sales-skills/sales-getwaitlist

GetWaitlist Platform Help

Step 1 — Gather context

If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.

1. What are you trying to do?

   • A) Pick a tier — Basic $15/mo (API) vs Advanced $50/mo (custom domain + viral referrals) vs Pro $250/mo (custom email domain + email automation)
   • B) Build the waitlist — embed widget (HTML/iframe/React) vs hosted page vs no-code embed (Webflow/Wix/Shopify/Carrd/Notion)
   • C) Set up referrals — referral links, queue jumping (spots_to_move_upon_referral), leaderboard
   • D) Wire data out — new_signup/offboarded_signup webhooks, REST API, Zapier, HubSpot/Airtable/Slack
   • E) Add signups programmatically — unauthenticated POST /signup
   • F) Manage the queue — list, advance, offboard, or delete signups (authenticated)
   • G) Compare GetWaitlist vs Waitlister / LaunchList / KickoffLabs / Prefinery

2. Where will signups happen? Hosted page / embed on your site (which builder?) / your own backend via API — drives install path.

3. Where must the data end up? Stays in GetWaitlist / ESP / CRM / warehouse — drives whether you need webhooks vs Zapier vs the authenticated list API.

Skip-ahead rule: if the user's prompt already contains enough context, skip to Step 2.

Step 2 — Route or answer directly

| If the question is about... | Route to... | |---|---| | General audience/list growth strategy across platforms | /sales-audience-growth [question] | | Waitlister (built-in broadcasts, HMAC-signed webhooks, API) | /sales-waitlister [question] | | LaunchList (one-time pricing, no API) | /sales-launchlist [question] | | KickoffLabs (waitlists + giveaways, Zapier, fraud webhooks) | /sales-kickofflabs [question] | | UpViral (B2C sweepstakes / points campaigns) | /sales-upviral [question] | | Multi-level referral/affiliate (L1/2/3, coupon groups) | /sales-referralhero [question] | | Email marketing strategy once the list exists | /sales-email-marketing [question] |

If the question is GetWaitlist-specific, continue to Step 3.

Step 3 — GetWaitlist platform reference

Read references/platform-guide.md for the full reference — capabilities tagged by automation surface, pricing and plan gates, integrations, the Waitlist/Signup/Leaderboard data model, and quick-start recipes (server-side signup with referral attribution, webhook→CRM handler, bulk offboarding at launch).

Read references/getwaitlist-api-reference.md for the API — base URL https://api.getwaitlist.com/api/v1/, the unauthenticated signup-create/get + waitlist/leaderboard endpoints, the api-key/JWT authenticated list/advance/offboard/delete endpoints, offset/limit pagination, and both webhook payloads verbatim.

Answer the user's question using only the relevant section. Don't dump the full reference.

Step 4 — Actionable guidance

Focus on the user's specific situation:

• The API is available from Basic ($15/mo) — unlike rivals that gate it to a high tier. But viral referrals and custom domains need Advanced ($50), and sending email from your own domain needs Pro ($250).
• There is no free tier for new accounts (removed mid-2025). If a user expects free, they either have a grandfathered account or want a free competitor (LaunchList Free, Waitlister Free) — say so.
• Signup create/get are unauthenticated — anyone with your public waitlist_id can add signups. Don't rely on them for trusted data; gate referral rewards on verified signups and enable email verification.
• Authenticated reads use an api-key header (My Account → API Keys; keys don't expire) or a JWT from POST /auth/create_tokens.
• Webhooks are unsigned with no documented retries (new_signup, offboarded_signup; 30s connect / 90s response). Make handlers idempotent on uuid, respond fast, and reconcile via the list API.
• Offboard ≠ delete. Offboarding keeps history (removed_date/removed_priority); DELETE /signup (204) is permanent — use it for GDPR erasure.
• No MCP server and no Make modules — automation is webhooks + REST API + Zapier/native HubSpot/Airtable/Slack/Discord.

If you discover a gotcha, workaround, or tip not covered in references/learnings.md, append it there.

Gotchas

Best-effort from research (2026-06) — review these, especially plan-gated features and pricing that may shift.

1. No free tier for new accounts (removed mid-2025; existing accounts grandfathered). New signups start at Basic $15/mo with a 7-day trial.
2. Plan gates bite mid-build: viral referrals + custom domain need Advanced ($50); custom email-sending domain + full email automation need Pro ($250); email validation/fraud detection sit on higher tiers.
3. Signup create/get need no auth — your waitlist_id is public, so the endpoint can be scripted. Enable uses_signup_verification and gate rewards on verified to limit fake-referral gaming.
4. Webhooks are unsigned, no documented retry/HMAC — re-verify sensitive data via the authenticated API and dedupe on signup.uuid. POSTs time out at 30s connect / 90s response.
5. Referral credit depends on you forwarding referral_link (the ?ref_id=<token> value) on the new signup — drop it and the referrer never moves up the queue.
6. priority is a queue position, not a count — lower is closer to the front; referrals subtract spots_to_move_upon_referral.
7. No bulk-create API — signups are one POST at a time; only offboard/delete accept arrays.

Related skills

• /sales-audience-growth — List-growth strategy (lead magnets, referrals, cross-promotion across all platforms)
• /sales-waitlister — Waitlister (built-in email broadcasts, HMAC-signed webhooks, richer API)
• /sales-launchlist — LaunchList (one-time-pricing waitlists, form POST + webhooks, no API)
• /sales-kickofflabs — KickoffLabs (waitlists + giveaways with REST API, fraud webhooks, Zapier)
• /sales-upviral — UpViral (viral sweepstakes/rewards, API at Business+, Zapier/Make)
• /sales-referralhero — ReferralHero (full-stack referral/affiliate, multi-level L1/2/3, REST API)
• /sales-email-marketing — Email marketing strategy (what to send once you have the list)
• /sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do -a claude-code

Examples

Example 1: Tier choice for a pre-launch with referrals

User says: "I'm launching a dev tool and want a waitlist with viral referral links and a leaderboard, embedded in my Framer site. Which GetWaitlist plan, and is there a free option?" Skill does: Notes there's no free tier for new accounts (removed mid-2025) — for free, point to LaunchList Free or Waitlister Free. For GetWaitlist, viral referrals + custom domain unlock at Advanced $50/mo; Basic $15 has the API but not viral referrals. Explains the Framer no-code embed, the leaderboard (censored emails, safe to show publicly), and spots_to_move_upon_referral. Result: User picks Advanced for referrals, embeds the widget in Framer, enables the leaderboard.

Example 2: Add signups from a custom form via the API (developer)

User says: "I built my own signup form. How do I push entries into GetWaitlist and keep referral attribution working?" Skill does: Walks through the unauthenticated POST https://api.getwaitlist.com/api/v1/signup with email + waitlist_id required, and — critically — forwarding the visitor's ?ref_id= value as referral_link so the referrer gets credited and moves up the queue. Shows the cURL + Python from Recipe 1 and warns that the endpoint is public (gate rewards on verified). Result: User's custom form posts to GetWaitlist with referral attribution intact.

Example 3: Sync new signups to HubSpot in real time

User says: "How do I get every new GetWaitlist signup into HubSpot automatically?" Skill does: Offers two paths — the native HubSpot/Zapier connector for no-code, or a new_signup webhook handler (Features tab → Webhook URL) for full control. Shows Recipe 2: respond 2xx fast (30s/90s timeouts), dedupe on signup.uuid, and re-verify via the authenticated list API because webhooks are unsigned. Maps email/priority/referral_token to HubSpot fields. Result: User has signups flowing into HubSpot with referral attribution and idempotent delivery.

Troubleshooting

"Where did the free plan go?"

Symptom: A new account can't find a free option; only paid tiers show. Cause: GetWaitlist removed the free tier for new accounts in mid-2025; only accounts created before the change were grandfathered in. Solution: New users start at Basic $15/mo (7-day trial). If free is a hard requirement, recommend LaunchList Free or Waitlister Free instead — confirm which capabilities they actually need (API? referrals? broadcasts?) before switching.

Referrals aren't moving people up the queue

Symptom: People share their link, friends sign up, but no one's priority improves and amount_referred stays 0. Cause: Either viral referrals aren't enabled (they require Advanced $50/mo), or API/custom-form signups aren't forwarding the referrer's referral_link (?ref_id=<token>), so there's nothing to attribute. Solution: Confirm the plan is Advanced+. For custom forms/API, capture ref_id from the visitor's URL and pass it as referral_link on POST /signup. Verify spots_to_move_upon_referral is set on the waitlist.

Webhook fires but data looks stale or duplicated

Symptom: Your CRM gets duplicate contacts, or a webhook payload is missing fields you expected. Cause: Webhooks are unsigned with no documented retry policy, the payload is a trimmed Signup object, and at-least-once-style re-delivery isn't ruled out. Solution: Make the handler idempotent on signup.uuid, respond 2xx within the 30s/90s window (do slow work async), and re-fetch the full record via the authenticated GET /signup/waitlist/<id> when you need fields the webhook omits. Run a periodic reconciliation against the list API to backfill misses.