Discover free eBooks, guides and med spa templates on our new resources page

Book a demo
☰
Why us

Blog / Why your med spa needs a waitlist marketing strategy

Marketing and revenue growth

Why your med spa needs a waitlist marketing strategy

Ivana Karafiloska
October 22, 2025
Reviewed by: Teodor Jurukovski

You market your med spa, work hard to attract new clients, and it pays off 🥳. Your schedule is filling up faster than ever.

But suddenly… demand starts to outpace availability. And when that happens, the last thing you want is for potential clients to look elsewhere.

That’s exactly when you should start actively marketing your med spa waitlist. By promoting it strategically, more clients will know about your waitlist, sign up, and help you turn last-minute cancellations and long appointment queues into booked-and-paid-for appointments instead of lost opportunities.

A smart waitlist marketing strategy in the med spa industry is a true win-win: your staff’s time is fully utilized, and your clients get the last-minute treatments they’ve been waiting for.

The power of waitlists for med spas

Last-minute cancellations are bound to happen sooner or later: flu season, sudden meetings, or unexpected life events can throw even the best-laid schedules off track. 

  • For your clients, it’s a quick call. 
  • For your med spa, it’s lost revenue, empty slots, and wasted staff hours.

Many clients also forget to book appointments on time for the same reason someone cancels. 

But, with a smart, automated waitlist, you can seamlessly fill canceled slots with clients who need an appointment right away. This works as you’ll not only fill more spots and get a revenue boost, but your clients will appreciate the flexibility and the chance to get in if a slot frees up. 

A waitlist also benefits clients who want an earlier appointment by letting them snag an open slot as soon as it becomes available.

🔍 In fact, a 2025 Mayo Clinic study of 229,998 appointments found that nearly a quarter of patients (24.6%) accepted an offer sent by the automated waitlist, moving their appointments up by an average of 22.6 days.

As you can see, a waitlist brings plenty of benefits for both you and your clients. So let’s take a look at the biggest ones. 

Real-time notifications fill empty slots fast

With real-time, automated notifications via SMS or email sent to clients on your waitlist, you can alert interested customers the moment an appointment becomes available. 

This timeliness is crucial: the faster someone hears, the more likely they are to accept the slot. 

This approach minimizes the risk of forgetting someone on your waitlist or sending notifications too late — issues that often arise with manual alerts. It helps prevent lost revenue and ensures your treatment rooms stay booked, even when plans change.

Personalized SMS and email marketing build loyalty

While generic “We have an opening” messages get the point across, they aren’t enough. Personalized outreach, like including the client’s name, specific treatment, the preferred provider, or referencing past treatments, makes clients feel seen. 

Here are a few examples:

 “Hi Jane, your skin consultation with Dr. Smith has just opened up at 3 pm tomorrow. Would you like it?” 

“We know you were waiting for a filler slot with Lisa. Something just freed up!”

“Hey Sam! A last-minute opening just came up for your laser session. Thought you might want first dibs before it’s gone!”

Tailored messages like these will help you nurture relationships and build the kind of loyalty where clients value being on your waitlist.

Last-minute deals create urgency

Another way waitlists help fill empty or soon-to-expire slots is by offering special last-minute deals. These are exclusive, time-sensitive offers given only to waitlist members. 

For example, a time-limited discounted offer for a filler appointment that just opened today, or a bonus add-on service for anyone who can come in within 24 hours. 

The scarcity (limited slots), plus the immediacy, often compels faster decision-making. Combining urgency, value, and exclusivity encourages quick booking and helps you fill spots that might otherwise go wasted.

How can I effectively market a waitlist for my med spa?

Like any service, a waitlist won’t work if clients don’t know it exists. You need to make it visible, communicate its value, and show how easy it is to join. 

When clients understand the benefits and can sign up with minimal effort, your waitlist becomes a powerful tool that drives your business forward.

So, here are 5 ways to make your medical spa waitlist work for you:⬇️

1. Promote your waitlist everywhere

Your waitlist shouldn’t be treated as a backup option for when clients can’t book an appointment.

To maximize sign-ups and get the most value from it, make your waitlist a visible, ongoing part of your marketing. Feature it in digital marketing campaigns, emails, and social posts, and promote it consistently across every client touchpoint.

Website:

Your website design should be intuitive, with your waitlist featured prominently on your booking page. For example, you could use a message like: “Fully booked? Join our waitlist to be first in line when a spot opens up.”

Support this with strong content marketing and local SEO (local search engine optimization) to boost your online presence and build brand awareness. By making your waitlist easy to find and promoting it strategically, you can drive more clients to sign up and keep your schedule full.

Social media:

Social media marketing is a powerful tool to showcase your waitlist in action.

Share posts, photos, or short video content on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other social media platforms, highlighting how quickly appointments fill up, and position your waitlist as the perfect solution. 

Feature stories from happy clients who snagged a spot through the waitlist, and collaborate with local influencers to spread the word and build buzz around your med spa’s exclusivity.

You can see in the image below how Adams Massage Therapy & MedSpa promotes their waitlist on Instagram.

Waitlist marketing example

Source: Adams Massage Therapy & MedSpa / Instagram

A simple post like this is all it takes to let clients know there’s an option to join your waitlist.

In-med spa signage:

Place signs at your front desk, in treatment rooms, or in waiting areas, to encourage guests to ask about your waitlist.

Community events / local partnerships:

Any time you have a booth or presence, include waitlist signup opportunities for your target audience. For example, events, pop-ups, and open houses with local businesses.

2. Create urgency and exclusivity

Scarcity naturally motivates people, so framing your waitlist as a limited, exclusive, VIP opportunity can drive sign-ups. 

For example, take the Jasmin Kay Hair Co. guest waitlist post. By showing that only 20 spots are available, it creates urgency and encourages people to sign up quickly rather than waiting until the last minute.

Here are a few ways you can make your waitlist enticing:

  • Offer early access to new treatments or promotions before they’re available to the general public
  • Limit spots for high-demand services to create a sense of exclusivity
  • Offer special perks for clients who join the waitlist

By adding urgency and positioning your waitlist as a privilege, clients will be more motivated to sign up quickly, and they’ll view it as a valuable benefit, not just a fallback option.

3. Incentivize sign-ups

Giving clients a small reward for joining your waitlist can make a big difference in sign-up rates. You can consider offering a discount, a complimentary add-on, or a free consultation as a starter incentive, something like, “Join our waitlist now and get 10% off your next treatment.” 

Med spa waitlist incentive ideas

Source: Pabau

You can also tie waitlist enrollment to your loyalty program, offering extra points or special perks for members who sign up. 

Incentives work, and here’s proof. Masai, a fashion brand, ran an A/B test to compare its newsletter signup message with one featuring a gift-card contest incentive. With the incentive, their sign-ups more than doubled (102% increase) across all devices.

These small rewards create an extra push, encouraging clients to take action and join the waitlist sooner rather than later.

However, according to research from Salesfire, not all incentives work the same. Fixed rewards like a simple “$5 off” drove newsletter sign-ups to 8.27%, nearly double the 4.71% rate of percentage-based discounts. Turns out, when people see exactly what they’ll get, they’re much more likely to sign up.

Incentive stats

Source: Salesfire

The bottom line is that if you want to encourage more clients to join your med spa waitlist, offering a small fixed incentive like a $10 credit or a complimentary add-on can be more effective than a simple percentage discount.

4. Keep waitlist members engaged

If a client signs up for a waitlist, it doesn’t mean they are committed to it. Our job is to nurture your waitlist with regular communication to ensure your med spa services stay top-of-mind. 

Here are several ways to do this:

  • Regular updates in the form of newsletters, SMS, or emails letting them know about demand, when waitlist fill-ups typically occur, or upcoming slots.
  • Sneak peeks before you launch a new service or treatment.
  • Personalized educational content or stories — Share results, before-and-afters, or behind-the-scenes to remind them of what they’re waiting for, and that you’re still top-of-mind.

The goal is to provide value until they convert to a booked appointment.

5. Make joining frictionless

The easier it is for clients to join your waitlist, the more likely they are to do it. So, make the process seamless:

  • Use mobile-friendly sign-up forms.
  • Provide a QR code in physical locations or via print materials that links directly to the waitlist signup.
  • Integrate waitlist enrollment into your booking software 
  • Minimize the amount of information required: name, preferred service, contact method, preferred times, and maybe preferred provider

❌ Any unnecessary steps or extra information can discourage clients and lead to lost sign-ups.

Key features to look for in a med spa waitlist tool

An effective waitlist tool should do more than just collect names. It should actively help your med spa fill every available appointment slot while enhancing the client experience. When choosing a tool, look for features that make managing your waitlist seamless, efficient, and client-friendly.

  • Automated notifications — Your tool should automatically alert waitlist clients when slots open via SMS, email, or push notifications.
  • Booking efficiency and revenue — The tool should help convert waitlist requests into confirmed bookings seamlessly, recovering revenue from cancellations or no-shows.
  • Seamless client experience — Joining the waitlist and getting an alert should be quick and easy, so clients can grab their preferred time as soon as it opens up.
  • Optimal use of staff time — Fewer phone calls, fewer distractions, less manual tracking means less admin work.
  • Customizable waitlists — You should be able to customize things such as matching clients with a preferred staff member, specific services, or setting time limits on how long a client wants to remain on the list.
Waitlist feature Pabau

Source: Pabau

How Pabau makes waitlist med spa marketing effortless

As an all-in-one practice management software, Pabau brings your management, marketing, and client communication tools together in one place, making waitlist marketing effortless and seamless.

Source: Pabau

Here’s how the Pabau waitlist feature works: 

  • If a client tries to book a service and there’s no available slot, Pabau lets them join the waitlist for that service directly.
  • When a slot opens, Pabau automatically notifies clients via SMS or email so they can accept quickly. No need for your staff to be constantly on call.
  • You can customize the waitlist: choose whether clients stay on the list after a time threshold, whether they specify provider preferences, or particular services.
  • All this is synced with your calendar / CRM, so bookings via waitlist appear just like other appointments, including confirmation, pre- and post-care communications. 

Turn your waitlist into a revenue engine with Pabau

In summary, a robust waitlist marketing strategy helps med spa owners do more than just patch holes. It enables you to proactively fill last-minute cancellations, reduce lost revenue, improve client satisfaction and retention, and strengthen loyalty. 

Pabau’s feature helps solve these challenges by: 

  • Seamlessly integrating your waitlist with your booking and calendar
  • Filling in empty slots without manually calling and messaging clients
  • Automatically notifying clients when a slot opens
  • Allowing clients to choose their preferred provider when joining the waitlist

If you’re ready to stop leaving money on the table, fill your treatment rooms more consistently, and give clients reasons to stay excited about booking with you, Pabau can be the partner that turns your waitlist into a full-blown revenue engine. So, book a demo with Pabau today.