How to Use Webinars to Convert and Turn Leads Into Customers

The effectiveness of webinars is backed up by solid data as a preferred way to reach prospects, especially those entering the consideration phase of their buyer journey and looking for more information.

Webinars are the unexpected favorite of recent B2B marketer surveys:

• 91% say webinars can’t be beaten as their preferred type of content, topping industry articles, whitepapers, and blog posts.
• 47% say webinars outperform other content formats and rank them as the number two best-performing content format behind in-person events.
• 73% say they use webinars to convert because webinars are the best way to generate quality leads.

So it’s no surprise that webinar registrants are some of your best leads: 1) They are more willing to spend time on a webinar than any other type of content and 2) They are some of your most engaged prospects. So it’s a good idea to involve your sales team in a plan to turn that potential into revenue afterward.

5 Tactics to Convert Prospects into Customers After a Webinar

1. Start your plan during the webinar. Poll the audience.

Polls are an attention-grabber and a fun way for attendees to get involved early and quickly in your webinar. Polling is also a great way to learn who might be ready to be sold immediately.

There’s often a much higher response rate when you poll during your webinar because it’s part of your presentation. You can gain helpful insight about your audience such as need, interest level, industry, and more, but also who might be interested in learning more about your business and talking to one of your sales reps. Make those messages a soft sell, though: the high-value information you’re providing is usually the most important reason someone is attending your webinar.

2. Give attendees a clear path forward. Follow up within 24 hours.

It’s important to contact webinar attendees - and the no-shows - within 24 hours after the end of the webinar. Send an email with what they all expect: access to a webinar recording and the presentation slides (if available).

Consider including a post-webinar survey and ask whether the content resonated with them. Gauge interest in your business/product/service, get additional insights into your audience, and find out who may be ready to take the next step after seeing your presentation.

The key to converting your audience is to build a relationship with them. Your initial contact starts the ball rolling but you may want to go further. Include a link to additional content like a summary blog post of the webinar that answers key questions from the audience. It may require extra planning to get this done so quickly but both attendees and no-shows will likely appreciate the extra mile you’ve put in.

3. Categorize your webinar leads. Analyze the data.

Identifying hot leads, cold leads, and ones who need nurturing helps you figure out where your audience is in each of their buyer journeys. Analyze data from your webinar report as well as other engagements, including:

• Registration responses: Make sure you include questions that can help you with marketing personalization in the future.
• Attendee interest rating: Look at attendee engagement levels throughout the webinar.
• Previous web behavior, content downloads, and other webinar activity.

4. Connect with leads appropriately, based on category.

Your goal is to increase the odds that your sales team will close the deal:

• Personalized follow-ups are good for sales-ready webinar leads. Consider providing a customizable email template to make the sales job easier. Make sure the messaging relates to the webinar content, provides value to the recipient, and offers them help in a customized way.
• A nurture stream of messages is great for webinar leads who aren’t ready to buy just yet. This keeps your business top of mind and will likely improve the chances that they’ll contact you when they are ready to buy. Whether you add them to your existing nurture tracks or create one that’s webinar-specific, make sure to consider the various buying cycle stages of these leads and offer assets that support your webinar content.

With all your prospects, make it easy for them to take the next step. Entice them with relevant ways to engage by highlighting high-value information and including clear calls to action for how to move forward with your business.

5. Keep your business top of mind. Retarget webinar leads.

Create retargeting campaigns for your webinar leads based on their responses, interest level, and previous marketing engagement. Make sure the ads complement your other marketing tactics and help move those warm leads through each stage of their journey.

11outof11 Knows Webinar Marketing

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