Our waitlist converted at 2.1%.

We ran a waitlist for 4 months before launch. 6,400 people joined. Here is what happened when we opened access:

• Emailed all 6,400 on launch day

• Opened email: 2,180 (34.1%)

• Clicked through: 890 (13.9%)

• Created an account: 412 (6.4%)

• Became active (used it twice in first week): 134 (2.1%)

• Paid: 47 (0.7%)

The 6,400 number had felt like validation. It was not. It was a list of people who thought a landing page was interesting.

What predicted conversion: whether the person had referred someone else to the waitlist. Of the 47 who paid, 31 had referred at least one person. Referrers were 19% of the list and 66% of the revenue.

If we did it again, we would optimize the waitlist for referrals, not signups, and treat the raw count as a vanity number.

What did your waitlist actually convert at, and did the number surprise you?