The Path to Webinar Righteousness: 3 Sure Fire Ways to Conversion Bliss
Webinars are ranked time and again among the most effective forms of marketing content when it comes to converting prospects to qualified leads.
Yet, with so many webinars being offered by tier-1 content marketers, and with too little time in the workweek to attend them all – how can we make sure that those who register to our webinars will actually wind up attending?
Before we dive into some ideas on how to make this happen – let’s do some house-keeping. When you plan your next webinar and before you launch the campaign to promote it – it’s worth keeping in mind the following best practices:
Best time of day is at 11:00 AM PT/2:00 PM ET.
Average length: 53 minutes. (Source: ON24) – Wow! That’s surprising, isn’t it? People still have patience to not only stay but actually listen for nearly an hour?! (I must admit, I’m skeptical).
Qualified lead conversion rates: are at 20% - 40% of webinar attendees. (Source: ReadyTalk)
Spectacular presenters: your premier subject matter expert – may not necessarily be the optimal presenter. Yes, they should definitely be on hand – whether ‘on stage’ or behind the scenes – for the Q&A. But, the presenter needs to have that X-factor to engage the crowd; especially when it’s a webinar during which all you (generally) have is a voice and a few slides to engage the audience.
Typical registration to attendance conversion rates: 40 – 50%. (Source: ReadyTalk)
This is the last bit I’d like to hone in on. So how can we pique the interest of registrants and increase the chances that they will attend?
I suggest that it’s not just about the scheduled reminders from your marketing automation system . . . 1 week before, 3 days before, day of . . . Don’t miss out!
How about setting up a special webinar focused and inspired nurture campaign?
For example – you can:
Be asked anything: promote an ‘Ask Me Anything’ on your social channel of choice – approximately two weeks ahead. It’s a win-win. Registrants get the answers to their most pressing questions (ensuring that you keep the best for the actual webinar). You get to better qualify your persona, understand what your prospects really need – and boost your webinar’s value-add with information that is proven to interest and engage your target audience.
Offer value-added content: offer an exclusive piece of content approximately one week before D-day – one of your lighter eBooks or a statistics-rich infographic, for example. It should be an asset that doesn’t give away the webinar’s key insights – but which clearly establishes the thought leadership that is sure to come.
Run a quiz: make the promotional process interactive and fun, by integrating a quiz with content that is driven by the webinar topic. Make it memorable and different. For great quizzes – check out these two by the marketing domain experts at Pontis, see this one and this one. Good timing for the quiz should be 2-3 days before the webinar.
Needless to say, the journey to webinar conversion bliss can be inspiring and enlightening.
Want to come up with an engaging program to guarantee attendance at your next webinar? Get in touch and let’s do great marketing together >>