Webinars are amazing for many reasons, but only if executed properly. And what better way to learn how to dominate webinars than to learn from some experts that have had a lot of success with webinars? Luckily, I happen to know some kind people who fit that criteria and were more than happy to answer a few questions for me.
I’ve found that there are two main things that most people struggle with: attendance and conversions (mostly pertaining to sales). Without attendees, there really can’t be a webinar, and without sales, you might not feel like doing many more webinars (although you should; practice makes perfect!). So I asked the webinar experts three questions:
- What is one tip to increase webinar conversions (in terms of sales)?
- What is one tip to increase attendance on webinars?
- What is one difference that you’ve found between a successful webinar and an unsuccessful webinar?
You may or may not agree with all of the webinar tips from the experts, but I bet there’s at least one tip that you can implement before and during your next webinar. Some tips also just might not work for you, either. Consistently running highly successful webinars takes time and practice! Test, test, and test again!
Tip Top Webinar Tips
Isa Adney, ConvertKit
What is one tip to increase webinar conversions (in terms of sales)?
“Including valuable free bonuses people can get by signing up for whatever it is you’re offering during the webinar – both live and during replay. It’s also a great idea to offer one bonus that’s only available to people who are live, encouraging them to follow through before they close the browser and move on with their day; having a bonus that goes away before they leave the webinar is a great way to increase conversions and build excitement. And the bonus should be really good – it should be something that people usually pay for but that you’re offering to your webinar attendees for free for a limited time.”
What is one tip to increase attendance on webinars?
“Focus on teaching! People are busy and do not want to attend webinars where they are going to be sold to. But they will take time out of their day to learn something valuable that will help them reach a specific goal or overcome a big frustration. The key is getting to know your audience and asking yourself what are they trying to achieve right now, what is standing in their way, and how can you help? Attendance grows when you genuinely seek to teach people with no strings attached.”
What is one difference that you’ve found between a successful webinar and an unsuccessful webinar?
“A successful webinar is one where the host is not afraid to be his or her whole self, bringing personal stories and humor into the presentation, and creating a fun and personable atmosphere that feels more like a live classroom experience with your favorite professor or that one conference session that had you fired up for an entire weekend. In that vein, an unsuccessful webinar is when a host treats the webinar like a cold formal training or a recorded video and forgets that the people watching and typing in the chat are real people in the moment; they fail to capture and make the most of the life and community happening in that digital space, and fail to realize that their actual personality and related personal stories are more engaging and more critical to the webinar’s success than they might realize.”
Sid Bharath, Thinkific
“Increasing sales in a webinar is all about laying the groundwork early on. This could start even before the webinar by sending registrants content to build trust. At the start of the webinar, you want people to visualize the new reality that your product or service is offering them, and how their lives will be better with it. A great way to increase attendance is by retargeting registrants with ads and reminding them about the upcoming webinar.
“One thing that can make or break a webinar is the presenter’s enthusiasm and energy. Low energy presentations lead to less engaged audiences and higher drop-off rates. You need to keep the energy up and keep the audience excited.”
Andrea Maxim, MAXIMized Business
“The most important way to increase sales on a webinar is to get as many people as possible to attend LIVE. The live webinar should drive 50% of the sales. To do that, I send at least 6 reminder emails to registrants over the course of 4-5 [days], with at least 2 on the day of the webinar. People are too busy to remember on their own. You need to keep reminding them to show up. I also tell registrants that there will not be a replay to those who don’t show up live, so you need to show up to get it. Offering LIVE bonuses only to those who show live is also a great way to increase live attendees and therefore live sales.
“A successful webinar is one where the speaker gives away a tremendous amount of information and value during the seminar. If it’s all surface info and doesn’t leave the attendee wowed by the content, then when you start your pitch at the end, not many people will buy. I’ve also seen webinars be unsuccessful when the speaker gets to the pitch and doesn’t know how to sell their stuff properly. They either do it too fast or without any confidence to entice people to actually buy from them. There’s a formula I follow, with everything down to exact timing and it works every time.”
Drew Stevens, www.drew-stevens.com
What is one tip to increase webinar conversions (in terms of sales)?
“Three things. First, the webinar must be information savvy not salesy. Second, people expect the sales pitch so make it valuable, short and interactive. You must include [a] case study. Finally make the offer four times and if they do not sign at the webinar – follow up. A lack of follow up decreases sales.“
What is one tip to increase attendance on webinars?
“Marketing has to be consistent and relentless. We use a method of 15, 10, 7, 5, 3, 2, 1 day of notification method. We find that this method increases interest and attendance by 71%.”
What is one difference that you’ve found between a successful webinar and an unsuccessful webinar?
“Keep the webinar short and information valuable. People will always state their time is valuable and we find that 45 to 60 minute [webinars] keep people’s interest, [keeps] the session moving, and [makes it] easier to make sales.”
Brianna Valleskey, Brave Ink
What is one tip to increase webinar conversions (in terms of sales)?
“Don’t make the webinar entirely about your product or service. Instead, talk about a pain point or problem that your ideal customer has, and then educate your audience on how to solve it. The key is to frame the topic in a way that your product or service seems like the obvious solution. That way, you can seamlessly include a product demo or sales pitch at the end as a way for your webinar audience to take action on the information you’ve given them.“
What is one tip to increase attendance on webinars?
“Include multiple people in the webinar, such as influencers and topic matter experts. That way, it’s more a virtual panel. Having more people on the webinar gives the audience more information, experience and perspectives to learn from.”
What is one difference that you’ve found between a successful webinar and an unsuccessful webinar?
“The presenter must be vibrant and interesting. Even the most interesting topic can be made stale by a monotone presenter. Make sure to use an eloquent host for every webinar.”
Josh Brown, Follow Up Boss
What is one tip to increase webinar conversions (in terms of sales)?
“Depending on product, you can use scarcity. For example, offer a time limited bonus for any users that sign up for your product or service within an hour of the webinar or only the first ‘x’ users who sign up with get the bonus offer.”
What is one tip to increase attendance on webinars?
“I find that having a dedicated landing page is great. It can help with increasing attendance by communicating the value of the webinar to the audience. It’s also a great way to use tactics like urgency/scarcity (limited seats available, so reserve now) and social proof/testimonials (quotes from leading experts within the field discussing the value of the webinar).
“Also don’t be afraid to send email reminders leading up to the event – perhaps one 4 – 5 days out as well as another the day before.”
What is one difference that you’ve found between a successful webinar and an unsuccessful webinar?
“One difference between a successful webinar and an unsuccessful one is engagement. One way to keep people engaged is to enable a chat module so that participants can discuss their thoughts and/or share their opinions during the webinar. Take it one step further, and ask strategic questions and you’ve effectively created a two way dialogue that should motivate your audience to participate while also giving the host(s) the opportunity to establish their authority as a thought leader.
“The one thing to note with this method is that it can be a bit of a balancing act – it’s important to ask enough questions to get participation, but you don’t want to have the conversation sidetrack from the main selling point. However, if done properly, the majority of people will stay from start to finish. “
Naomi David, ReviewTrackers
What is one tip to increase webinar conversions (in terms of sales)?
Offer free content upgrades at the end of the webinar with a landing page.
Tell your story during your introduction, make yourself more human. As a presenter, it’s easy to feel “distant.” You’re speaking into a mic and can’t see your audience. So make sure to take the time to sound personal.
Follow up with a *reminder* of a content upgrade or a special offer.
What is one tip to increase attendance on webinars?
Send lots of reminders. Seriously. I send out emails a week before, the day before, and even an hour before. One of the reminders should be from the presenter themselves with three key takeaways
Limit seats. If people hear that only the first 500 people will get a seat in your webinar, they’re more likely to sign-up right away.
What is one difference that you’ve found between a successful webinar and an unsuccessful webinar?
Titles. Successful webinars have engaging titles and an engaging host
Successful webinars makes sure all questions get answered. It’s great to take questions from attendees before in the days leading up the webinar. On the signup form or via email, attendees can submit their questions. This will give you some time to prepare a response, look for common concerns, and make sure you’re really engaging with your audience.
Successful webinars provide key takeaways and stick to them.
Unsuccessful webinars are more of a sell rather than valuable content. Your audience should have actionable takeaways.
Unsuccessful webinars have hosts that read word for word off of slides. Don’t do that.
Mike Buontempo, partnerwithmikeb.com
What is one tip to increase webinar conversions (in terms of sales)?
“One of the things that I do that works extremely well is take them through a journey at the beginning, explaining the trials and tribulations that I went through until I finally hit it big and got to where I am now. This journey gets them emotionally involved and makes it easier for them to bond with me before we even get to the product.”
What is one tip to increase attendance on webinars?
“Collect phone numbers when they register and text them right before the webinar begins. Then text them an hour before, fifteen minutes before, and right when the webinar starts. And then when you’re done, you can text them asking what they thought of the webinar as well. That way you’re able to follow up with them on the phone and potentially sell them that way.”
What is one difference that you’ve found between a successful webinar and an unsuccessful webinar?
“The structure. The webinar can’t just be thrown together. Also, you have to change their beliefs and get them to believe that they need your product. I teach people three things that make that belief true. When you knock that big domino down, they will start to realize that they need your product.”
Michael de Groot, Staying Alive UK
What is one tip to increase webinar conversions (in terms of sales)?
“Be authentic and explain upfront that you will be promoting an offer. I usually state this very early on and share the offer then, instead of at the end. I may remind them at the end and in a follow up email.”
What is one tip to increase attendance on webinars?
“Suggest that they subscribe even if they can’t attend live, that way you can announce your future webinars and they may be able to attend that one.”
What is one difference that you’ve found between a successful webinar and an unsuccessful webinar?
“Using a standard system for presenting. I use Google Slides in my browser, that way when I need to share something on the web, which I do regularly, I can jump from tab to tab and back to my slides, without having to switch apps or share all of my desktop.”
Now Put These Into Action
I have no doubt that you’ve found at least one tip that you can use for your next event. Put it into action! I suggest writing down the top 3-5 webinar tips from this article and testing them on your next webinars. Testing one at a time will help you identify which things are working and which aren’t. It’s only a matter of time before you become a webinar expert yourself! 🙂