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Webinars have been around since the 1990s, but the idea and strategy behind them has changed in the last 30 years. Not only is the technology different… but the market is more sophisticated and crowded. Which means there are more webinars to distract your audience from actually showing up and taking the action you want them to take.

Liz Boer will show us exactly how we can improve our webinar show up rate – all the way from step #1 (understanding why they don’t show up) through creative ways to entice them to join and watch the whole thing

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Alyson Lex
Have you ever hosted a webinar? And you get all these registrants? Right? You do your ads and your organic promo and you message, your email list and you're hustling, and you get all of these people register. And then the day of the live webinar happens. And there's like five people there. Right webinar show up rates are not what they used to be, because webinars aren't always super exciting to your audience. But they are still an incredible tool for engaging, educating and converting your audience. And that's why we have Liz bore with us today. She is a digital marketing expert. And she knows how to get people to show up for your webinars, we had to talk to her. Liz, thank you so much for being here with us today.

Liz Boer
Thank you, Alison, Jenny, thank you so much for having me, I'm so excited to be here.

Alyson Lex
We are so excited to pick your brain on this, because I've hosted some webinars and if I can get them there, I can keep them there. Getting them, there is always the problem for myself, for my clients, for the people in our audience. We can get them to register. We can get them to convert once they're there. What we do have trouble getting them to show up?

Jennie Wright
We've done so let me interject and just say that Alison, and I, you know, between the two of us and what we do, Allison being a high conversion copywriter, direct response copywriter, me being a list builder and lead generation specialist, it isn't a problem for us to get them in the door and get them on like our option, our opt in rates and conversion rates are pretty good. But we could always and I think our audience could appreciate the understanding and the help of how do we get them from thanks, you're registered to actually showing up because as we all know, 100 people sign up for your webinar, and five show up, you're probably not making the 30 sales you were hoping. So. I think that's the question that we really want to, you know, ask you and interject is, why are they first of all, let's backtrack and ask why are they incredibly awesome for our businesses?

Liz Boer
Hmm, yeah, that's a good question. And I know we'll get into all the nitty gritty of like, how we can get these people to show up. But we'll start by, you know, kind of just explaining what a webinar is. And I think if we can break it down and help people understand that at a webinar, at its core, is really just another type of content, right? So why do they work? So well? Why does it work better than a blog? Why does it work better than social media? Why does it work better than, you know, sending out a bunch of email blasts? And I would say, there's three reasons for this. One, is because you get uninterrupted time with your ideal target audience, it's likely, you know, 30, to 60 minutes of uninterrupted time, where you are able to share your knowledge, share your expertise, build that trust and credibility with brand new leads, you're gonna have a room, you know, filled with 500 people, and you're able to pitch to them, you're able to train you're able to, you know, relate with them are able to, you know, have some candid candor back and forth. And that's something that you can do at scale. So the first, you know, first reason is you get uninterrupted time. Second, is you have an opportunity to build trust and credibility in less time, because you're able to do that at scale. And that third reason would be the ad scale piece. If, if I were to think about, you know, taking 500 sales calls, it would take me months, a lot of energy, a lot of time, you know, to do that. And if I can do that in one hour span of time, and convert, you know, even 5% of those people. Well, you know, there there's a huge number of no numbers.

Jennie Wright
Yeah. Oh, but Oh, you're speaking my language over there.

Liz Boer
Yeah, so that's, I would say the three reasons why they really work so well. And, and why they're still still here. And they're still going to be around and 2021 and beyond because they do work so well. For those three reasons. We do have to become a little bit more creative with the ways that we get people to show up because like you said, you have no problem getting people to put their name and email address in your little box. You know, they can register they can get on the landing page. They'll register for the event, but then what happens you might fall for in getting them to actually attend and consume your content. And a lot of that is because webinars have become a little bit more mainstream in the fact that as a consumer, you can sign up for webinars pretty much every day of the week if you want to write. So that means every day of the week, I'm signing up for a 60 minute training session. That might feel ambitious right now. But like, I'm likely not going to be attending all seven of those webinars because you get busy you forget, there's a lot of things that can happen between the time when you register, and you actually, you know, the time comes when the class and the training is beginning.

Jennie Wright
I love that. There's a couple things here that you mentioned that I really want to pull on this string of. And Alison and I are like,

Alyson Lex
yes, we've got to talk about this. But before we do that, I want to get some baseline numbers, like, what can we expect? I know, and people say all the time, look, what can I expect as far as rates? And I always say, like, I'm gonna hedge my answer. But this is the real answer. And I can't really tell you it depends. But what are some kind of ranges that we can expect? For results?

Liz Boer
Yeah, it's a good question. And it definitely is a, it depends. But if we look at industry averages, right, like, in an ideal world of candy is falling from the sky. 100% of our registrants sign up, right? Like, every single person that registers is excited they attend and like you make millions of dollars. But we don't live in a world where candy is falling in love that

Alyson Lex
is falling from the sky might swipe that in the future.

Liz Boer
So and they're not attending because one, you know, people are busy. They forget, there all sorts of reasons why people aren't showing up for your webinar. Maybe you're not enticing them enough. Maybe they lost their childcare for that hour, or, you know, maybe they had to run an errand really quick, and they just forgot, people are busy. But if we look at industry averages, we can strive for 40% of our of our registrants to attend and show up live for our webinar. If you're one of my clients, I try for 50% or more, we're overachievers. But industry average, if you can hit 40% you can and your conversion rates are good, then you can then you can expect, you know to hit your revenue numbers.

Jennie Wright
That's a really good goal. And I've seen like I love overachieving as well. But I love that you're talking about an overall achievement goal of you know, having 50% or people more show up. And 40% being industry average. Now I've seen you and I are in similar industries, in terms of some of the we have some crossover, let's just say you know, what we do? Yep. And what I've seen is I haven't seen 40% for a while, I've seen a lower rate of like 25 to 30%. More recently. And I think that just shows how it actually plays into exactly what you were saying. People are busy, they don't have childcare, they have all these different things going on. I would love to get us to 40 or even 50%, your clients are super lucky. And I want to ask you, what are the creative ways that people are like looking at to get people to show up for these things now?

Liz Boer
Yeah, it's good question. So you know, and we talked about this a little bit earlier. And the reason for for those less than average show up rates are one because people are busy, but also too, because people are forgetting that they need to remind their registrants that hey, you sign up for this thing, hey, there's a purpose and a huge, huge benefit for you to join. So one of you know, the first and foremost ways and the most simplest and basic way to increase your shop rates is to increase the amount of reminder emails that you are sending to your registrants, frequency and time will play a huge role into your ability to boost your show up rates here. Only because people are sometimes not sending enough emails reminding their registrants of what they signed up for, but they're also not enticing or delivering value in those emails to make them really want to join that webinar. So timing and frequency is, you know, definitely will, will play a flight a favor will play in your favor there as well. Another way is to offer a content upgrade, so that you can offer some sort of bonus a special giveaway, a freebie and ebook, a special deal for the products that you're offering or a value add on for the products that you're offering. And that only goes to people that show up live, right, like that doesn't go to everybody. Um, a lot. Yeah, it's a really great way to entice people to show up to show up live. And it works really well. And you know, it's one of the reasons that we do see those high show up rates, because we're offering something that our my clients audience perceives to be very, very valuable. It's not like a measly thing that they could go and get, you know, as a freebie, it's something super, super valuable, that obviously couples with their product, but it's super valuable to their audience, and their audience may sometimes just show up for for that content upgrade.

Alyson Lex
So I have a question about that, because I know you're on a roll. And but I have to interrupt because I love that idea. And I want to totally swipe that for myself. So now I want to know how it works. Yeah. When you have that content upgrade. And so I'm assuming like, let's say, hey, it's downloadable, and you give them the link on the webinar, right, like here, go to this link and get the downloadable thingy, potentially. Yes, that's right. So when it's on the replay, do like, update that page that says, hey, so sorry, you missed out because you weren't live.

Liz Boer
So what will happen? Let's, you know, let's paint the picture with an example here. So let's say we have a free template that we are offering our audience, if they show up live, and if they watch the webinar all the way until the end. So they have to not only show up, but also watch all the way to the end. So if they show if they show up for the webinar and watch all the way until the end, then we offer them this free template, whether they purchase from us or not, right. So what happens is that our webinar software will tag those people that watch all the way until the end. And then if we want to automate it, it goes into and connects with our email service provider, where we can then send that link to people that will get access to the template because they watch the webinar in full. Now for a replay, which means it's just a recording of the live webinar that you just did, you can do one of two things that the non complicated way is to leave the freebie in there. So you leave that template in there, you leave the slide in your webinar slides that says, hey, we have this bonus for you, if you stay all the way until the end. You know, you get access to this with the caveat of if you're watching this on replay, you won't get access to this, I'm sorry, you missed out. So it's not necessarily a button that is included on your webinar page. It's just tagged within your webinar software. So that one, you don't have to do anything. And two, it creates that FOMO for people that are watching on the replay, but you know they missed out, they don't get any links or access to that template for them. You could also the second way would be to re record your webinar. So you have a live version. And then you're recording that replay only version that takes out the the template altogether.

Alyson Lex
I love that you went high tech. And I was like no, we just take them to a page and say sorry, you missed out. I went the low tech way.

Unknown Speaker
But

Jennie Wright
I speak her language and I love it.

Alyson Lex
I know right? I'm totally there. But I really appreciate the fact that it's not a false scarcity. I think that's really important. Because you are actually only giving it to people who were their lives. Yes,

Liz Boer
yes. You're You're so important.

Alyson Lex
You're keeping to your word on that. I think that that's really important. And I wanted to highlight that because it's so cool.

Liz Boer
Yes, and it's really important to know also that you can include the teaser for something that you'll be offering on your live webinar in your pre webinar. Our email, so those emails that you're sending to people that have registered to remind them to join the webinar, I would highly recommend to include in at least two of those emails that, hey, I'm offering something super special. If you show up live, maybe even tea, something about it, you don't necessarily have to say exactly what it is, especially for first time, for people that are launching for the first time, they may be like, you know, kind of scrambling to get that content upgrade in there. So you don't necessarily have to have everything all buttoned up when you're sending those reminder emails, but I recommend to T's something special that you'll be offering the value of it the benefit, so that again, you're creating that FOMO for people that Oh, shoot, I'm gonna miss out if I don't show up, you know, live to this event. So that's something I really love to do for clients when you're setting up those pre webinar emails. And then yes, only giving to people making making sure you stay true to your word, they are only giving your content upgrade to those people who attend live.

Alyson Lex
That's Yeah, that's so cool. And you just answered actually my next question, which was, well, actually, is there anything we can do before they even register? Hmm,

Liz Boer
that's a good question. Allison. I would say before they register, it's really important to qualify our leads to make sure that our webinar promise is clearly defined, that we know exactly who our webinar is for that we are clearly portraying, and messaging, you know, why someone should join why your ideal target audience should join this webinar. Because then you can your once they register, you know, that they're that much more qualified for your product. Because, you know, obviously, the webinar is a sales vehicle for your, for your next offer. So we're moving them a little bit further down the funnel, without getting too much in the weeds there. But we just want to make sure that we're qualifying our registrants before they jump on our webinar, by giving them the promise, who it's for, and, and that benefit of why they should join. So those are the three main points that we want to use before someone registers for our event.

Jennie Wright
It's a great answer. That's, it's really it's going to improve your registrations, it's going to do all the different kinds of things. And I think that's fantastic. Person to Person, technical person to person over here, I have to ask you, because you mentioned it. And I've been like sitting here quietly for like six minutes waiting to ask this question. You were talking about having this great, you know, possible little bonus teaser, that if people wait to the end and use the software to tag them, that they've watched the entire webinar, and have that tie be in our email marketing software. So I have to ask you what webinar software accomplishes this task.

Liz Boer
So most webinar, software's nowadays, have the ability to integrate with a lot of email service providers, which means we have the opportunity to tag based on the behavior of our registrant what they're doing. My favorite personally, will be demio and easy webinar. So those are my two favorite webinar software tools to use right now might change if there's something new flashy that comes out. But those are my two favorite right now. And the two easiest, I would say to tag your attendee based on their behavior, and when I say based on the behavior, I'm talking, if they attended, if they did not attend, if they walked all the way until the end, those are like the three simple main ones that you need. There are a bunch of other ones that you could add for more advanced strategies. But those three would be your main three to tag, your webinar, registering and then from there, once you sync up your email service provider. It kind of does the work for you. You just set up an automation in your email service provider that allows you to take an action based on the tag of your attendee.

Jennie Wright
Thank you for answering that. I mean, it was I've been doing webinars since 2011 or 2012. done hundreds of them. I was one of the first people who got into Webinar Jam.

Alyson Lex
Yeah, it was all about webinarjam

Jennie Wright
I was huge when it first came out. I was like an early adopter. Uh huh. And and then when, you know, we were having trouble using Google Hangouts to actually do them, and they moved over to YouTube and stuff like that. And it got all kinds of crazy.

Unknown Speaker
Mm hmm.

Jennie Wright
I dropped them. And I've been using zoom. But I love the idea of using the functionality. And you said, Is it demio? Or demio?

Liz Boer
demio? d, e? Am I Oh,

Jennie Wright
okay. That's a really good, we're gonna put the link to that software, in our resources section for this particular broadcast as part of our notes. Yeah, I'll put in the show notes so that people can come and check that out, as well as easy webinar. I've used easy webinar, like it's pretty cool. But I'm gonna check out me I've never checked that one out.

Liz Boer
Yeah, it's pretty similar. A lot. You know, obviously, a lot of the functionalities are just based on how many people can you can have in your room at one time. So that you know, plays into the the choice and the the software tool that you select, you know, price, how many people you can have into your webinar at one time, whether it's automated or live, you know, those types of basic functionalities. But yeah, those are my my two favorite, favorite right now.

Jennie Wright
And if you What's your preference? To get the most out of these kinds of webinars, I have clients asked me all the time, what they should do, should I do a live webinar? Or should I do pre recorded? Or should I do live and then make it evergreen? What do you think is the best? Step four, the best thing to do so not only do we have people come and show up, but they actually convert into our programs, products and services.

Liz Boer
So in my experience, for those people that are just starting out, live webinar converts 10 times better and faster than an evergreen or pre recorded webinar. And I think there's a couple of reasons for that one, because you can build that relationship with them. You can on the fly, and react to a conversation, especially when it's a you know, a first course launch or you're still in the building stages, phases of your business, maybe you don't have a huge audience, or you're still building awareness around you, your brand and your products. Also, you get that real time feedback to change something that you might be doing in your webinar, you might get some really great feedback from people that attend. And the next webinar you do you change, you know, a couple slides to accommodate or answer additional questions that people might have been asking a lot on your webinar. So I personally think live webinars perform so so much better than an evergreen. For me, what I have seen perform well on an evergreen side is once you have an optimized funnel, you have a sure thing product like you're converting at the percentage rate that you want to be converting at in order to achieve your revenue goals. You are very confident on your webinar, obviously, it's a you know, part of it is as a sales tool, right? So you're pitching, you're really confident with your pitch. And you know, all of those things, I would say, then you can turn it into an evergreen product. And, you know, have it going in the background for you.

Alyson Lex
Yep,

Jennie Wright
I completely agree with you. I

Alyson Lex
think that's fantastic. I love that and 10 times better. I've always thought it was like five times better. But I'll take the 10 times better because I know live is going to out pull evergreen or pre recorded because of that interaction, right. Like earlier you said it's a relationship building towards a way to engage it's a way to get that expertise and trust. And that happens better when it's live.

Liz Boer
Yes, exactly. And I think a lot of people forget that, you know, especially because webinars have become more popular over the last couple years. And a lot of times people forget, they see an ad, they see a webinar, they see, you know, an online course and they see it as passive income, they see it as Oh, I can just create this product put out into the world and make millions. And they forget that, you know, it's still a brand, it's still a product that has to build awareness. It's still you know, something that you might not have the right product market fit for just yet, especially as you're first starting out, you know, we look at a lot of products we use today and they had iterations over the last multiple years to become what they are today to become, you know, the household name that they are today. They didn't start out that way. So I think it's something to definitely know And remember for for people that are looking to launch a course or, you know, start an online business for the first time.

Alyson Lex
Okay, so you got Jenny got to indulge in the tech stuff now, tell me what we should not be doing, or maybe things that we already are doing that are like, kind of killing us on the show up rate. What other than the reminders? Hmm,

Liz Boer
that's a good question, I would say, you know, the number one thing that's probably killing us is, we're probably making it too complicated for someone to join, you know, other than continuing to remind our audience, we're probably making it too complicated for people to join, we aren't putting our webinar room link inside of our emails, we are not sharing it, you know, on social or getting people excited to join. We are forgetting to build the excitement and generate that demand before our webinars. And also people are, you know, kind of forgetting that a webinar is a great way to get people excited. So you have to bring that energy yourself. You know, if you're not excited, why should anybody else be excited?

Jennie Wright
That is a great point.

Alyson Lex
I love that. Exactly, exactly. Nobody wants to go to a webinar with Donnie clowny and downing my husband,

Jennie Wright
that's a good one. I find when I do my webinars that i and this is different for everybody, but I feed off the energy of the people who were there. I am not I can't do talking head without seeing my participants. So I end up doing, you know, I end up doing a lot of interactivity, hands up, raise your hands, do this, do that comment in the box. I've even gone so far as to like, open, you know, have people on do Hot Seat open mic? Because that's where I actually get to show and showcase my abilities. Yes. And I prefer that because I actually feed off of that energy, like I was saying, and it helps me when it's silent. Mike, excuse me my confidence depths, and then I get anxious, or I you know, I start not doing all the things I should be doing. And I don't say all the things I should be saying I'm like, I'm just gonna rush through all these slides because nobody cares. Right? And then I don't deliver my best message. And then I don't deliver my best offer. And then you know, you get crickets. So I learned early that I work off of and feed off of that energy. So I've developed my way of doing webinars like that. Do you find that it's a technique that works for people at scale? Long term? Just curious.

Liz Boer
Oh, absolutely. It's something that when I'm doing webinar audits, and when we're looking at people's webinar slides, and I'm reviewing a pre recorded webinar for people, that is probably the number one thing I always suggest, because people, you know, they kind of forget that, if they're going to be there live, people want to be interacted with. In addition, you know, we touched on people being busy earlier, people are also very distracted. So if you think of a webinar, you're watching it, listening to it on your laptop, you know, on your mobile device, if you can find ways as the webinar host, to get people to interact with you to stay focused on your training, what you are trying to provide for them. And also, the mindset shifts that you're trying to develop in that short 60 minute timeframe to get them ready to purchase your product at the end. If you can keep them focused, you know, close those tabs, keep them engaged, remove the distractions, then you are that much more likely to be able to convert. So those things that you're talking about are definitely the number one things that I always recommend, like find places in your webinar, to take a pause to engage with your attendees. You know, they're not, they're not robots, either. They want to get that feedback from you. They want to feel validated. People also love hearing their their own personal names. So I always share with people that if you can call out people's specific names in the chat, then you know, they're that much more likely to continue to respond to questions that are asking them further along in the webinar. So I love that you're doing that and I think it's a great A great example of ways to engage with your attendees and get them to interact with you. And then also help them to validate in their own mind what you're saying. Because they're kind of like nodding their heads right along with you. And and you're getting them to agree with your, your mindset, your stake in the ground, your training. And obviously, you have seen the, you know, the conversions on the backside. So, I would say definitely something to adopt if you're looking to start a webinar.

Alyson Lex
You mentioned something really interesting about a webinar audit, and I want to know how to get one of those. So how do we get a webinar on it? Oh, yeah, I'll

Liz Boer
look you up. They're so valuable for people that are on the brink of greatness, like they're on the brink of hitting those high conversion rates on their webinars, we take a look at webinar slides, like I said, so you know, sometimes there's like over 100 slides, we take a look at all of the webinar slides, that would be just like a PowerPoint presentation for those that aren't familiar with the slide term. So we'd like to take a look at your entire webinar. And then like I said, we also take a look at how you are pitching your webinar, your tone of voice, you know, how you're engaging? Are you taking those moments to interact with your audience? Do you have questions prepared, you know, at the end those types of things. So we obviously have a format that we recommend for highest conversion rates. But then we also take a look at, you know, what is you your personality, bringing to the table? How does your brand translate into the webinar? So it's, you know, very personal and custom, so it doesn't feel like cookie cutter, when someone actually goes in and attends one of your webinars.

Alyson Lex
And the link to get that? Oh, yeah, I'll

Liz Boer
definitely give you the link.

Alyson Lex
Yeah, Shana, I want to show

Liz Boer
it to you. So okay, I'll definitely

Alyson Lex
do that for you one one of those audits, which, if you don't, you're crazy, or you're just not running webinars yet, head to System to thrive.com and find the show notes for this episode. We will have the link to that webinar audit in the show notes. And then we're also going to ask Liz, exactly how we can find out more about her. Oh, yeah, that's where where can we find you online?

Unknown Speaker
All right, let's

Liz Boer
do it. So my website is Liz bore.com. Pretty simple. Just My name is Li z. Bo er.com. I'm most active on Instagram, my Instagram is Liz bore underscore calm.

Someone else had calm already. Excuse me, and then my, you can find my podcast and any like additional trainings at Liz for.com, forward slash marketing to millions. If you want additional webinar trainings, or launch specific trainings, we definitely focus on course creators. So lots of tips, and fun things happening there.

Jennie Wright
That's awesome. That's fantastic. You were speaking my language, I think it's great. Talking to you, we've gotten some really good information on webinars. I'm a big fan of them that also knows my commitment for 2021 is that I'm showing up every month, I'm having something that I'm promoting or sharing or creating content for every single month. And if it's not one of my challenges, or one of my summits. It's a class, technically a webinar that I'm doing and and I've got Allison on board with this as well, because we actually heard this from another podcast guest. We were like you have to have something you promote every single time. So this is our this is what we're doing in 2021. So yeah, you're a heck of a lot more webinars from us.

Unknown Speaker
That's amazing. Thanks.

Jennie Wright
Thank you. So having said that, we're so excited that you've been here with us, Liz, you've been fantastic. And if anybody's listening to this episode, I highly recommend you go and grab that webinar audit. We'll make sure that's in the shownotes check out Liz on her website. And if you're enjoying the podcast, please take a look at subscribing so you don't miss it. Because we have two to three episodes a week coming out. It's going to be three pretty much for the entire year. With a quick tip on Mondays, we've got our guest episodes on Tuesdays and then we've got our regular drop episodes happening on Thursdays and you don't want to miss those. So thanks, everybody for being here. We'll be back again very soon answering another big question.