Set up waitlists
Waitlists (a Zillo Pro feature) let customers sign up to be notified when a sold-out ticket, class, product, or fully-booked reservation time comes back — Zillo emails them automatically the moment a spot frees up. Turn it on under Settings → Growth and see who's waiting under Waitlists.
Set up waitlists
When a ticket tier, class, product, or reservation time sells out, a waitlist turns "sold out" into a future sale instead of a dead end. Customers join the waitlist with their email, and Zillo emails them automatically the moment a spot opens up — from a refund, a capacity increase, restocked inventory, or a freed-up table.
It captures demand you'd otherwise never hear about, and it tells you exactly how much appetite there is for more stock, another session, or a bigger venue. Waitlists are part of Zillo Pro.
Turn it on
- Add Zillo Pro from Settings → Add-ons if you haven't already.
- Open Settings → Growth.
- Tick "Let customers join a waitlist on sold-out items" and save.
Once it's on, the waitlist form appears automatically wherever something is sold out — there's nothing to add to individual products.
How customers join
On any sold-out ticket tier or out-of-stock product, customers see a Join the waitlist form in place of the buy button. They enter their email and they're added to the list — no account needed.
For reservations and appointments, the form appears when a resource has no open times — a fully-booked table, or a stylist with nothing free. The customer asks to be alerted when a time opens up for that resource.
How they're notified
Zillo checks for freed-up capacity regularly. When a spot becomes available, everyone waiting on that item is emailed automatically, once each. Spots free up when you:
- Increase capacity on a ticket tier, class, or session.
- Restock a physical product.
- Refund or cancel an order that releases a seat, a ticket, or a held place.
- Free a table or time slot when a reservation or appointment is cancelled.
The email is branded to your storefront and links straight to the item so the customer can buy or book before it sells out again.
A waitlist signal is first-come, first-served and doesn't reserve anything. When a spot opens, the people waiting are notified and whoever checks out first gets it — so popular items can sell out again quickly. That's also useful information: a long waitlist is a strong sign to add capacity, another session, or more stock.
See who's waiting
Review every waitlist under Waitlists in your dashboard. It's the clearest read on demand you have — use a long list as your cue to raise capacity (for tickets and bookings) or reorder (for products), which in turn triggers the notifications.
For products, you adjust stock from the product itself under Products; for tickets, classes, and sessions, capacity lives on the Tickets product; and for tables and appointment times, availability is managed through your Bookings and Settings → Resources.