sales-skills/sales-launchlist

LaunchList 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 — Free (100 submissions) vs Launch $29 one-time (500) vs Grow $79 one-time (10K) vs Scale custom (100K+)
   • B) Install the waitlist — embed widget vs custom DIY form vs hosted landing page
   • C) Get signups out of LaunchList — webhooks, Zapier, Slack, or CSV export into an ESP/CRM
   • D) Set up referral rewards, leaderboard, or position inflation
   • E) Fight spam — disposable emails, bots, fake referrals
   • F) Programmatic access — what works given there's no public REST API
   • G) Compare LaunchList to KickoffLabs / Viral Loops / Prefinery / GetWaitlist / Waitlister

2. Where will the form live? Hosted LaunchList page / your own site (which builder?) / custom-coded form — drives widget vs DIY vs landing-page setup.

3. Where do signups need to end up? ESP (which?), CRM, spreadsheet, or just the dashboard — drives whether you need Grow ($79) for webhooks/Zapier.

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] | | Newsletter monetization | /sales-newsletter [question] | | KickoffLabs (waitlists + giveaways with REST API + fraud webhooks) | /sales-kickofflabs [question] | | UpViral (B2C sweepstakes/points campaigns) | /sales-upviral [question] | | Full-stack multi-level referral/affiliate (L1/2/3, coupon groups) | /sales-referralhero [question] | | No-code merge-tag newsletter referrals | /sales-referralkit [question] | | SparkLoop paid recommendations + partner network | /sales-sparkloop [question] | | ESP setup (Mailchimp, Kit, MailerLite, ActiveCampaign) | /sales-mailchimp, /sales-kit, /sales-mailerlite, /sales-activecampaign |

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

Step 3 — LaunchList platform reference

Read references/platform-guide.md for the full reference — capabilities tagged by automation surface, pricing and plan gates, integrations, data model, quick-start recipes (custom form, webhook→ESP handler, Zapier), integration patterns, and the comparison grid vs KickoffLabs / UpViral / Viral Loops / Prefinery / GetWaitlist / Waitlister / Referlist / Tuemilio.

Read references/launchlist-api-reference.md for the programmatic surface — there is no public REST API (roadmap: planned). What exists: the form POST endpoint (https://getlaunchlist.com/s/FORM_KEY), verbatim new_user + email_verify webhook payloads, Zapier triggers (New Submission / Email Verified), and the spam-protection mechanisms.

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:

• Webhooks and Zapier are Grow-tier ($79 one-time). Any signup→ESP/CRM automation forces Grow minimum. Free/Launch users get CSV export only.
• No email broadcast system — LaunchList only sends welcome/verification emails. Launch announcements come from your ESP; wire signups over via webhook or Zapier, gate on email_verify if verification is on.
• No public REST API — ingress is the form POST endpoint, egress is webhooks/Zapier/CSV. There is no way to read, update, or delete submissions programmatically.
• Custom forms have three hard rules: email input named exactly email, form class launchlist-form, and widget-diy.js in the page head (otherwise referral attribution breaks silently).
• Webhooks have no documented signing or retries — use an unguessable URL, check waitlist_key, dedupe on id, reconcile against CSV exports.
• One-time pricing is per project/tier — going over your submission cap means buying up a tier, not a monthly overage.

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

Gotchas

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

1. No public REST API. "API Access" is a planned roadmap item. Don't design an integration around endpoints that don't exist — use form POST (ingress) + webhooks (egress).
2. Webhooks + Zapier gated to Grow ($79 one-time). The free tier's "export" is manual CSV only.
3. referred_by.positon is a verbatim typo in the documented webhook payload (top level uses position). Parse both spellings.
4. is_email_verified is null-or-timestamp, not boolean. null = unverified; a "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" string = verified.
5. referred_by is absent for direct signups — guard before dereferencing in webhook handlers.
6. Server-to-server POSTs to /s/FORM_KEY lose referral attribution — widget-diy.js does the browser-side referral parsing. Only bypass it for testing.
7. No webhook signing documented — validate waitlist_key and payload shape; don't treat webhook data as authenticated.
8. Pricing sources disagree — live page says $29/$79; LaunchList's own blog and third-party comparisons have cited $19/$39/$149/$299 volume steps and a $19 custom-domain add-on. Verify on the pricing page before budgeting.
9. Email verification starts at Launch ($29) — Free-tier lists accumulate unverified (typo'd, disposable-beating) addresses; clean before importing to your ESP.
10. Refund only with zero signups — the 7-day money-back guarantee is void once you've collected a single signup.

Related skills

• /sales-audience-growth — List-growth strategy (lead magnets, referrals, cross-promotion across all platforms)
• /sales-kickofflabs — KickoffLabs (waitlists + giveaways with REST API v1+v2, fraud webhooks, $13–202/mo)
• /sales-upviral — UpViral (viral sweepstakes/rewards campaigns, API at Business+, $79–319/mo)
• /sales-referralhero — ReferralHero (full-stack referral/affiliate with multi-level L1/2/3 + REST API)
• /sales-referralkit — ReferralKit (no-code merge-tag newsletter referrals, free first 10K leads)
• /sales-sparkloop — SparkLoop (newsletter referrals + paid recommendations)
• /sales-mailchimp — Mailchimp platform help (common Zapier destination)
• /sales-kit — Kit platform help (common Zapier destination)
• /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 side-project launch

User says: "I'm collecting signups for a SaaS I'm launching in 3 months. I want referral rewards and the emails need to end up in Kit. Which LaunchList plan?" Skill does: Recommends Grow ($79 one-time) because Zapier/webhooks — the only automated path to Kit — unlock there, and 10K submissions covers most pre-launch lists. Notes Launch ($29) works if a manual CSV export into Kit at launch day is acceptable, and that reward/milestone settings start at Launch. Flags that LaunchList can't send the launch announcement itself. Result: User picks Grow, sets up the Zapier New Submission → Kit Zap with an is_spam = 0 filter.

Example 2: Webhook handler with referral attribution (developer)

User says: "How do I build a webhook handler that pushes LaunchList signups into HubSpot with referral attribution?" Skill does: Walks through Plugins → Create a webhook, then the handler pattern from references/platform-guide.md Recipe 2: validate waitlist_key (no HMAC signing exists), dedupe on id, skip is_spam == 1, guard referred_by for direct signups, map referred_by.referral_code (and the positon typo) into HubSpot contact properties, and gate launch emails on the email_verify event. Result: User has a working Flask handler with idempotency, spam filtering, and referrer fields in HubSpot.

Example 3: Custom form not tracking referrals

User says: "I built my own signup form on Framer posting to LaunchList. Signups arrive but everyone shows as a direct signup — referral links don't credit anyone." Skill does: Diagnoses the missing widget-diy.js script (it parses the referral code from the visitor's URL); checks the form has class launchlist-form and the email field is named email; explains a bare POST records the signup but drops browser-side referral context. Result: User adds the tracking script to the page head and referral attribution starts crediting referrers.

Troubleshooting

Signups land in LaunchList but never reach my ESP/CRM

Symptom: Dashboard shows submissions; Mailchimp/HubSpot/Kit shows nothing Cause: Webhooks and Zapier are Grow-tier ($79+) — on Free/Launch nothing fires. Or the Zapier access token was regenerated (breaking existing Zaps), or the webhook was disabled after errors. Solution: Confirm plan is Grow+. In Plugins, check the webhook's enabled state and use "Send a test request". For Zapier, re-authenticate with the current access token and check the Zap's task history. As a stopgap, export CSV and import manually.

Waitlist is filling with disposable emails and obvious bots

Symptom: Spike of signups from temp-mail domains or with no referrer, is_spam flags rising Cause: Public waitlists attract bots; referral rewards attract fake-signup gaming Solution: Enable temporary-email blocking (Blocks settings — 3,000+ disposable domains), add the _gotcha honeypot to custom forms, enable ReCaptcha v2 (Launch+) and email verification (Launch+), and route the domain through Cloudflare. Downstream, filter is_spam == 1 in your webhook/Zapier flow and only fulfill referral rewards for verified referees (email_verify received).

I need to update or delete a submission programmatically

Symptom: Looking for an API endpoint to modify or remove a signup (GDPR delete, typo fix, position change) Cause: No public REST API exists — ingress-only form POST plus egress-only webhooks Solution: Manage submissions in the dashboard (Manage Submissions) manually. For bulk needs, export CSV, fix externally, and treat your ESP/warehouse as the source of truth. Watch the roadmap's "API Access" item before building long-lived workarounds.