# How to install LaunchList on WordPress

> Add a LaunchList signup form to WordPress with the plugin, or paste the embed into a Custom HTML block, a theme template or a site-wide header script.

Source: https://getlaunchlist.com/help/docs/integrations/wordpress

---

What the LaunchList plugin adds, what it sends and whether you need it are on the
[WordPress waitlist plugin](https://getlaunchlist.com/plugins/wordpress) page. This guide is the
setup: the plugin first, then the embed pasted by hand, which needs no plugin, then the fixes.

## The LaunchList plugin (recommended)

1. In WordPress, open **Plugins → Add New Plugin**, search for **LaunchList**, then click **Install Now** and **Activate**. The plugin's page in the directory is [wordpress.org/plugins/launchlist](https://wordpress.org/plugins/launchlist/).
2. Open **LaunchList** in the WordPress menu and click **Connect to LaunchList**. Sign in to your LaunchList account (you need one to connect a site), choose the workspace the site belongs to and click **Connect**. You do this once per site, and the screen then says **Connected to** your workspace.
3. Edit a page, click **+** and add the **LaunchList form** block. Choose your form in the **Form** list.
4. In a page builder or the classic editor, use the shortcode instead, with your form ID from **Embed & API → Your website**: `[launchlist form="frm_8Kd2Qm4Rp9xy"]`.
5. **Publish**, or preview the page, then join with your own email to see the signup arrive in **Audience**. A signup made in a preview is real.

![The LaunchList screen in WordPress before connecting, with a Connect to LaunchList button and the shortcode for adding a form without connecting.](https://app.getlaunchlist.com/images/marketing/wordpress-plugin-connect.webp "Before you connect, the LaunchList screen offers Connect to LaunchList, and Show how gives the shortcode.")

In the block's settings, **Show** switches between **Form**, **Popup button**, **Widget** and
**Updates**; the inserter also offers each as its own variation, **LaunchList form**, **LaunchList
popup button**, **LaunchList widget** and **LaunchList updates**. A form or a popup button takes a
form: choose it in the **Form** list, which names each form with its project, or click **Enter an ID
instead** and paste its form ID. A widget or updates takes a **Project**, and a widget also takes a
**Widget**: one of yours from the list, or a type, **counter**, **leaderboard**, **milestone** or
**countdown**. A form's **Button text** replaces the button text set on the form in LaunchList. A
popup button has its own **Button text**, and its **Opens as** is a window in the middle of the page
or a panel from the side. After you add a form in LaunchList, click **Refresh** in the block's
settings to see it in the list.

![The LaunchList block in the WordPress editor, showing a card for the chosen form, with Show set to Form and the form chosen from a list in the block settings.](https://app.getlaunchlist.com/images/marketing/wordpress-plugin-block.webp "The block shows a card in the editor. Show and Form are in the block's settings.")

In the editor the block shows a card, so nothing typed there becomes a signup. The form itself
appears on the published page and in a page preview, and a signup made in a preview is real. The
block has no style settings: its look is the design you pick in the LaunchList form editor, under
**Design**. The shortcode
and the block work without connecting your site, because the embed is public; the lists in the
block's settings need the connection, and without it you paste the form ID.

For a shortcode, open **Add LaunchList to a page** at the bottom of the LaunchList screen. It lists a
**Form**, **Popup**, **Widget** and **Updates** shortcode for one of your forms, each with a copy
button, and a list to switch forms when you have more than one. The widget shortcode shows a signup
counter: put leaderboard, milestone or countdown in place of counter for the others.

Once your site is connected, the plugin loads LaunchList on every page, so a referral code is
remembered for 90 days and follows a visitor from page to page. This is on by default. To load
LaunchList only on pages with a LaunchList block or shortcode, clear **Load LaunchList on every page**
at the foot of **Your forms** on the LaunchList screen and click **Save**. Where a consent plugin that
uses the WP Consent API is active, it loads on every page only for visitors who allowed marketing
cookies.

### Send your WordPress forms

If you already built a form in **Contact Form 7**, **WPForms**, **Gravity Forms**, **Elementor Pro**,
**Fluent Forms**, **Ninja Forms** or **Formidable Forms**, keep it and send its signups to LaunchList.

1. Connect your site, as in step 2 above. Sending your own forms needs the connection.
2. On the LaunchList screen, **Your forms** lists every one of your forms with the form plugin it
   comes from. Beside the form you want to send, change **Don't send** to the LaunchList form its
   signups should go to. The list groups your LaunchList forms by project.
3. Click **Match fields** under the form's name to choose which of your form's fields fills each
   LaunchList field. The plugin suggests matches: the first email field, and other fields by name.
   **The field LaunchList identifies a person by, usually Email, must be matched**, or LaunchList
   refuses the signup, and the row warns you until it is. A LaunchList field left on **Don't send**
   stays empty. Your form's fields that fill no LaunchList field are kept with the signup, up to 20,
   under a simplified version of their label, as **Input data**.
4. Click **Save**, submit a test signup and check that it arrives in **Audience**. A form you add in
   LaunchList appears in the list the next time you open the screen.

![The LaunchList screen in WordPress, connected to a workspace, with a LaunchList form chosen for two of six WordPress forms and three recent deliveries marked Sent.](https://app.getlaunchlist.com/images/marketing/wordpress-plugin-connected.webp "Your forms, with a LaunchList form chosen for two of them, and Recent deliveries below.")

![Match fields open on a WPForms form, with the LaunchList fields Email and Name each filled by a field of the WordPress form and Role left on Don't send.](https://app.getlaunchlist.com/images/marketing/wordpress-plugin-match-fields.webp "Match fields: each LaunchList field on the left, the field of your form that fills it on the right.")

Your form plugin keeps working as before: its emails, messages and saved entries do not change, and it
still shows its own success message, so a person's place in line and referral link are not shown
there. Use the block when you want those. LaunchList receives each submission from your server after
your form plugin accepts it. If LaunchList cannot take a signup right away, your site keeps it and
tries again a minute later at first, then up to an hour apart, for 24 hours.

**Recent deliveries** on the LaunchList screen shows what happened to each one: **Sent** when
LaunchList received it, **Kept** when your site kept it to try again, and **Not added** when
LaunchList refused it, with the reason beside it. When signups are waiting, the card says how many,
and **Retry now** tries them again.

To remove LaunchList, click **Disconnect** on the LaunchList screen and confirm, or open **Embed &
API → Your website** in LaunchList and click **Disconnect** beside the site. Your forms stop reaching
LaunchList, blocks and shortcodes keep working, and the signups already in LaunchList stay there. Any
signup still waiting on your site to be sent is deleted. If
the connection is removed in LaunchList, the screen says LaunchList no longer recognizes the site and
offers **Connect again**. A copy of your site made by cloning its database, such as a staging site,
does not send anything in the live site's name; its LaunchList screen offers to connect the copy as a
site of its own. The table at the end of this page covers each message the screen can show.

The methods below do the same by hand, if you would rather not install a plugin.

## The block editor, without the plugin

1. In LaunchList, open **Embed & API → Your website**, choose **WordPress** under **What is your site built with?**, pick your form if you have more than one, and copy the **Inline** snippet it shows.
2. Edit the page or post, click **+**, and add a **Custom HTML** block.
3. Paste the snippet.

```html
<!-- frm_8Kd2Qm4Rp9 is an example ID; use your own from Embed & API → Your website -->
<div data-launchlist-form="frm_8Kd2Qm4Rp9"></div>
<script src="https://embed.getlaunchlist.com/v1/embed.js" async></script>
```

4. **Publish**. Use the block's **Preview** tab to see it render inside the editor.

That is the whole integration.

## Site-wide, for more than one form

If you plan to use forms, popups or widgets on several pages, load the runtime once in your theme
instead of repeating it in every block.
The plugin does this for you: once your site is connected it loads LaunchList on every page, unless you clear **Load LaunchList on every page** on its screen.

Add this to your child theme's `functions.php`:

```php
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', function (): void {
    wp_enqueue_script(
        'launchlist',
        'https://embed.getlaunchlist.com/v1/embed.js',
        [],
        null,
        ['strategy' => 'async', 'in_footer' => false],
    );
});
```

Then every Custom HTML block only needs the target element:

```html
<div data-launchlist-form="frm_8Kd2Qm4Rp9"></div>
```

> [!WARNING] Use a child theme
> Editing `functions.php` in a parent theme means your change disappears at the next theme update.

## In a theme template

To place the form in a template file such as `front-page.php` or `footer.php`:

```php
<div data-launchlist-form="frm_8Kd2Qm4Rp9"></div>
```

With the script enqueued as above, nothing else is needed.

## If your host strips script tags

Some managed WordPress plans and page builders remove `<script>` from post content. Use the
[no-JavaScript method](/help/docs/integrations/overview#plain-html-no-javascript) instead: a plain
form that posts straight to our endpoint and needs no script at all. WordPress.com's free plan
removes `<form>` too, so there, link a button to your hosted page.

```html
<form
    action="https://embed.getlaunchlist.com/f/frm_8Kd2Qm4Rp9/submit"
    method="POST"
>
    <input type="email" name="email" required />
    <input type="hidden" name="_channel" value="html" />
    <button type="submit">Join</button>
</form>
```

Copy that `action` from **Embed & API → Your website** rather than typing it: it points at the embed host,
which is the same origin the loader script comes from.

> [!TIP] Referral credit with a no-JavaScript form
> A native form cannot read `?ref=` from the URL on its own. If you can load the script anywhere on
> the site, do. It finds the form by its `action` and injects the referral code and UTM parameters
> as hidden fields, without taking the submission over. It only claims forms on its own origin, so
> an `action` pointed at a different host of ours stops crediting referrals with no error.

> [!WARNING] This method needs somewhere to land
> The server answers with a redirect to your Status page or your own page. A form whose **After
> signup** is set to **Message** has neither, so the visitor ends up back on the page they came from
> with nothing confirming the signup. Use the status page or **Link** (your own page, on the Collect
> plan and above) here.

## Page builders

Elementor, Beaver Builder and Divi all have an HTML or Code widget. Drop the same snippet in. If the
builder offers a "Shortcode" widget instead, it will not work without the plugin; with the plugin,
put `[launchlist form="frm_8Kd2Qm4Rp9xy"]` in it.

## If something is not working

| What you see                           | What to do                                                                                                                                        |
| -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| The block shows the code as text       | You used a Paragraph block. Switch to **Custom HTML**.                                                                                            |
| Nothing renders on the live page       | Your host or a security plugin is stripping `<script>`. Use the no-JavaScript method.                                                             |
| The form shows twice                   | The form block is on the page twice; each renders its own form. Remove the duplicate. A script enqueued site-wide _and_ in the block is harmless. |
| A caching plugin serves an old version | Purge the cache after publishing. The form itself is never cached by us.                                                                          |
| Your WordPress form's signups never arrive | Check that the LaunchList screen says **Connected**, that the form has a LaunchList form chosen instead of **Don't send**, and that the field LaunchList identifies a person by, usually Email, is matched under **Match fields**. Then look at **Recent deliveries**. |
| **Not added** in Recent deliveries        | LaunchList refused that signup, for the reason shown beside it. A missing field usually means a field is not matched under **Match fields**. |
| "LaunchList no longer recognizes this site" | The connection was removed in LaunchList. Click **Connect again**, or **Disconnect** to stop the notice, which also shows across your WordPress admin. Signups from your forms are kept on your site for 24 hours in the meantime. |
| "LaunchList can't be reached right now"    | Nothing to fix on your site. Signups are kept and sent when LaunchList is back, or click **Retry now**. |
| "This looks like a copy of" another site   | This site was cloned from a connected one, so it sends nothing in that site's name. Click **Connect this copy as its own site** if it should send signups. |
| "This server's clock is off"               | Ask your host to sync the server clock, then click **Check connection**. |

## Using the classic LaunchList dashboard

A waitlist made in the classic LaunchList dashboard has its own snippet: a `<div class="launchlist-widget">` in a Custom HTML block, with `widget.js` added to the head through a header and footer plugin. That snippet
keeps working for now and sends signups to the classic dashboard's waitlist, not to a project here.
A classic form key does not work with the snippet on this page.

To bring that waitlist here, [import it into a project](/help/docs/getting-started/import-from-v1),
then replace the classic snippet on your WordPress site with the one from **Embed & API → Your website**.
Your signups are copied, and the classic waitlist is not changed.

---

Next: [every way to integrate](/help/docs/integrations/overview) ·
[How to add a waitlist to Squarespace](/help/docs/integrations/squarespace)

## Common questions

### Do I need the plugin to add a waitlist to WordPress?

No. LaunchList is two lines of HTML, which the built-in Custom HTML block takes without a plugin. You need the plugin to send the signups of Contact Form 7, WPForms and the other form plugins to LaunchList.

### Does this work on WordPress.com?

Yes, on any paid WordPress.com plan: Personal, Premium, Business or Commerce. Each can install plugins, the LaunchList plugin included, and once a plugin is installed the Custom HTML block keeps script tags. The free plan installs no plugins and removes script and form tags when you save, so on it, link a button to your LaunchList hosted page instead.

### Where do I put the script tag on WordPress?

Either alongside the div in the same Custom HTML block, or once site-wide in your theme's header. Site-wide is better if you plan to use forms, popups or widgets on several pages.

### Is there a LaunchList plugin for WordPress?

Yes. It is in the WordPress plugin directory: in WordPress, open Plugins, then Add New Plugin, search for LaunchList, install and activate it, and connect your site once. Then add the LaunchList block, or the shortcode in a page builder, or send the signups of your own Contact Form 7, WPForms, Gravity Forms, Elementor Pro, Fluent Forms, Ninja Forms or Formidable Forms to LaunchList.

### Do referrals work with my own WordPress forms and the plugin?

Yes. Once your site is connected, the plugin loads the LaunchList script on every page, which remembers a referral code for 90 days and copies it into a first-party cookie named launchlist_attribution on your site. Your form's signup carries it, so the person who shared the link is credited even when the visitor signs up on another page. To turn the every-page loading off, clear Load LaunchList on every page on the plugin's screen and click Save. Where a consent plugin uses the WP Consent API, it waits for marketing consent.