Managing Waitlists in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys

When organizing popular marketing events, we often encounter situations where the number of interested participants exceeds the number of available places. A Waitlist is a key feature that allows you to effectively manage excess interest and maximize attendance at an event.

What is a Waitlist and why is it worth using?

Basics of Waitlist functionality

A Waitlist in Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys is a mechanism that allows you to collect registrations from people interested in an event when all available places have already been reserved. People on the Waitlist can be automatically or manually promoted to full participants when places become available.

Business benefits

Maximizing attendance

Filling spots vacated by people who canceled their participation.

Measuring actual interest

Accurately determining demand for an event for better planning of future editions.

Better communication

Clearly informing interested parties about the status of their registration.

Building engagement

People on the Waitlist are often more engaged, knowing that space is limited.

Data for planning

Information about the length of the reserve list helps in decisions to increase capacity or organize additional dates.

Configuring a Waitlist for an event

Enabling the Waitlist feature

To activate the Waitlist for your event:

• Open the event record in Customer Insights – Journeys (Event planning > Events)
• In the General tab, find Capacity
• Set Enable waitlist to Yes
• Decide whether you want automatic contacts from the Waitlist to be promoted to registered participants, or whether you prefer to do this manually – by setting Auto-register waitlisted contacts to Yes or No

When this option is enabled, the system will automatically switch the registration form to Waitlist mode (the Submit button is replaced with a Join a waitlist button) when the number of confirmed registrations reaches the set limit (Maximum event capacity). In the form settings, you can also add a custom notification related to joining the Waitlist.

Configuration for individual sessions

The Waitlist can be enabled not only for the entire event, but also for individual sessions:

• Open the session record in the event agenda
• Set Session max. capacity – the maximum number of participants
• Turn on Enable Waitlist
• Decide whether Auto-register waitlisted contacts should be set to Yes

This solution is particularly useful for workshops or sessions with limited space within a larger conference.

Automatic Waitlist management

How does automatic promotion work?

Dynamics 365 offers the ability to automatically transfer people from the reserve list to registered participants. The system works on a FIFO (First In, First Out) basis – the first person to join the Waitlist is the first to be promoted when a place becomes available.

When a participant is automatically transferred from the Waitlist to the main participant list, the system changes the registration status from “Waitlisted” to “Registered.”

Advantages of automation

Automatic Waitlist management:

• Eliminates the need for manual monitoring
• Speeds up the process of filling vacant spots
• Reduces the risk of human error
• Ensures a fair process based on the order of applications
• Reduces the administrative burden on the event team

Manual Waitlist management

When to use the manual process?

Despite the advantages of automation, some scenarios require manual verification and approval of participants from the Waitlist:

• Premium events – when you want to verify the participant’s profile (e.g., position, industry)
• Balanced representation – when you care about participant diversity (e.g., mix of customers and partners)
• Paid events – when you need to verify payment status before promotion
• Special criteria – when you prioritize specific groups (e.g., VIP customers, long-term partners)

Manual verification and promotion process

Assuming that Auto-register waitlisted contacts is disabled, follow these steps.

1. Increase the number of places

• Verify that the registration process is closed
• Increase the number of places, e.g., from 0 to 50

2. Browsing the Waitlist:

• Go to the event, then to the Registration and attendance tab
• Filter registrations by waitlisted status
• Review the profiles of those on the waiting list (company data, history of interactions with the company) and make your selection according to your preferred criteria

3. Promotion to full participation:

• Select the desired registration from the Waitlist
• Click Set as registered or Cancel registration (depending on whether you want to accept or reject the event contact)

4. Communicating with the participant:

• Make sure you send notifications to the user with all the necessary information using Journeys

Practical implications

Due to the time-consuming nature of manual validation, you need to work within a limited time frame:

• Define a time frame – e.g., verify the Waitlist (event and segments) within 24 hours of the end of the registration process
• Dedicate resources – assign a person responsible for monitoring the Waitlist
• Communicate clearly – inform people on the Waitlist about the expected waiting time
• Reserve time buffers – don’t wait until the last minute before the event

Summary

The Waitlist is a tool that allows you to maximize ROI from events and better manage interest. In its basic form, it only takes a few clicks to significantly improve the experience for both the marketer and the participant.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys offers both automatic and manual mechanisms for managing Waitlists, giving you the flexibility to tailor the process to the specifics of your event.

Combining Waitlist with more advanced Customer Journeys automation and CRM integration creates a consistent participant experience and maximizes the business value of each event.

Sources:

• Microsoft Learn: Event management and registration
• Microsoft Learn: Set up and manage waitlist