Coming Up on WBPS: Keys to Driving Webinar Registration and Attendance
There’s a lot that goes into a webinar. Video, for example, take a camera and a confident speaker. Then there’s the audio, the slides (if you use them) the topic, the resources for download and engagement tools. But the most important webinar element is also the hardest: driving webinar registration and attendance.
Next week, our own Chief Webinerd, Mark Bornstein, will explain how you can drive registration and attendance to your next webinar with a few key tips. It’s called “Keys to Driving webinar Registration and Attendance” and it takes place on Wednesday, August 7, at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT).
So what will Mark discuss? Well, during this interactive webinar, he’ll cover:
- How you can optimize email invitations
- Strategies for A/B testing promotions
- How you can craft the perfect subject lines and titles
- The basics of building a long-term audience
Can’t wait for next week? Well, you’re in luck. We have a few tips and tricks you can deploy right now to boost your registration and attendance. Let’s take a look:
Four Tips To Driving Webinar Registration and Attendance
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Know When to Send Your Emails
A lot of marketing today depends on emails. So, it’s worthwhile to perfect your emails when promoting your event. And, usually, timing is the most critical factor.
Take the time to understand the best time of day and which day out of the week are best for your target audience (we cover a few of these elements in our ON24 Webinar Benchmarks Report for 2019).
You’ll also want to extend your promotional period for your emails. A significant portion of registrants sign up for a webinar more than seven days before an event. So, plan on promoting your webinars at least two weeks before they take place.
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Revisit Your Landing Page
Landing pages are a critical, but often forgotten, part of the webinar experience. But how does one make a webinar landing page stand out? Easy: keep it simple.
When it comes to landing pages, you’ll want to highlight three things: what your webinar is about, when it’ll be held and where it’ll take place (online, obviously). A brief synopsis helps but so does good visual content. A short video, like the one here, can make your event more compelling and your audience more willing to fill out a form.
Speaking of forms. If you’re marketing your webinar to a returning audience, consider the one-button registration. You can learn more about that here.
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Engage with Partners, Sales and Social
Here’s one really well-kept secret to driving registration: get someone else to help you. Your sales team, for example, is an excellent resource you can turn to for support. Partners or like-minded organizations are another great opportunity to take advantage of as well.
Another angle to consider is partnering up with a like-minded organization. Promoting with partners provides a variety of benefits, such as sharing databases (or a portion), expanding the addressable market for a webinar and — provided they’re on the webinar with you — an engaging event that provides a variety of perspectives.
If you go the partner route, you’ll want to make it as easy as possible for them to say “yes.” Provide then with a “social package” to use. These can include social images, messaging and hashtags to use. Whatever you do, don’t forget to include a special UTM URL for your partner to use.
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Send Reminders!
Right. So you’ve sent your emails, refined your landing page and, if appropriate, involved partners and sales. All that’s left is to run the webinar.
Except it isn’t. You need to send a reminder email to your registrants! Today, it’s very easy for professionals to forget about a digital event – especially webinars. Sending a reminder email the day of your event keeps your webinar top-of-mind for registrants and boosts attendance.
You should also segment a portion of your database to connect with curious, would-be attendees who haven’t registered yet. A friendly reminder the morning of an event can get someone to sign up in no time flat.
