Waitlist Me Platinum subscriptions include options to completely customize how the web widget and kiosk look. You would need some web development skills to modify the HTML, CSS, and Javascript like you would for a web page.
To get started, log in to www.waitlist.me and navigate to Account > Settings > Add Yourself. Scroll to the bottom and select Edit to make changes to either the web widget or the kiosk. If you are using both, you can copy changes from one to the other after you’re done setting it up. Or you can edit them independently to make them look and function differently. Leave it toggled to Off until you’re ready to debut your new widget.
You can load one of our default templates to get you started and make changes from there. There are three main steps that can be customized:
Main View – Customize the screen customers start on to greet them with messaging and imagery that fits your brand.
Input View – Decide the important information fields to include and the instructions you provide to customers. There are separate views for Joining the Waitlist and Making Reservations/Appointments depending on what options you allow.
Confirmation View – Finish with your own thank you or welcome message and imagery.
Refer to this documentation for the technical instructions to fully customize your widget.
We are always looking for ways to make people’s wait experience better, and we have added a new way for restaurants to engage and communicate with guests in a non-obtrusive way while they are waiting.
There is now a new NoshList Premium feature for restaurants and other places using NoshList to customize their public waitlist page on WaitList with any information they’d like their customers to see. Some ideas include daily specials, reward program information, a social media feed or video, a link to leave a review on Yelp, among others.
Here is an example of how a rewards program could be highlighted below the waitlist on the page visitors can check from their phones:
The way NoshList normally works is when a visitor has left their phone number and is added to the waitlist on NoshList, they automatically receive a text message confirming they have been added to the list and giving them a link to the public waitlist so they can check their place in line. The new feature allows guests to see more information below this waitlist, giving restaurants a great way to improve the guest experience even more and give helpful information to guests while they are waiting, right on their phone. The public waitlist can also be displayed on an internet browser in the restaurant or can also be viewed by customers from home. This public waitlist page is free for all NoshList accounts, and NoshList Premium users get access to this new customization feature as well as the option to let customers add themselves to the waitlist from their phone.
To add information to the public waitlist page, login to NoshList on the web and go to the Settings in the Account area. There is a “Customize Page” link that goes to a page where you can add text or HTML and preview how it will look on the page. Adding HTML gives you the flexibility to style the area with any fonts, colors, links, and images that you’d like to appear on the page. Otherwise you can just add text for some simple messages. There are also various online HTML editors as well as HTML views in most popular online blog services (like Tumblr, Blogspot, WordPress, etc.) that can help with formatting text into HTML
Want to customize the page even more or include the NoshList waitlist on your site? Let us know at [email protected] and we can help you with this as well.
In addition to robust waitlist features, Waitlist Me offers scheduling features for reservations and appointments. View and manage your schedule anywhere from the Apple or Android app, or by logging into the website.
Making changes to future reservations is even easier with our new search feature. Now if a customer contacts you to change their reservation, you can simply search by their name, phone number or email address. This option is available on all platforms by using the search icon on the main reservations page. From the search results, press on the customer’s row to open the desired booking and make any changes needed.
A toggle switch at the top of the page will also allow you to simply search for a specific customer, whether or not they have an upcoming reservation. You can use this to see past visits and upcoming reservations as well as to edit the customer’s information. For example, if the customer’s name was spelled incorrectly or if they changed their phone number, you could update those details. When you use the auto-remember names feature, that customer’s information (name/email/phone number) will populate as you are creating bookings. That feature can be found in the app settings under Customization > Adding Customers.
To view other recent reservation enhancements, check out this page on new sorting options available and this page on email confirmations.
If you’re just getting started with Waitlist Me Pro or Platinum, you’ll want to go through these steps to set up your tables, sections, and layouts.
Set up tables – In the settings, navigate to Assignments. (In the app this will be under the gear icon > Manage Assignments.) Enter in the names of all of your tables, as well as their sizes. Each account defaults with assignments 1 – 30; delete any you do not need.
Name sections – When you’re done with the Assignments, go back to the previous screen and then choose Sections. Add the names of every section you will be using in any layout.
Name layouts – Enter the name of all the layouts you have. For example, Weekday Dinner & Weekend Dinner, or 4 Servers, 5 Servers & 6 Servers. If your sections never change, simply create one layout and name it something like Main or Dinner.
Set up layouts – For each layout you’ve named, press Edit to set it up. Put a check in the box for each table that belongs to your first section. Then press the +Section in the middle of the row, and assign that section. If you want to use the color coding for your sections, choose the color at this time too. Continue this process until you’ve assigned all of the tables to the sections that belong in that layout. (You don’t have to use every table in every layout.) Then go back and repeat the process for other layouts.
Once finished, Pro users can see more on how to utilize the grid view for table management here.
Place tables in rooms – With a Platinum subscription you’ll be able to create a spatial floor plan. To do this, go back to the main waitlist screen and then press the circle with the line in it on the upper left. From here, follow along with this video tutorial to set up your room(s) and place your tables:
Waitlist Me’s Pro & Platinum subscriptions offer more opportunities to tailor the customer experience to fit your brand image and messaging by allowing custom HTML to be added to key touchpoints. You can customize several of the views customers see when scheduling a reservation or joining the waitlist as well as the views of the public waitlist they can see while waiting and after they have been served.
Add Yourself – When using the Add Yourself features on the main web widget and kiosk views, you can include a block of HTML to the page to display rich-formatted text and images. On the main view before customers enter the information you might provide information about rules for scheduling, requirements for entering your business, or anything else that might be helpful to customers when joining your waitlist or making a reservation. You can also add different HTML to the confirmation page that customers view after they add their info and submit their request. Helpful information here might include a link to a restaurant’s menu or a store’s catalog, so people can browse and make selections while they wait.
You can add plain text, HTML, links, and/or pictures. Make changes by logging in to www.waitlist.me and going to Account > Settings > Add Yourself. In the Main View section, there’s a link for Edit HTML; use this for the main widget view. Further down on the Add Yourself settings page there’s an option for Confirmation & Approval. There you’ll see another link for Edit HTML; use this for the confirmation page.
Public Waitlist Page – When you add customers to the waitlist or they add themselves remotely, there is an option to send them a confirmation text with a link to the Public Waitlist page. Custom HTML can be added to the bottom of this page for customers to view while they wait. Details about sales, links to menus/catalogs, or instructions for signing up for a rewards program could all be a great way to help customers pass the time while they are waiting.
Public Waitlist Custom HTML Statuses – Once you’ve notified a customer that you’re ready for them, the table view of the public waitlist will no longer be visible and a graphic showing a ‘Ready!’ sign will appear. After customers are checked off the list, they’ll see a ‘Thank You’ picture. Change one or both of these to your own pictures by going to Account > Settings > Public Waitlist > Colors & Custom HTML > HTML Statuses. You can also customize the status text that appears in the boxes at the top of these views. See more details here.
Tip! Custom HTML allows you to include images that are hosted on your website or another location. If you need a service to host your images, we suggest checking out Cloudinary or Imgbb.
Full-page Custom HTML Display – For the ultimate options in customization, the Platinum subscription offers the ability to fully re-create the web widget and kiosk views using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. You’ll need a web developer to use these features. You can change all the visual elements of the view while still taking advantage of the structured data elements and key features like the wait estimates. And of course, you can add your personalized branding throughout each screen customers see in the process of joining the waitlist and scheduling reservations. This page has more information on these options.
