Waitlist Confirmation Email: How to Send One Automatically

If you're collecting sign-ups before launch, every person who joins should get a waitlist confirmation email straight away. It checks the address is real, tells them they're on the list, and gives them a reason to come back on launch day.

Here's what to put in it, how to add a position and referral link, how to handle the launch email, and the exact message to send Claude Code.

What should a waitlist confirmation email include?

A waitlist confirmation email should confirm the address, say what the person joined and explain what happens next. Keep sales content out of it, so it reads as a confirmation rather than a promotion.

Why a confirm button? Without one, typos and other people's addresses sit on your list until launch day. Gmail's sender guidelines advise confirming each address before adding it to a list. It's the same idea as email verification for sign-ups.

It's a transactional email: an automatic email your product sends because someone did something, and one of the transactional emails every SaaS needs.

Should you show a waitlist position and referral link?

Show a position if you'll let people in by order, or if you reward referrals. Skip it if everyone gets access on the same day, since a number that never moves tells people little.

A referral link is a personal link each person shares. Every confirmed sign-up through it moves them up the list. A few rules keep it fair:

• Count confirmed sign-ups only, so fake addresses don't move anyone up.
• Let people share the link themselves, on social media or in their own messages. Don't build a "tell a friend" form that makes your project email people who never signed up. The FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says a business that rewards referrals may be responsible for the messages they lead to.
• Show the position on a page they can check, rather than emailing every time it changes.

What should the launch email say?

The launch email tells people you're open and gives them one clear way in: a button to create an account. Send it once, to confirmed addresses only.

Because it announces your product, the launch email is most likely a commercial email under the CAN-SPAM Act, the US law on email that promotes something. That means it needs a clear way to opt out and your physical postal address, and opt-outs must be honored within 10 business days. Our guide to transactional vs marketing email explains the difference.

SimpleSends is built for transactional email, so it doesn't send launch announcements. Send the launch email from a marketing email service, which is built for one-off announcements to a list and for handling opt-outs. Claude Code can prepare the confirmed list for you.

Once people create an account, your welcome email for new users takes over.

What to tell Claude Code

Before you start: connect SimpleSends

SimpleSends works through a connector, an add-on that lets Claude Code work with another service while you build. Connectors are built on MCP, the Model Context Protocol.

1. Sign up on the SimpleSends website and follow the steps there to set up the email address you'll send from. To send from your own domain, this includes adding a few DNS records (settings that say who can send email for your domain) where your domain is registered.
2. In Claude Code, open Customize, then Connectors, choose Add, then Add custom connector. Name: SimpleSends. MCP server URL: https://mcp.simplesends.com/mcp
3. When Claude prompts you to connect, log in to SimpleSends.
4. Back in the Claude Code chat, tell Claude Code: "I've connected SimpleSends for all transactional email." It takes it from there, including adding what your project needs to send email.

More detail: how to connect an MCP server to Claude Code.

The messages

I'm collecting a waitlist before launch. When someone joins, send them a confirmation email with a button to confirm their address. Once they confirm, show them their position and a personal referral link. Each friend who joins through the link and confirms moves them up five places. Don't count unconfirmed sign-ups, and don't email anyone who didn't join themselves. Please send it through SimpleSends and show me a preview first.

Claude Code adds the confirmation step, the position page and the email, then shows you a preview.

Send a test confirmation email to my address. I'll confirm it from my phone, then check that my position appears.

Tests are sent from the chat. Once you're live, real confirmations go out from your project. If someone says the email never arrived, ask Claude Code to check the SimpleSends send logs and whether the email actually sent.

When launch day comes:

We're ready to launch. Please export everyone who confirmed their waitlist spot to a spreadsheet, with their name, email address and position, so I can send the launch email from our marketing email service. Leave out anyone who didn't confirm.

Sample waitlist confirmation email

SubjectConfirm your spot on the Yourcompany waitlist

Hi there,

Thanks for joining the Yourcompany waitlist. Yourcompany helps small teams plan and schedule their social media posts in one place.

Please confirm your email address to hold your spot:

Confirm my spot

If the button doesn't work, paste this link into your browser: https://yourcompany.com/waitlist/confirm/8h2k4p

Once you confirm, you'll be number 248 on the list, and you'll get a personal link to share. Every friend who joins through it and confirms moves you up five places.

We plan to open in early 2027, and we'll email you the day we do.

Didn't sign up? You can ignore this email, and you won't hear from us again.

The Yourcompany team