6 Facts and Theories about Using Webinars as a Marketing Tool

 

If you haven’t yet joined the 32% of marketers who use webinars as a marketing tool, you may be wondering what is a webinar…

A webinar is simply a large meeting or seminar, conducted over the internet. All you need to bring hundreds or thousands of people together at the same time, is a webinar app, an internet connection and of course, a computer.

And chutzpah.

Because webinars can be used to reach so many people all at the same time, it is one of the top methods used in online marketing strategies, and works particularly well for the smaller to mid-sized business.

In this article, we’ll take a look at some interesting webinar facts, as well as the theories behind them:

#1: A longer promotion time results in more attendees

Obviously, every webinar host wants a well-attended event. Its been found that the longer the time period you allow for webinar promotion, the more people will register and attend it.

In addition, the week before the event gets the majority of registrations. 29% of participants sign up on the day of the webinar, and 17% of attendees sign up more than 15 days before.

The theory? a) Give the event a long enough marketing period, and b) market it aggressively on the actual day of the event.

#2: Don’t run it for longer than 40 minutes

Participants prefer live webinars to run between 30 and 40 minutes long. If you have to go longer than that, it’s best to do it in two parts.

82% usually remain until the end (if the webinar is value-adding), but the rest drop off before the finish.

The theory? People have a lot on their plates. When they give you their time, you need to use it wisely. If you don’t provide value right to the end, they will drop out.

#3:The best time to run a webinar is at 10h00 or 15h00

It’s no small feat to decide on a time to start your webinar, mostly because you will probably cater to a very diverse geographical location, which comprises different time zones.

The best way to figure what time to set it for, is to cater to your ideal target audience, so wherever they are based should be the determining factor.

Take note though, that the best times for your niche may differ from these “best times”, so it’s vital to know your target audience well, so that you know when’s the best time to begin your webinar.

 

#4: Registrant to attendee conversion rates are between 35 – 45%

For the majority of marketing webinars, a registrant-to-attendee conversion rate of between 35 and 45% is average.

However, that is dependent on the webinar process, and things like sending out email reminders in order to make it easy for participants to remember to attend.

#5: Recorded webinars are becoming more popular

In a certain study, 28% of people registered for a webinar after the live event was over. This means that these people wanted to attend, but could not due to other commitments.

Bear in mind though, that you will need to do a little additional work to make a recorded webinar make sense to those who choose to view it as a recording.

In addition, if the webinar was organized as a sales tool, you must make it easy to still accomplish that goal.

#6: The highest converting webinars share the same traits

If you’re using webinars as a marketing tool, then it figures that you’re going to want to turn registrants into paying customers, so the higher your conversion rates, the better.

Here are some elements high converting webinars share:

– A short sign-up page that clearly states what the participant gets if they attend.
An appealing title.

– A few bullet points explaining the benefits of attendance.

– The beginning of the webinar is used to tell a story about the presenter that is relevant to the webinar content.

– The webinar provides real value to its audience.

– The webinar host/s don’t bore registrants enough to exit.

– Offer something that is only available to those who buy from them immediately after the event.
Create a simple checkout page to send registrants to after the event.

– A good promotional strategy to get as many participants as possible, but which focuses on the right audience.

Summing up

Webinars act as an effective marketing method, but they have to be planned well. Remember these pointers:

– Promote it for a long enough period.

– Stick to a webinar duration of up to 40 minutes.

– Start the event at the best time for your audience.

– Almost half of people who sign up will actually end up attending.

– Consider allowing the webinar to be available as a recording after the live event.

– The most effective marketing webinars share the same elements.

Sources:

https://bizibl.com/marketing/download/2016-webinar-benchmarks-report
https://www.quora.com/What-are-typical-webinar-attendance-results
http://blog.bigmarker.com/12-important-webinar-statistics/
https://www.copyblogger.com/webinar-sales/