What if You Threw a Party and No One Came?

Marketers invest a lot of time and energy into building presentations and locating the best speakers so they can deliver great webinars. That’s because we all know that webinars are one of the most effective ways to drive new leads and engage new prospects. Even so, in a recent ON24 webinar poll, we saw a result that, frankly, didn’t surprise us all that much:

What has been your biggest challenge to delivering a successful webinar?

• Driving registration    42.9%
• Providing an engaging webinar experience    30.5%
• Extending the life/value of your webinars    16.2%
• Getting feedback from attendees    10.5%

Results: ON24 benchmarks webinar poll

That’s right, almost 43 percent reported that driving registration was their greatest challenge to delivering a successful webinar. It’s something we hear time and time again: “How can I get more people to come to my webinars?”

Of all the methods for getting attention, email probably comes closer than anything else to a one-size-fits-all tactic. It’s immediate, digestible and convenient. But that doesn’t mean that email is without its faults. No matter how well you time it, your email can easily get lost in a flooded inbox. And even someone who’s really interested might put off reading your email til “later,” until “later” turns into “never.”

To take advantage of all the great things email has to offer while overcoming the obstacles it throws in your way, just repeat this mantra: One line, one chance.

What do we mean by “one line, one chance”? Most of your recipients will decide whether or not to open based on your email’s subject line, so that line really needs to catch their interest. Great email subject lines promise to solve a problem, offer entertainment or challenge the reader. The very best subject lines do more than one. Here are some strategies for effective subject lines:

• The compelling question — Pose a titillating question that your audience can’t help but be curious about: “Is anyone paying attention to your emails?”
• The bottom-line benefit — Tell the reader exactly what they’re going to get: “This email will increase your webinar success”
• The webinar title —If you already have a killer webinar title, get more mileage out of it by using it as your subject line: “WEBINAR: 7 Ways to Enhance your Webinar Promotions”

You should also apply the “one line, one chance” mantra to the opening line of the email message. Most modern email clients, from Outlook to Gmail, have a preview mode that gives the recipient a glimpse of the content before they open the email. That glimpse needs to convince them that the email is worth opening. If your subject poses a question, answer it in the first line. If your subject promises a bottom-line benefit, the first line should follow up with detail. If you used the webinar title as your subject, your first line should address a common pain point that you can solve. If your first line is compelling enough, they’ll click on your message and read the rest.

By crafting more effective emails, you can get higher registration numbers for your webinars and generate more leads.

Want to learn more tips for driving webinar registration? Download the ON24 white paper, “7 Ways to Enhance Your Webinar Promotions.”