Read the original at Lenny’s Newsletter ↗lennysnewsletter.com · subscriber post
By Lenny Rachitsky · lennysnewsletter.com · @lennysan on X · YouTube · LinkedIn
Lenny Rachitsky opens with a note on the war in Ukraine and ways to help, then answers a reader question about waitlist conversion. Drawing on founder input, he shares rough conversion benchmarks for free sign-ups, paid accounts, and physical products, and explains that tenure on the waitlist is the biggest driver of drop-off. He closes with six tactics to lift conversion, such as acting quickly and re-engaging users repeatedly.
Subscriber post — summary only01Key takeaways
- Waitlist conversion to free sign-ups averages about 50% if users are released within a month, but falls below 20% after three months.
- Paid-account conversion from waitlists averages around 20% within a month and drops below 10% after three months.
- Conversion decays quickly with time, so start inviting the best-fit users first and keep expanding outward.
- Keep waitlist users engaged with product updates, and send at least three re-engagement emails reminding them of value.
- Filter out bounced and fake email addresses so launch emails reach inboxes rather than spam folders.
“Conversion drops exponentially the longer you wait. Start with the people who are the best fit, and keep expanding out.”Lenny Rachitsky · Lenny’s Newsletter
“With Linear, we probably saw 30%-50% in the first few months, and then 10% 12 months later.”Karri Saarinen · Lenny’s Newsletter
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.