zkipster currently does not have a built-in waiting list feature. However, you can still use zkipster to create a waitlist for your guests once you have reached capacity for your event and are no longer taking any RSVPs.
If you need a quick reminder on how to set up your zkipster response form to close after certain event criteria have been met, or how to close it manually if your Campaign has already been sent, please see this article here.
To set up a waiting list in zkipster, please follow these steps below (Please note: the instructions are based on the assumption that an RSVP Campaign, or standalone response form, has already gone out for your event):
How to create a Waiting List in zkipster
1) Inside your event, create a new, empty guest list ('Guests' tab, then 'Add Guest List') separate from your main guest list. You can call this list 'Waiting List' or similar to easily distinguish between your Guest Lists.
2) Create a new standalone Response Form via the 'Communications' tab - for a quick overview of the different Campaigns templates click here.
3) Switch the form from 'Private' to 'Public' via the 'Form Access' tab, located in 'Form Settings'. Check out this article for more help.
4) From 'Form Access', select your Waitlist from the 'Add new guests to guest list' dropdown menu. This is the Guest List where new Guests created by submitting your Public Form will go.
5) Design the rest of your Waiting List Form as desired.
6) Set up a Confirmation Email for your Waiting List Response Form, if needed.
Read more: How to set up a Confirmation Email
How to link your Waiting List Form to another Form
1) Copy the Public Form URL from your Waitlist Form to your clipboard. You can do this by clicking the icon highlighted below.
2) Hyperlink the public URL of your Waiting List Response Form into the 'Form Closed Message' text field of your original event Response Form(s) and compose the message that will be displayed to your guests once RSVPs are closed.
You can compose the 'Form Closed' message by navigating to 'Form Settings', then 'Form Responses'.
Please note: By default, when creating a new form, it will now close one week after the event's end date. Please always check your Form Settings before sending your Campaign.
The responses you will receive on your public waiting list response form will create brand-new guest entries in zkipster and populate your waiting list this way!
Be aware that zkipster does not de-duplicate guests so please keep this in mind when compiling your final guest list ahead of your event.
3) Leave 'Allow checked-in guests to submit form' OFF. We always recommend to leave it OFF in the main form. Any information that is not locked might get overwritten when submitting other forms if set to ON (i.e. Consent Form). You can find this option by navigating to 'Form Settings', then 'Form Responses'.
Manually Approving Guests On A Waiting list
Depending on your event capacity, there will be instances where you want your guests to fill out the RSVP form, place them on a waiting list, and manually approve/confirm their attendance at the event.
To do this, first create a public form; compose and design the form as desired.
The 'Confirmation Email' section will be available by default. You can toggle it off since you will be manually approving the guests' attendance. This will ensure that new guests will not receive a confirmation email after they register.
Guests who register using the public form will still appear as 'Confirmed' on your guest list. Create a separate guest list (e.g. 'For Confirmation', 'To Be Confirmed', etc) where guests will be funnelled through. Once done, go to Form > Settings > Form Access > Add new guests to guest list > Click the drop-down to choose the guest list you created.
Once the form is closed and you are ready to go through the waiting list, tick the Guest List section, go to Action, and change the status to 'Unconfirmed'. You can now review each guest and change their status to 'Confirmed' if you are approving their attendance.
We recommend not moving them to the main guest list so it would be easy to identify the guests who registered using the public form.
Please note: If you are using a public form, all form submissions will create a new guest entry in your event, which means your guests might create duplicate entries of themselves on your guest list. Additionally, please keep in mind that zkipster currently has no deduplication function and that you would have to manually remove each duplicate guest.
Now that you have selected the guests on the waiting list and changed their status to 'Confirmed', it is time to send them a confirmation email. Create a separate Standalone Confirmation Email (Message Template) and send the email to a filtered segment of your guest list (i.e, send it only to 'Confirmed' guests).
Pro tip: If you want to send an email to the guests who were not selected to attend the event, you can create a separate Standalone Decline Email and send the email to a filtered segment of your guest list (i.e, send it only to 'Declined' guests).
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