When should a coach start a waitlist for January?

Start the waitlist in the second half of November. That gives you about three weeks to collect sign-ups before you open booking in early December, and the early-booking deadline ends before the holidays. If you only announce in December, you miss many people before they leave. Settle your offer and number of places beforehand. How to build a waitlist in summer for the autumn is shown in the article on the summer break as a coach.

How many places should I put on my January waitlist?

The number of places follows from your free coaching hours per week, divided by the time each client needs. With six 60-minute sessions every two weeks plus preparation, one client needs about 38 minutes per week. Then subtract one or two places as a buffer. State the number publicly and explain it. Whether a package or single hours suits you better is compared in the article coaching packages vs hourly rates.

How big should an early-booking discount be for a January coaching start?

There is no fixed rule; what counts is a clear deadline and a cap on places. An example, not a benchmark: a package at CHF 1,800 costs CHF 1,600 until 18 December, after which the regular price applies again. If you want to protect your price, offer an added service or first choice of dates instead. On bondigoo you create a discount code with an expiry date and usage limit for this. More on pricing is in the article coaching prices in Switzerland.

Do I need consent to send emails to people on my waitlist?

For marketing emails, yes. Art. 3 para. 1 let. o of the Swiss Unfair Competition Act requires prior consent, a correct sender and a free way to unsubscribe for mass advertising by email. The FADP also requires you to inform people about the purpose, recipients and your contact details when you collect data (Art. 19). A tick box that is not pre-ticked, with a clear sentence, covers both. What belongs in your privacy notice is explained in the article on data protection in coaching.

Is a double opt-in for newsletters mandatory in Switzerland?

No, Swiss law does not explicitly require a double opt-in. It is, however, the simplest way to prove consent in a dispute, because the burden of proof lies with the sender. If people from the EU sign up as well, the GDPR may also apply. Most newsletter tools offer the function by default. How to automate processes like this is shown in the article automate your coaching business.

What should I write in the first email to my waitlist?

The first email confirms the sign-up immediately. It sums up the offer in two sentences, names the date when booking opens and contains an unsubscribe link plus your sender details. A short reflection question about the goal for the first quarter keeps the resolution alive over the holidays and gives you a way into the first conversation. How to structure that start is described in the article on the discovery call.

Building a Waitlist: How to Prepare Your Coaching Start for 2027

Q: Does bondigoo have a waitlist for coaching offers?

For sold-out events, yes: interested people can register with Notify me, and when a place becomes free, the next person receives a notification. There is no dedicated waitlist function for pre-selling a one-to-one offer. You collect sign-ups through your own form and then open booking on bondigoo. Check beforehand how far ahead clients can book. More on the page about events and workshops.

You build a year-start waitlist in November and December. Define a clear January offer with a fixed number of places, announce it with a start date, collect sign-ups with clean consent and send two short emails before booking opens. You then begin the year with people who have already said yes.

Offer first: format, length, outcome and places are settled before you announce.
Calculate capacity: places follow from your free coaching hours per week.
Deadline: an early-booking incentive needs an end date and a cap.
Two emails: a confirmation now, a booking invitation later.
Data protection: the FADP requires transparency (Art. 19); marketing emails need consent under Art. 3 para. 1 let. o UCA.

What is a year-start waitlist, and why is November the right time to build one?

A year-start waitlist is a list of interested people you collect before the turn of the year so that you can open booking for your January offer to them first, in December. It is not a contract and not a payment. It is a signal: this person wants to work with you in January and wants to hear from you as soon as it starts.

January is a special month for coaching. In 2014, the behavioural scientists Hengchen Dai, Katherine Milkman and Jason Riis described the so-called fresh start effect in Management Science. After salient dates such as New Year, the start of a month or a birthday, people searched more often for the term "diet", went to the gym more often and made more goal commitments. Dates like these work like a line drawn under the old year. Many people decide exactly then to work on their career, their leadership or their health.

For you as a coach, this means the intention often forms in November, but the decision rarely happens in December. Many coaches experience December as a slow booking month. Year-end closing, Christmas dinners, family and holidays fill your clients' calendars. Their minds are already on January all the same. A waitlist catches exactly this gap between intention and booking.

In summer, the same principle works under different conditions. How to collect demand for the autumn before your holidays is described in the article on the summer break as a coach. For the start of the year, three things come into play that matter less in summer: an offer that fits a New Year's resolution, an early-booking mechanism that runs over the holidays and booking that is already open in December for January appointments.

What does the timeline from mid-November to mid-January look like?

The timeline for a January waitlist covers about eight weeks and four fixed dates. If you start later, you announce right into the holiday season. The following dates are an example for a start in the second week of January 2027:

By 20 November 2026: settle the offer, the number of places and the early-booking rule. Check your privacy notice.
From 23 November 2026: announce the waitlist on your profile, in your newsletter and on LinkedIn.
Tuesday, 1 December 2026: open booking for the waitlist. Send the second email.
Friday, 18 December 2026: the early-booking deadline ends before most people leave for the holidays.
Monday, 11 January 2027: the first sessions start.

The start on 11 January is a deliberate choice. In many Swiss cantons the first week of January is short, because 2 January, Berchtoldstag, is a public holiday and many families travel until the school holidays end. In the second week, most clients are back in their routine and still have their resolutions fresh in mind.

Plan the administrative part before the announcement. Invoice templates, receipts and the 2026 accounts are best handled in parallel so they don't steal your focus in December. The year-end checklist for coaches gives you an overview.

How do you define your January offer before you open the waitlist?

A January offer is clearly defined when an interested person can understand in one sentence what they get, how long it takes and what will be different afterwards. A waitlist for "coaching in the new year" collects hardly any names. A waitlist for "six sessions over twelve weeks to prepare for your next leadership role" collects the right ones.

Before the announcement, answer four questions in writing:

Format: one-to-one coaching, a package of several sessions, a group or a programme with lessons?
Length and rhythm: how many sessions, at what interval, over how many weeks?
Outcome: how will the client notice at the end of March that something has changed?
Audience: who is the offer for, and who is it explicitly not for?

A package suits the start of the year better than single hours. It gives the resolution a structure, and it makes the number of places predictable. The article coaching packages vs hourly rates compares the pros and cons of both models in detail.

If your demand already exceeds your hours today, it is worth looking at a group format. A group with six participants needs only one slot in your calendar per meeting. When the switch makes sense and how to test it is shown in the article on switching to group coaching.

Write down the outcome concretely and honestly. "You leave the package with a clear 90-day plan for your self-employment" can be checked. "You find yourself" cannot. Concrete outcomes also help you later in the first conversation, because you can check properly whether someone fits the offer.

How many places can you realistically offer in the first quarter?

The number of places in the first quarter follows from your free coaching hours per week, divided by the time each client needs. This calculation takes ten minutes and protects you from having promised too much by February.

A worked example with a package of six 60-minute sessions, one every two weeks:

Time per session: 60 minutes of coaching plus 15 minutes of preparation and follow-up makes 75 minutes.
Time per client per week: with one session every two weeks, that is about 38 minutes per week.
Your free capacity: let's assume that, alongside your ongoing clients, you have five free coaching hours per week.
Result: on paper, five hours are enough for almost eight new clients.
Buffer: subtract one or two places for rescheduling, illness and clients who need more time.

In this example you offer six places. That number is honest, and you can state it publicly. That is the whole point: a number of places only works if it is true.

In 1975, the social psychologists Stephen Worchel, Jerry Lee and Akanbi Adewole showed that people value scarce goods more highly. They rated goods that became scarce because of high demand especially highly, and goods that were scarce by accident less so. Robert Cialdini counts scarcity among the core principles of persuasion in Influence. The 1975 study shows the catch: the reason counts. A capacity limit you can explain ("I take on at most six new clients per quarter, because I prepare every session") is more convincing than a countdown that smells of a sales trick.

Include your own energy budget in the calculation as well. January is the month with the most first conversations for many coaches. If you work at your limit in December, you start the new year exhausted.

How do you word the announcement of your waitlist?

A good announcement names the offer, the start date, the number of places and the next step in a few sentences. It promises no miracles and creates no pressure. It gives people who are already thinking about coaching in January a clear path.

You can adapt this template for your newsletter, a LinkedIn post or your profile:

From 11 January: six places for the Leadership Start 2027

Are you taking over a team in the new year, or do you want to prepare for that step? From 11 January I will accompany six people over twelve weeks, in six sessions of 60 minutes. At the end you will have a plan for your first 100 days and a clear stance on the three conversations that intimidate you most.

Anyone who joins the waitlist can book first from 1 December. An early-booking benefit applies until 18 December.

Sign up here: [link]

Three elements carry this announcement. The start date makes the offer tangible. The number of places is explained and verifiable. And the next step is a single link, not a list of options.

Share the announcement where your audience already reads. For business coaches, that is often LinkedIn. How to write posts there that lead to conversations is explained in the article on LinkedIn strategy for coaches. If you are only just building visibility, personal messages to your network are often more effective than a public post. The basics are covered in the article get your first 10 clients.

Avoid three typical mistakes. First: naming no number of places because you don't want to commit. Second: announcing too many formats at once. Third: making it complicated to join the waitlist. A name and an email address are enough, plus a tick box for consent.

How does an early-booking incentive work without devaluing your offer?

An early-booking incentive works when it is tied to a fixed deadline and a cap on places, and your regular price applies unchanged afterwards. It rewards an early decision. It is not a permanent discount and not a sign that your offer is actually worth less.

A worked example, explicitly not a benchmark for your price: a package of six sessions normally costs CHF 1,800. Anyone who books by 18 December pays CHF 1,600. The benefit only applies to the six places of this round. From 19 December, the regular price applies again. How you set your base price depends on your experience, your niche and your market, and it belongs in a separate calculation.

Deadlines change behaviour measurably. In 1994, the marketing researchers Jeffrey Inman and Leigh McAlister studied coupons with expiry dates. Shortly before expiry, they found a second rise in redemptions instead of a steady decline. For your waitlist, this means: expect bookings shortly after opening and a second wave in the days before 18 December.

A price reduction is not the only form. These alternatives protect your price:

Added service: a short check-in by video between two sessions.
First choice of dates: early bookers pick their fixed appointments before booking opens to everyone.
Preparation material: a worksheet or a reflection exercise you use anyway, already in December.

Which form suits you depends on your offer. A discount is the easiest to understand. An added service costs you time but keeps the price stable. And the early choice of dates costs you nothing at all, yet clients with full calendars often value it most.

Which two emails does your waitlist need?

Two emails are enough for a January waitlist: a confirmation straight after sign-up and an invitation when booking opens. More messages quickly feel pushy in December; fewer leave the people on your list on their own until the start.

Email 1: the confirmation

The first email goes out immediately and confirms the sign-up. It repeats the offer in two sentences, names the date when booking opens and explains how to unsubscribe.

Subject: You are on the waitlist for January

Hello [first name]

Thank you for signing up. On 1 December I will open booking for the Leadership Start 2027, to the waitlist first. On that day you will receive a short email with the link and the available dates.

Until then, a question to take with you: which conversation do you want to handle more confidently in the first quarter than you do today?

Don't want any further messages? One click is enough: [unsubscribe link]

[Name, address, email]

The reflection question has a purpose. It keeps the resolution alive over the holidays and gives you a way into the first conversation, because many people bring their answer with them.

Email 2: booking opens

The second email arrives on the day booking opens. It is short, states the deadline and contains exactly one link.

Subject: Booking for January is open

Hello [first name]

From today you can book your place in the Leadership Start 2027. The sessions begin in the week of 11 January. The early-booking benefit applies until 18 December, after that the regular price.

Book here: [link]

If you have a question first, just reply to this email.

[Name, address, email, unsubscribe link]

You can write both emails once and trigger them automatically. Which processes in everyday coaching can be automated and which you should keep personal is shown in the article automate your coaching business. A third message is optional: a short reminder two days before the deadline, sent only to people who haven't booked yet.

What does Swiss data protection law require when you collect email addresses?

When you collect email addresses, Swiss data protection law mainly requires transparency: you must say who processes the data, for what purpose and to whom it is passed on. Consent for marketing emails is governed primarily by the Unfair Competition Act. Both laws apply side by side, and you check them separately.

What does the revised FADP regulate?

The totally revised Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP, in German DSG, SR 235.1) entered into force on 1 September 2023. Unlike the European GDPR, it does not require general consent as the basis for every processing of data. You may process personal data if you respect the processing principles of Art. 6 FADP. These include processing proportionately and using the data only for the purpose that was recognisable when you collected it. If you later use the addresses for something else, you need a justification, such as consent (Art. 31 FADP).

The most important duty for your waitlist is in Art. 19 FADP. When you collect the data, you inform the person concerned at least about your identity and contact details, the purpose of processing and any recipients. If data goes abroad, for example because your newsletter tool uses servers in the United States, you also name the country and the safeguards. In practice, you cover this with a short notice on the sign-up form and a link to your privacy notice.

This duty is more than a formality. Under Art. 60 FADP, private persons who wilfully fail to inform or provide false information can, on complaint, be fined up to CHF 250,000. What your privacy notice as a coach must contain is covered in the article on data protection in coaching.

What does the Unfair Competition Act require for marketing emails?

The Unfair Competition Act (UCA, in German UWG, SR 241) regulates in Art. 3 para. 1 let. o when mass advertising by email is unfair. Anyone who sends mass advertising without a direct connection to requested content must obtain consent beforehand, state the correct sender and point out an easy, free way to opt out.

For your waitlist, this means in concrete terms:

Consent: a tick box that is not pre-ticked, with a clear sentence such as "I would like to receive emails about the January start and other coaching offers from [name]."
Sender: name, postal address and email address in every message.
Unsubscribing: a link that works without a login and without cost.
Customer exception: someone who has already bought coaching from you and was told about the opt-out at the time may receive advertising for your own similar offers even without consent.

Whether an email to someone who explicitly signed up for the January start counts as mass advertising at all can be debated case by case. You don't need to answer that question if you obtain consent properly. As soon as you want to use the list for other offers too, you need it anyway.

Do you need a double opt-in?

A double opt-in, meaning confirmation via a link in a first email, is not explicitly required by Swiss law. It is, however, the simplest way to prove consent in a dispute, and the burden of proof lies with the sender. Most newsletter tools offer the function by default. If people from Germany or Austria sign up as well, the GDPR may also apply. A clean opt-in covers both cases. This section does not replace legal advice. If in doubt, clarify the details with a data protection law specialist.

How do you set up your bookings on bondigoo for January?

On bondigoo, you set up January booking in three steps: you enter your availability in the calendar, check your booking rules and create the right product. There is no dedicated waitlist function for pre-selling a one-to-one offer. You therefore collect interested people through your own form or newsletter tool, and bondigoo takes over from the moment booking opens.

Step 1: enter your availability

You create your time slots for January to March directly in the calendar. Plan only as many slots as your capacity calculation allows. If you open thirty free slots for six places, you lose track and the credibility of your number of places.

Step 2: check your booking rules

In your booking rules you will find three values that matter for the start of the year:

How far ahead can clients book?: if 11 January lies further in the future on the day booking opens than this window allows, the people on your list won't see any January dates. From 1 December to 11 January is 41 days. If clients should fix several dates up to March right away, you need a correspondingly longer window.
Daily cap: the maximum number of sessions per day protects you from an overcrowded first Monday.
Direct booking threshold: bookings with more lead time than this value are confirmed directly. Shorter-notice bookings reach you as a request, and you confirm them yourself.

Step 3: create the product

For an offer with several sessions, you can create an hours package. You set the total time and your price, and you can set a validity in days so that the package is used in the first quarter. For an early-booking incentive, you create a discount code for sessions or programmes, with a start and expiry date, a usage limit and, if you wish, one use per client. Discounts on bondigoo do not stack; the best price for the client applies.

For group formats, an event with a limited number of participants is a good fit. When an event is sold out, further interested people can register with "Notify me when a spot opens up". When a place becomes free, the next person on the list receives a notification and can sign up through the normal registration for a limited time. How events work on bondigoo is shown on the page about events and workshops.

What do you do when more people sign up than you have places?

More interested people than places is good news and information about your demand. You have three clean options. Quietly raising the number of places afterwards is not one of them, because then your earlier explanation is no longer true.

Announce a second round: offer the people without a place the next start, for example in April, and keep them on the list for it.
Add a group format: anyone who can't get an individual package can start in a small group.
Refer onwards: point to a coach in your network whom you trust. That strengthens the relationship, and referrals often flow in both directions.

How a referral system among coaches works and how to get referrals actively rather than by chance is explained in the article on referral marketing for coaches.

A full waitlist is also a signal about your business model. If it fills up twice in a row, you are short of time rather than clients. Then it is worth thinking about scalable formats such as programmes or groups. The path there is described in the roadmap from side income to online business.

What mistakes do coaches make with their first waitlist?

The most common mistakes with a first waitlist are announcing too late, an offer that is too vague and a number of places that doesn't match your own capacity. All three can be avoided with the timeline and the capacity calculation above.

Laura Hess, a business coach in Winterthur with twelve years of practice, built her first waitlist in November two years ago. What worked well was the clear number of places and the early-booking benefit with a fixed deadline. Most of the responses referred to the sentence in which she explained her limit. The timing went less well: she only announced at the beginning of December, and her description left open whether it was about strategy or about marketing.

"I announced too late and described too vaguely what people would get. The number of places, on the other hand, worked straight away, because I could explain why there weren't more. Today I write the offer on one page first and only then announce it." - Laura Hess (persona), business coach from Winterthur, 12 years of experience

Other mistakes coaches often make on their first attempt:

A waitlist without a date: "I'll get in touch as soon as it starts" creates no commitment.
No documented consent: addresses from business cards and LinkedIn replies end up on the list without a tick box.
Too many emails in December: five messages in three weeks lead to unsubscribes.
Forgetting the booking window: booking opens, but the January dates aren't visible yet.

In the end, a waitlist is a promise in a small format. You say what is coming and when, and you keep to it. If you want to make your January offer directly bookable, you can sign up on bondigoo and prepare your profile before booking opens.

Sources

Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP; Datenschutzgesetz, DSG), SR 235.1, in particular Art. 6, 19, 31 and 60. Fedlex.
Federal Act against Unfair Competition (UCA; UWG), SR 241, in particular Art. 3 para. 1 let. o. Fedlex.
Federal Office of Justice (FOJ). Datenschutz. Entry into force of the revised FADP on 1 September 2023.
Onlinekommentar zum DSG. Art. 19 DSG: Informationspflicht bei der Beschaffung von Personendaten.
WEKA Business Media. Datenschutz Newsletter: Rechtssicheres E-Mail-Marketing in der Schweiz.
Dai, H., Milkman, K. L. & Riis, J. (2014). The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior. Management Science, 60(10), 2563-2582. PDF.
Worchel, S., Lee, J. & Adewole, A. (1975). Effects of supply and demand on ratings of object value. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32(5), 906-914.
Inman, J. J. & McAlister, L. (1994). Do Coupon Expiration Dates Affect Consumer Behavior? Journal of Marketing Research, 31(3), 423-428.
Cialdini, R. B. (2021). Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion. Harper Business.