Activity Messenger Help Center
Waitlist
Here’s how to enable and set up a waitlist on registration forms in Activity Messenger. This allows participants to join a waitlist if a class is full. You can also force registrations onto the waitlist even when places remain available. The platform can automatically manage the process if you choose to use the waitlist automation workflow.
Access the registration form
Select the registration form you want to modify (whether for a single class or multiple classes).
Scroll to the multiple classes block (if applicable), or simply to the individual class for which you want to enable the waitlist.
Click the 3 vertical dots to edit the class or multiple classes block.
Activate the waitlist
To enable the waitlist, scroll down to the toggle labeled Waitlist and turn it on. For a multiple classes block, open Classes rules, click Modify for each applicable class rule, then turn on Waitlist. The waitlist setting is configured per rule, so repeat this for every class rule that should offer the waitlist.
To route registrations directly to the waitlist even when the class is not full, also turn on Force waitlist for the applicable class or class rule. While this setting is active, ordinary class registration is disabled for that selection; it does not simply show a waitlist choice alongside regular registration.
Once you have enabled the waitlist option you can either stop here and we will generate a list of names of people that wish to be notified if a spot comes available.
A message will automatically appear to inform the customer that the class is full and that they can join the waitlist. You can customize this message by editing the added to waitlist confirmation email template.
Example:
"Hello [first name], you have been added to the waitlist for [activity name]."
Alternatively, you can toggle on Waitlist Automations. When this is activated and a class is full, the participants name will be added to the waiting list and you can customize the notification experience that the account owner receives when a spot comes available and the amount of time a spot will be held before moving on to the next name on the waitlist or the spot becoming available for public registration.
Edit the waitlist automation communication template to personalize the message customers will receive if a spot becomes available.
Managing the waitlist
You can set up an automation that will manage the waitlist notifications.
Two options are available:
- First Come, First Served: The first person on the waitlist is notified (via email or SMS).
- Notify the Entire Waitlist: Everyone on the waitlist receives a notification when a spot becomes available.
Waitlist Automations occur automatically when a participant/account owner notifies you that they wish to cancel their registration. Once you have processed that cancellation the waitlist automation will send an email based on the options you have set.
Set a time limit during which the spot is reserved for the person on the waitlist. For example, you can choose to hold the spot for 24 or 48 hours.
The individual will receive an email and SMS with a unique link and a password to access the registration.
Turn on Ignore the class registration closing date when a spot frees up after the class registration closing date and you still want the waitlisted person to claim it. The option is under Waitlist automation, above the registration window and Communication template.
A customer with a valid waitlist offer password can register after that closing date until their offer expires. The offer lasts for the registration window you set. If you notify people in the order they joined the waitlist, that window is Registration window per participant. Each notified person has that long to register before the next eligible person on the waitlist is notified. If you notify everyone on the waitlist, the window is Waitlist registration window. Everyone can use their registration link during that time. When the window ends, the offer expires. Other registration restrictions still apply.
This option is separate from Ignore registration period on the class question. That setting is described in Selling classes and events.
If a participant no longer wishes to register, they can click a link to remove themselves from the waitlist.
This automatically triggers a notification to the next person on the list, bypassing the 24- or 48-hour hold period.
You can customize this withdrawal message in the templates so participants are informed about their removal and the activation of the next person on the waitlist.
When viewing your courses in the "All Classes and Events" section, you will have the option to see the participants currently on the waitlist. Click on the waitlist column for each class to view the automation actions available.
You do not need to Trigger the Automation when a cancellation has been processed. That is handled automatically.
A waitlist offer password still has to fit a class that balances two registration categories. The offer follows the maximum difference and the places left in the class. See Balance registration categories within class capacity.