- Registrants versus actual webinar attendees: Not every registrant attends your webinar. According to ON24′s research, about 42% of people attend a typical marketing webinar. One way to make sure more people are able to see your webinar is to host a replay or second showing and invite the no-shows!
- Webinar invitation timing: Many people think that people plan way ahead to attend your webinar. The fact is, most attendees will register the week of your webinar. In fact, many people will register (and attend) the day of the webinar if you send out reminder emails or social media posts. The lesson is, plan in advance, but realize that most people will attend opportunistically.
- Length of the Webinar: Timing varies, but the average viewing time is between 45-60 minutes. I like to plan for 35-45 minutes of presentation and to leave at least 15 minutes for questions. Don't save you call-to-action until the last few minutes or you may have lost a portion due to drop-offs. I like to do the CTA somewhere in the middle of the webinar (and reinforce it later), or just at the end, right before the Q&A section.
- Webinar Replays: According to the study below, 25% of registrants view the replay. If you promote your replay, you can get both original "no shows" and net new registrants to attend your replay. In fact, it can be an asset you use for weeks or months.
- Webinar Day of the Week: According to the study, Tuesday's best, with Wednesday and Thursday coming after that. This matches my experience, but you can mix it up to see which day your audience responds to.
- Time of Day: I generally run my webinars at 11am Pacific (for those of us in the US). In the ON24 study, they found 10am to be the most popular time - not too far off. Again, you can test different times to see which one results in better attendance rates for your business.
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Infographic by ON24. Sign up for their webinars benchmark report.
Are you running webinars for your business?
What's your experience with webinars and what tips do you have? Let us know your ideas or questions in the comments!