How Webinars Became Clearwater Analytic’s Second Most Effective Lead-Generating Marketing Initiative via ON24 Digital Experience Platform

About Clearwater Analytics

Industry: Technology/Financial Services

Summary

Since Clearwater began using Webcast Elite for its thought leadership webinars, they have become the company’s second most effective lead-generating marketing initiative behind face-to-face events. Registrations have also increased, with an above-industry average registration-to-attendee ratio of 70-75%. Based on its program’s success, Clearwater plans to double the number of webinars it runs.

Industry: Technology/Financial Services

ON24 Solution: ON24 Webcast Elite

Since Clearwater began using Webcast Elite for its thought leadership webinars, they have become the company’s second most effective lead-generating marketing initiative behind face-to-face events. Registrations have also increased, with an above-industry average registration-to-attendee ratio of 70-75%. Based on its program’s success, Clearwater plans to double the number of webinars it runs.

Introduction

Staking a claim as an industry thought leader

Clearwater Analytics is the leading provider of investment portfolios, accounting, reporting and analytics for institutional investors in over 4,500 organizations. They leverage a web-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, coupled with a world-class client service model, to help clients automate investment accounting, monitor investment policy compliance, and analyze portfolio performance and risk.

Staking a claim as an industry thought leader

Clearwater Analytics is the leading provider of investment portfolios, accounting, reporting and analytics for institutional investors in over 4,500 organizations. They leverage a web-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, coupled with a world-class client service model, to help clients automate investment accounting, monitor investment policy compliance, and analyze portfolio performance and risk.

The Boise, Idaho-based company uses webinars to:

Grow its lead-generation program
Establish Clearwater and its key personnel as industry thought leaders
Offer continuing professional education credits for CPAs

The company’s CPE offerings dovetail nicely with its thought leadership goals. Clearwater subject matter experts deliver the technical and educational credit-earning webinar content, elevating Clearwater’s stature.

Situation

Replacing an inconsistent, unreliable platform

Previously, the company ran a number of events using a web meeting platform, with less than satisfactory results:

Overall inconsistent experiences: Clearwater experienced issues starting the webinars, monitoring questions and high drop-off rates, leading to high-stress levels for the producer.
Customer support was subpar by a long stretch, with voice mail and instructions to email technical support in lieu of live assistance being the norm.

Replacing an inconsistent, unreliable platform

Previously, the company ran a number of events using a web meeting platform, with less than satisfactory results:

Overall inconsistent experiences: Clearwater experienced issues starting the webinars, monitoring questions and high drop-off rates, leading to high-stress levels for the producer.
Customer support was subpar by a long stretch, with voice mail and instructions to email technical support in lieu of live assistance being the norm.

A live event complete system fail: During a live product demo with close to 300 audience members, the webinar platform froze up. Clearwater had to abandon the webinar completely and reschedule it.

The marketing team at Clearwater, responsible for producing the company’s webinar program, decided it was time to take a different approach. Based on their experiences, they knew that they didn’t want to continue using a web meeting platform for marketing webinars.

Solution

A marketing platform optimized for webinars

The marketing team felt the ON24 platform stood out as a much smarter, more sophisticated tool geared to marketing webinars.

In choosing the intuitive and easy-to-use ON24® Platform, Clearwater also enjoys:

Comfort in cloud-based delivery. As a fellow SAAS-based technology provider, there was an inherent comfort level uploading webinar files to the ON24 web-based servers, with their crash-proof redundancy.

A marketing platform optimized for webinars

The marketing team felt the ON24 platform stood out as a much smarter, more sophisticated tool geared to marketing webinars.

In choosing the intuitive and easy-to-use ON24® Platform, Clearwater also enjoys:

Comfort in cloud-based delivery. As a fellow SAAS-based technology provider, there was an inherent comfort level uploading webinar files to the ON24 web-based servers, with their crash-proof redundancy.

Certification widget offering bonus functionality. Clearwater was pleasantly surprised to learn Webcast Elite could automate its CPE certification process. The platform tracks all the requirements for earning credits.
User-defined roles that simplify webinar delivery. Using Presentation Manager XD to assign producer, presenter and Q&A screener roles make it easier for remote client presenters to interface with the platform and provide a more streamlined and effective Q&A session.
Simpler pricing model. With another potential vendor’s per-event and per-attendee pricing, there was no clear way to predict an event’s cost. This is not an issue with the ON24 subscription-pricing model.

Results

Confidently reaching larger audiences with improved performance

The professional appeal and reliable nature of the Webcast Elite platform give Clearwater confidence that its audiences will have a great experience — and the results prove it. Since implementing Webcast Elite, its webinars are:

A lead-generating marketing machine, second only to face-to-face events.
Producing an above-industry average 70-75 percent registration-to-attendee ratio.