This guide is for course providers who use a course waitlist. Automatic waitlist emails tell people on the waitlist when a place opens on a course date, or when new dates become available. Cademy sends them by itself once you turn them on for a course. This guide explains how to turn them on, who is emailed first, what the email says and what to check when someone was not emailed.
To turn on the waitlist itself and manage the people on it, see Set Up and Manage a Course Waitlist (Waiting List).
Date waitlist entry: someone waiting for one particular course date.
Course waitlist entry: someone waiting for the course with no date chosen. They can receive one email listing the dates they can book.
Turn On Automatic Waitlist Notifications for a Course
Automatic waitlist emails are off for a new course and are set separately for each course. Check existing, copied or imported courses rather than assuming their setting. They work for On set dates and Blended courses that allow the waitlist. You need System Admin access, or Course Owner access to the course.
Check pending edits before navigating inside the course editor.
Changing its pages can save pending course or lesson edits automatically.
Open Courses, select the course, then Edit Course → Settings → Booking Options.
Under Allow Waitlist, choose Allow Waitlist if it is not already chosen.
Under Automatic Waitlist Emails, select Email Waitlisted Contacts When Spaces Become Available.
Check any other pending edits, then select Save. Reopen Booking Options and check both settings. If an error appears, do not assume the emails are on.
To stop only the automatic emails, select Do Not Send Automatic Waitlist Emails and save. The waitlist stays open, so you can still manage the people on it and email them yourself. Choosing Do Not Allow under Allow Waitlist turns off the automatic emails as well, and turning the waitlist back on does not turn them back on.
Who on the Waitlist Is Told First When a Place Becomes Free
Cademy checks every hour for courses with automatic waitlist emails turned on. Each check emails at most one person per date, and at most one person waiting for the course as a whole. People are taken in the order they joined, earliest first. Anyone who cannot be emailed at that moment is skipped, as described below.
This means the waitlist is not emailed all at once, and there is no separate email for every spare place. If the place is still free at the next hourly check, the next person in the queue is emailed.
How the Hourly Automatic Waitlist Check Works
Changing a setting, adding a date or freeing a place does not send an email straight away, and there is no set delivery minute. The check does not look at why a place became free. It reads the number of places recorded on each date when it runs. Cademy updates that number in the background, for example after an Order is created or changed, a Registration is cancelled or moved, or the number of places on the date is changed.
A full date is left out. Entries removed after a booking or removed by you are left out too. Waitlist entries are removed after a booking separately, so a person who has just booked can still be in the queue until that update finishes.
Emails to People Waiting for a Specific Date
For each date with a place, the check looks at the first 50 people waiting for that date, in the order they joined, and emails the first one who can be emailed. The email links to the course and that date. Its subject is A spot's opened for [course name] on [date].
After an automatic email about a date, the same entry is not emailed again about that date for 24 hours. If the date still has a place at the next hourly check, the next person in join order is emailed. This rule applies to each entry, not to the person: duplicate entries, emails you send yourself and resends are not covered by it.
Emails to People Waiting for Any Date of the Course
For each course, the check also looks at the first 100 people waiting for the course with no date chosen, in the order they joined, and emails the first one who can be emailed. The email lists all the dates they can currently book, including a new date that meets the conditions below. Its subject is New dates available for [course name]. Someone waiting only for another specific date is not included.
After an automatic email, a course waitlist entry is not emailed again for three days. It is also not emailed again about exactly the same set of dates. Changing only the number of places does not make a new set, and going back to a set of dates they were already told about does not send another email.
Each check looks only at the first 50 people waiting for a date, or the first 100 waiting for the course. If none of them can be emailed, someone further down is not reached in that check. If sending to the chosen person fails, that check does not move on to the next person. The same person is tried again at the next hourly check. Ask Cademy Support about long delays you cannot explain; do not remove entries to work around them.
Someone Waiting for a Date and for the Course
Date waitlists are processed before course waitlists. Within one hourly check, Cademy does not email the same email address twice, even across courses. This does not cover different email addresses, later checks, emails you send yourself or resends.
Can I Edit the Automatic Waitlist Notification Email Template?
No. The automatic waitlist emails use a fixed template, not one of your email templates, so you cannot change their wording. Each email shows your business name, and your logo if you have added one, and:
For a date: the heading A Spot Opened Up, the course and date, a Book Now button and a Remove me from this waitlist link.
For the course: the heading New Dates Available, a link for each date that can be booked, and a Remove me from the [course name] waitlist link.
Both say that places are open to everyone on a first-come, first-served basis. If you want your own wording, choose Do Not Send Automatic Waitlist Emails and email the people on the waitlist yourself, as described in Set Up and Manage a Course Waitlist (Waiting List).
Why Did Nobody on the Waitlist Get an Email?
An automatic waitlist email is sent only when all of these are true:
The course is published and has both Allow Waitlist and automatic waitlist emails turned on.
The date is Public, has at least one place and starts more than 12 hours after the check. Private dates, full dates and dates starting within 12 hours are left out.
A session inside a block is considered on its own only if it can be booked on its own.
There is a person in the queue with an email address who is outside the waiting periods above (24 hours for a date, three days for the course).
Your account is allowed to send emails.
The check does not test whether your public booking page works. Before relying on the emails, check that the course and date can be booked through your setup, particularly if you use an external booking page. A missing or broken booking page does not stop the email being sent.
If no email appears after an hourly check, review the settings, the date, the places recorded on it, the queue and the waiting periods. A System Admin can check the email status on the person's Contact; Course Owners should ask for that check. Someone beyond the first 50 waiting for a date, or the first 100 waiting for the course, is not reached in a single check. Contact Cademy Support if none of this explains it. Adding another entry or using Resend repeatedly is not a reliable test.
Does a Waitlist Email Hold the Place for the Customer?
No. Automatic waitlist emails tell the person that places are open to everyone on a first-come, first-served basis. They must book in the usual way, with the normal availability, payment and approval rules. Another person can book first. The email gives no deadline for booking.
See When Someone Was Last Emailed (Last Notified)
Open the course's Waitlist tab and find the person.
Check the Last Notified column. Widen the browser window if the column is hidden on a smaller screen.
Date or Course with a time shows the latest automatic waitlist email recorded for that entry. Not notified yet means no automatic waitlist email has been recorded.
Last Notified does not prove that the email was delivered. A blocked email can still show a time here and start the waiting period. Confirmation emails and emails you send yourself are not shown in this column.
View or Resend an Automatic Waitlist Email
Opening and resending an email needs System Admin access to Contacts. Course Owners should ask a System Admin. For where emails are recorded and what each status means, see Find Sent Emails and Check Delivery Status.
Select the person's row in the Waitlist tab, or View Contact in its three-dot menu. You can also open Contacts and find the person.
Open All Activity or Emails, then select the message.
In View Message, check To, Subject, the content and Status. A blocked message was prepared but not delivered. If the content does not load, do not guess what it said; ask Support if needed.
Resend sends the saved message again.
It does not update the dates, places, recipient or removal link, and it does not repeat the automatic checks. Do not click the removal link while checking the message.
Select Resend only if the saved message is still correct and you want to send it again. Read the result and refresh the email history. A resend success message does not prove the email arrived. If emailing is blocked, sort that out with Support first. See also Resend a Booking Confirmation or Other Sent Email.
The Remove Me From This Waitlist Link
Every automatic waitlist email has a link to leave the waitlist that works without logging in. Opening it removes that waitlist entry straight away, with no confirmation step. It does not cancel a booking, remove the person's other waitlist entries or unsubscribe them from other emails.
If the page says the link is not valid, the customer should contact you. Do not open someone's removal link just to check it.
Plans and Email Permission for Automatic Waitlist Emails
Automatic waitlist emails are available on every Cademy plan. They still need the course settings and conditions above, and your account must be allowed to send emails. Limits on emails you send yourself are separate; ask Support about restrictions on your account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are automatic waitlist emails on by default?
No. They start off for new courses. Check the saved setting on existing, copied or imported courses.
Will a freed place send an email straight away?
No. The hourly check must run and find a date with a place and a person who can be emailed.
Why did nobody get an email after I added a new date?
The new date must meet the conditions above, and someone must be waiting for the course with no date chosen. People waiting only for a different date are not included. The three-day waiting period and the rule about the same set of dates still apply.
Are private dates or unpublished courses included?
No. The course must be published and the date must be Public.
What if the person has already booked?
A booking removes their matching waitlist entries in the background. Until that happens, the old entry can still be in the queue. Check the queue and ask a System Admin to check the email on their Contact.
Can an entry be emailed again about the same date?
Yes, after 24 hours, if it is still in the queue and the date still has a place.
Can I still email the waitlist myself?
Yes. Automatic emails do not stop you emailing people from the Waitlist tab. Your account's sending restrictions and recipient limits still apply.