grab stuff? Are you grabbing, like, write a check. Oh, I need the Tic Tacs. I gotta get this drink over here. We. Or you laser focus and you're locked in and once you have your cart. This is the most random question ever. No, do you. Do you get any extras at the end?

[Daniel Murray]

I'll add one thing because I. I'm a marketer in this. This is the OG up, the OG upsell, cross sell of like this, like having going through a line and seeing the magazines, chocolates and stuff, I think, yeah, if I need gum or if I need a water, I probably. I probably fall for the trap sometimes. You know the ones where there's like along. Sephora does this where like the As I go as long zigzag and there's like a thousand products there. I bet so many people.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Oh, Lululemon. I've bought so many hats at Lululemon. I'm on the line, which is so long. I'm like, oh, another random one color really weird hat that won't fit me properly. I'm definitely buying that. And I go home with a hat I never wear again. It's amazing.

[Daniel Murray]

I know. I've never seen you in a hat.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Oh, my God. In the weekend, you don't see me without a hat.

[Daniel Murray]

Oh, wow.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Yeah, I'm a hat guy. You're a hat guy?

[Daniel Murray]

I am a very big.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Yeah, no, it's very exciting. What's not exciting is. Is what we're talking about. So listen, you all are awesome. Go and hook up the market. Millennials. Follow their show. Follow. Do this, not that. Follow some other random podcasts. That is awesome. Whatever that is for you. And we'll see you at the next one. Daniel, come on, man. I gotta get back to work. Get out of there. All right, while he's still in there. This is Jay. Check out my podcast, do this, not that for marketers. Each week we share really quick tips on stuff that can improve your marketing and hope you give it a try. Oh, here's Daniel. He's finally out.

[Daniel Murray]

Back from my bathroom break. This is Daniel. Go follow the Market Millennials podcast, but also tune into this series. It's once a week, the Bathroom Break. We talk about marketing tips that we just spew out. And it could be anything from email subject line to any marketing tips in the world. We'll talk about it. Just give us a. A shout on LinkedIn and tell us what you want to hear. Peace out.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Later.