Is it even worth creating a waitlist anymore or has it simply become an ego metric?

I was able to gather 600 waitlist emails for my previous project and was thrilled with the result. The launch day rolled around, and no one really opened the email. This made me feel pretty sad.

Those who showed up were the very people I reached out to via DMs and comments. Almost none of them signed up using the form alone.

I am beginning to believe that the waitlist is a measure of curiosity and not of intent. It is easy to acquire but hard to trust. Ten genuine conversations gave me more insight than 600 signups.

Are you still running waitlists? If yes, what did you include to add meaning to the waitlist, such as a question on the form or an individual response?