Choosing the best webinar software actually isn’t that difficult. Despite there being 15-20 top platforms. We’ve taken a look through all of them to see which stand out the most. Having narrowed the list down to just 7, we’ve developed a review of our favourites that are sure to help you deliver a successful webinar.
Table of Contents
What Is A Webinar And How Does It Work?
A webinar is an online event hosted by a company. It is broadcast to a specific group of people invited via their smartphones or web browser. Sometimes a webinar can be referred to as an online seminar, an online event or a webcast.
A webinar is a fantastic way for a host or a speaker to share presentations, videos, products, promotions, marketing, video or web pages to audiences located all over the world.
Webinars are incredibly versatile and can be used through a whole variety of sectors, whether in business or entertainment. The interactive features built-in many of these platforms allow interactivity with the audience by using real-time questions, polls, surveys, instant messaging tools or emails.
Although Webinars are used throughout a whole variety of sectors, they are most commonly used for employee training, product demonstrations, customer onboarding, corporate communications, and generating leads. In this guide, we will explore the leading webinar platforms and what you should look for when choosing one.
The Best Webinar Platform
So what makes a good webinar platform? Well, first of all, you will want fantastic video and audio quality for seamless communication, as well as being able to customize your webinar so that you can incorporate your company’s design aesthetic.
Having the ability to prepare the attendees beforehand by uploading handouts can be extremely time-efficient, as they can be prepared prior to the session.
Being able to conduct surveys at the touch of a button is invaluable, as feedback can be instantly received and analyzed.
Having a built-in record function will allow playback for those who need refreshing on the information shared, or making it available to those who couldn’t make the session live.
Screen sharing with participants will allow the host to make demonstrations easier, show design or video materials on their device to others, or play a presentation made on another program.
Finally, having reliable email integration is a must. Webinar events are accessed through subscriptions and invites – the easiest way of doing this is through emails.
If a webinar platform can seamlessly integrate between all the leading email programs, then it will make it easier for participants to show their interest and sign up for the webinar, which can also increase subscriber rates.
VOTED BEST WEBINAR SOFTWARE 2021 IN OUR TEST
WebinarJam is a cloud-based platform that allows webinar sessions that include streaming on Youtube and Facebook. As well as broadcasting events in private webinar rooms. With WebinarJam, hosts and admins can create webinars by using existing content. Content such as animations, videos, slides or share materials via a screen share to all attendees.
Once companies are done creating their content for their webinars, they can register attendees online. Using pre-designed landing pages to incorporate their brand in a highly professional way.
Businesses can also customize their landing pages with specific marketing materials. As well as call-to-action buttons, and checkout links for those who are selling services or products.
Overview of WebinarJam
WebinarJam is extremely easy to use. It offers high-quality video tutorials that take you through every step to successfully set up your webinar.
The flexibility of this platform is leaps and bounds above other competitors. WebinarJam allows you to set times for on-screen messages. Set up automated product offer cards. Customize the dashboard. One-click registration. And allows users to introduce offers to attendees that they can easily accept in one easy action.
All these features optimize the Webinar experience and increase lead generation. As well as product sales and interactivity – depending on what you are using the platform for.
One of the best and unique features WebinarJam has is the PANIC button. This allows some functions to freeze if you get stuck and takes all attendees into a new room while the issue is sorted out. This can save time and embarrassment when things don’t go the way you planned!
For just $1, you can try WebinarJam for 14 days, after which you can choose to continue using the service via the three packages that best suit the needs of its user.
The basic package ($499 per year) provides unlimited webinars, 2-hour duration, allows two presenters and 500 attendees. The professional package ($699 per year) gives unlimited webinars, 3-hour duration, up to four presenters, 200 attendees, custom URL and the PANIC button previously mentioned.
The Enterprise package ($999 per year) gives unlimited webinars, allows up to 6 presenters, 5,000 attendees, 4-hour duration, custom URL, the PANIC button and The Control Center, allowing staff to moderate and manage while you present.
Overall, every aspect of WebinarJam has been carefully designed. It’s clear that it was created by those who know what a good webinar should be – dealing with the common issues hosts run into when communicating live.
- Great value for money
- Live Chat with Sticky Announcements and Q&As
- Automated Recordings
- Replica replays which exactly mimic the initial live webinar
- Express setup meaning a simple 5-minute setup
- Premade templates, customizable to suit your brand
- Simple, user-friendly interface
- Hugely flexible – Screen share, show camera, show slideshows, broadcast or share files.
- No download required for your users and responsive for all devices
- Detailed analytics dashboard showing key stats like visitors and sales
- Up to 6 presenters
- Video Injection to include pre-recorded video into the webinar, perfect for closing speech or wrap-ups
- Invite attendees mid-webinar to host/speak, perfect for Q&As or testimonials
- Create an offer pop-up to display live during the webinar, even include a countdown
- Ability to charge your attendees a fee
- Free coaching and training
- Email & SMS so your registrants never miss out
- Try it now for just $1 for 14 days.
- Basic – $499 per year. This plan gives you unlimited webinars, allows up to 2 presenters with a 2-hour webinar limit and up to 500 attendees. Perfect for most users.
- Professional – $699 per year. Unlimited webinars, up to 4 presenters, 2000 attendees, 3-hour duration, custom URL and your own room 24/7 and a panic button which redirects all users to a new room if there were ever to be a tech issue.
- Enterprise – $999 per year. Unlimited webinars, up to 6 presenters, 5,000 attendees, 4-hour duration, custom URL, and your own room 24/7, panic button and The Control Center allowing staff to moderate and manage while you present.
Demio is an amazing webinar platform used for live events and marketing campaigns. Like other leading webinar services, you can use it to access a wider audience, generate new leads or communicate within a large team instantly.
The Demio team has done an excellent job at simplifying the organization and marketing for webinars – creating a simple alternative that is full of the essential features needed to thrive in the digital age.
Overview of Demio
What we really like about Demio, is that they strip back any complicated overlays so that they can offer a simple design that looks attractive. This means that those less familiar with webinar hosting, can still effectively deliver their sessions without having to deal with a technical meltdown.
You’ll see from the features why Demio is one of the best webinar platforms.
Demio has customizable registration pages that allow companies to incorporate their unique branding for their attendees to see. This makes the experience more professional and tailored to the individuals using Demio.
The 14-day free trial is a very appealing offer, after which you can choose from three different packages. Demio is definitely one of the cheapest options on the market, but that can reflect on the smaller attendee capabilities of its plan.
The Starter plan ($34 per month) allows 50 participants, 3-hour duration and 1 host.
The Growth plan ($69 per month) allows 150 attendees, 1 host, automated events, custom branding, 5-hour duration and custom form fields.
The Business plan ($163 per month) has all the benefits from both previous packages and allows 500 attendees, up to 4 hosts, a dedicated account representative and priority support, Marketo integration, and an impressive 8-hour duration.
What we like most about Demio is the flawless integration with other crucial areas of information gathering, for example, how it can be brought into their marketing stack to improve marketing activities, save registrant information to your CRM system or use it with the Zapier integration tool.
- Attendees can instantly join from the browser in one click, no apps to install
- Extremely simple to use
- Ability to brand in your own style
- Interactive polls during your webinar
- Display an offer with CTA to drive action / purchases of your product
- Share files and handouts
- Chat facility with private or public access
- Automatic recording in HD quality.
- Feature-rich analysis area to see data/graphs on your attendees, how your webinar was watched and the ability to export data including from your polls.
- Integration with a huge range of Marketing email service providers, including Mailchimp, Convertkit, Marketo, GetResponse, AWeber and many more, including Zapier integration for a huge range of additional integration possibilities.
- 14 Day FREE trial
- Starter – $34 a month which includes a 50 attendee limit.
- Growth – $69 a month which includes a 150 attendee limit, all benefits of the “Starter” package plus, automated events, branding, 5-hour session limits and custom form fields
- Business – $163 a month for a 500 attendee limit, with all “Growth” package benefits and with up to 4 hosts, a dedicated account representative, priority support, Marketo integration and an 8-hour session limit.
Clickmeeting is a fantastic conferencing service that excels in the area of webinars. They allow the users to conduct surveys and polls, which gathers essential information that will allow your brand to grow.
Their chat-to-text translations is a game-changer for those broadcasting around the world. Whether it is communicating with foreign investors, teaching students abroad or demonstrating products, Clickmeeting has the functions to keep your webinar running as smoothly as possible.
Features of Clickmeeting
Some of our favorite features using Clickmeeting is the easy implementation of surveys and in-meeting polls that allow hosts to quickly and smoothly gather data.
The built-in chat functions, including private messages, is a fantastic way for attendees to communicate with each other or make inquiries to the host and other organizers.
The whiteboard function is fantastic for brainstorming, explaining and planning, while the waiting room feature, where the Webinar agenda can be displayed, is a really nice touch. This will allow the attendees to prepare themselves before the session begins.
Clickmeeting has a record and storage function allowing playback at a later date, as well as branded rooms and email invitations.
Clickmeeting can integrate with other platforms that stream, such as Facebook and YouTube – extending the reach of the webinar. In fact, it can also integrate with – LinkedIn, Hubspot, Zapier, PayPal, Google Slack, Dropbox and your API feed.
There are some fantastic features offered by Clickmeeting that makes it one of the most modern and sleek Webinar platforms on the market. They understand that expanding a network through the integration of other popular platforms will maximize attendee and subscriber numbers.
- Paid or free webinars
- Customize your invitations
- Registration pages
- Stream to your Facebook or YouTube account
- Live chat with Q&A, with chat translation capabilities
- Polls and surveys
- Add a CTA if you’re looking to sell a product or service during your webinar.
- Integrate with a wide range of services from Google Analytics to Dropbox, Facebook and YouTube, Zapier and even an API feed.
- 30-day free trial
- Live – $25 per month – includes up to 25 attendees (which can be easily increased up to 1000 in intervals that suit you, each at an additional cost), host unlimited webinars
- Automated – $40 per month
4. GoToWebinar (by LogMeIn)
GoToWebinar is an ideal choice for businesses that need to create and deliver online conferences with colleagues, stockholders, investors, customers and so on. Using the impressive collection of gathered features, the broadcasting potential of GoToWebinar is endless.
It allows companies to extend their reach to target audiences, provide training through interactive conferencing, sale pitches with clear video and audio, or communicating with a team that can not easily meet. GoToWebinar is simple to use, does not require IT support and is compatible with Pc or Mac.
Features of GoToWebinar
GoToWebinar does a great job of communicating visually with its audience. It is ideal for learning environments – such as training, mentoring or idea development, as well as being an invaluable tool for marketing campaigns where product demonstrations are conducted.
One of our favorite features of GoToWebinar is how easy it is to get started. The platform provides tutorials that range from event management and scheduling. They even provide templates so that your webinar can look attractive and professional without having to put too much effort into it.
GoToWebiner has impressive report and analytic tools which generates attendee reports that give very valuable insights into those who attended.
Also, it offers clear indications of how your session performed and highlights the key times and areas where there was a change in activity and interactions. Source tracking allows you to understand where your audience came from; that way, you know where to focus when pushing for more subscriptions and leads.
GoToWebinar allows you to pre-record a webinar and broadcast the footage to the attendees. Because of the quality of the video and the interactivity that can be implemented while the video is playing, your guests will still get the same experience as they would have if they were watching a live host.
Being able to offer playback to attendees who couldn’t make the live broadcast, or for those living in different time zones, will allow the content to reach a larger audience and make the biggest impact possible.
- One of the industry leaders with nearly 3 million webinars hosted every year
- Easy setup and management of webinars
- Choose from one-time events, a series of webinars or planned on-demand experiences.
- Choose from templates so that you can easily create new webinars using settings from a previous setup.
- Custom branding and registrations
- Great analytics dashboard to provide insight into webinar KPIs.
- Polls and surveys
- Run pre-recorded webinars that feel just like live events
- Integrates with many CRM systems and marketing automation platforms
- Lite – $49 per month – up to 100 participants. Ideal for smaller webinars that are running live only (no recorded event option in this package)
- Standard – $99 per month – up to 250 participants. This includes a couple of extra features but the main benefit over Lite is the increased participant capacity. Still no recorded events in this plan.
- Pro – $199 per month – up to 500 participants. This plan has enhanced webinar features such as custom page URL, video editor, recorded events and automatic transcripts.
- Enterprise – $399 per month – up to 3,000 participants. As the name suggests, this is for large scale events and webinars with all the features and functionality available on the GoToWebinar platform.
Zoom is designed to host webinars, online courses, conduct training, virtual meetings and other streaming needs. It is helpful for businesses of all sizes and has a straightforward interface for those who want to jump right into the webinar.
Zoom rose in popularity during the outbreak of Covid-19, where many businesses were forced to work from home. Arguably, It was Zoom that changed the way companies approached streamed meetings and webinar sessions. Proving that this kind of platform is not only a suitable substitute to the office environment.
Zoom also excels in certain areas of interactivity, data collection and project management.
Overview of Zoom
Zoom has an impressive view-only capability of up to 10, 000 attendees and can cater for 100 interactive video participants. To connect to a session is extremely easy and straightforward to understand – users simply invite other participants. Do this by sending a uniquely generated URL.
Because of the ease of the platform, it’s not surprising that it is the go-to webinar program. Especially when workers, with ranging levels of IT knowledge, were forced out of the office.
Zoom’s cloud video conferencing capability allows the panelist and presentation screens to be used at the same time. This works with a dual support screen system to prevent any issues disrupting the session.
Zoom also has a HD video and HD audio detection functionality, which lets hosts step things up when it comes to professionalism.
Because Zoom has a supported mobile app, they know that being able to access related material on mobile devices is vital for its services to run smoothly. That is why they allow users to record their webinar sessions in MP4 and M4A formats. So you are confident that they will play on both desktop browsers and mobile devices.
The integration with other platforms like Facebook Live and Youtube Live has made Zoom a popular choice among entertainers. As well as companies that have attendees that are spread across other live platforms.
Leading marketing automation platforms are also integrated with zoom as well as payment providers like PayPal. This allows maximum reach for the webinar and any products and services that are being sold.
- Up to 100 video panelists can be interacting during the webinar
- Up to 50,000 attendees depending on the plan
- On-demand viewing feature
- In-depth reporting feature
- Live stream integration with Facebook Live, YouTube Live and other custom integrations
- Chat, Q&As and polls.
- Integrate with many leading marketing automation platforms
- Integrate with payment providers like PayPal to monetize your webinar
- Custom branding
- Basic – Free – up to 100 participants, unlimited meetings, 40-minute limit
- Pro – $14.99 per month – up to 100 participants with all features from basic plus many more, including reporting, admin feature controls, user management, 1GB of cloud recording.
- Business – $19.99 per month – up to 300 participants with all features from pro plan plus admin dashboard, custom URL, custom branding and emails and more. Starting at 10 hosts for $199.90 per month.
- Enterprise – $19.99 per month – Up to 500 participants with unlimited cloud storage, dedicated customer success manager and more. Starting at 100 hosts for $1,999 per month.
WebinarNinja is a cloud-based platform that helps companies design, run and manage their webinar sessions. This platform allows professionals to modify and store templates, pictures and videos for later use or for better organization.
The numerous customization options available with WebinarNinja makes it a favorite among those whose brand identity is extremely important to them.
WebinarNinja is integrable with other top apps and programs used in the business world to plan, communicate and record important analytical information that can be used later on to improve a campaign or generate more leads.
Features of WebinarNinja
What we really like about WebinarNinja is that it comes with four different templates to use. These can be used on your registration page and thank you page. These templates are highly customizable with graphics, texts and colors.
Once you have finished customizing your template, you can save it so you can use it again in the future. Or you can even mark it as your default template for all your events.
There is a clear distinction between “Chat” and “question” boxes. This will help filter out questions from any chat that has been going on, making the session go smoothly and save time.
Another nice feature is that you can mark a question as answered in the “question section,”. This comes with a timestamp appearing for those who want to hear the answer on playback.
Integration with WebinarNinja is impressive and can effortlessly connect with MailChimp, Infusionsoft, ConvertKit, Drip, Hubspot, Aweber and Active Campaign. With the email marketing service, you can add one or several tags to attendees to keep their information in order.
As well as sending them custom branded invites at the touch of a button. This will make broadcasting and marketing the webinar effortless, once everything is set up to work with each other.
Simultaneous streaming options allow the host to display a second input, such as a PowerPoint presentation or a product demonstration, while the host remains on screen.
This will keep the webinar looking sleek and professional, which will give your attendees faith in you and your brand – hopefully leading to positive engagements, sales and lead generation.
- Create a webinar in seconds
- Live, automated, series or hybrid webinars
- Free or paid webinars
- Automatic creation of registration page, thank you page, emails including reminders
- Simultaneous streaming of camera and your presentation e.g. PowerPoint
- Create Polls
- Display offers
- Reporting dashboard
- Integration with key CRM tools such as Mailchimp, Infusionsoft, Constant Contact, HubSpot, Zapier and more.
- Free 14 day trial
- Starter – $39 per month – 100 attendees, unlimited recording, live or automated webinars.
- Pro – $79 per month – 300 attendees, unlimited recording, live, automated or series webinars. With Facebook Ad Tracking.
- Plus – $129 per month – 500 attendees, all of the Pro features and Hybrid webinars (combines live webinar with recorded video)
- Power – $199 per month – 1000 attendees with all the features of the Plus package.
Livestorm is a webinar platform that runs entirely from a browser and doesn’t need a download to function. This gives it incredible versatility and removes any system requirement issues when running it from a less powerful device.
It has attractive registration pages, capabilities in incorporating branding and integration with other apps to further its reach.
Leading brands such as Intercom, Fortune 500 and Bosch use Livestorm because it is easy to use and has a no-nonsense approach.
Features of Livestorm
Livestorm is a more basic webinar platform, but ticks every box for most hosts with its key and integrable features. It allows company logos to be added and theme colors to be changed. It has a basic chat channel that allows attached files to be shared from Dropbox and Google Drive.
The video and audio quality are fantastic for the price, especially when using the basic free option that allows 20 attendees for a 20-minute session. This is ideal for smaller teams, where the host is sharing an update or a quick check-in meeting.
For $89 per month, you can get unlimited webinars and up to 100 attendees with a 4-hour duration. This pricing is in line with other competitor platforms but could benefit from a middle package for those who don’t want such a big jump from Basic to Premium.
Its chat, poll, survey and Q&A features are not overly complicated and do an exceptional job of communicating and collecting data. Its compatibility with mobile devices, as well as computers and laptops, make it an ideal choice for those working at home or on the move.
The detailed analytics and data that Livestorm collects during the webinar will allow you to change strategy or change up the content to maximize your guest’s engagement.
A nice little feature that you rarely see on webinar software is the data being recorded and presented from the playback footage, which gives you an insight into your “offline” audience and how they react while watching the session at a later date.
The team over at Techradar voted Livestorm as the best platform for 2020.
- Ideal for product demos, customer training, online courses or interviews
- Choose from Live webinars, on-demand or fully automated.
- Web-based solution with no app downloads required for your attendees
- Chat, Q&A, Polls and even guest presenters
- Custom branding
- Analytics and data on your live webinar plus data on your replays too
- Email invites plus automatic reminders
- Integrate with Zapier
- GDPR compliance
- Basic – FREE – includes unlimited webinars, up to 10 attendees but only a 20-minute session limit
- Premium – $89 per month, unlimited webinars, up to 100 attendees and 4-hour limit.
Choosing The Right Webinar Platform:
So now you’ve seen the top webinar platforms on the market, which one will be ideal for you and your business? Below I will list some common requirements that companies are looking for, as well as which platforms meet specific criteria.
Obviously, for your webinars to run as smoothly as possible, you and your staff will want to be able to use the software without running into issues that hinder the webinar session. Livestorm and GoToWebinar excel in that field, especially for beginners or less tech-savvy organizers.
Of course, you need to make sure your other needs are met while finding an easy to use platform. What you could gain in convenience, may cause you to lose essential functions.
If you are knowledgeable on technology, then you can afford the time it will take to get your head around a more sophisticated platform such as Zoom or WebinarJam.
How Much Can You Spend?
Many businesses work toward a budget and may only have a certain amount set aside for their webinar budget. It is important to note that the best platforms on the market are subscription based, with recurring monthly or yearly payments required to continue using the service.
The question is, are you going to do enough webinars to make it worth the price tag? Maybe you’re willing to use an inferior service because its price is very low?
We believe choosing an affordable platform that is continuously being updated, like Demio, Clickmeeting or Livestorm, will be the best choice for professional businesses on a tight budget.
All credible webinar services offer a free trial that any prospective buyers will want to take advantage of before committing to a specific webinar provider. Running these trials can really help you choose the best webinar platform for your needs.
WebinarJam offers a feature-rich 14-day trial for just $1, while Demio’s trial is completely free. For those looking for an extended trial to help them decide whether the webinar service is for them, Clickmeeting offers an impressive 30-day free trial.
The Option to Host On-Demand Webinars
Being able to broadcast live is essential for webinar software, but according to studies, only 16% of B2B consumers prefer live webinars, with others preferring to watch the session on playback at a later time. This could be down to time differences or scheduling issues for attendees who are busy at the time of the broadcast.
Though our top webinar picks provide playback, Zoom and Demio both have fantastic HD capabilities for both audio and video that is ideal for attendees watching the webinar at a later date.
Is it important to incorporate branding?
Having the option to customize your webinar platform allows a host to incorporate the aesthetics fitting with their business. This will make the webinar look more professional and may even increase the number of attendees involved. It could even boost sales and leads, as they will have more faith in the brand.
WebinarNinja has four fantastic base templates that can be customized with very little effort. More feature-packed programs such as WebinarJam and Clickmeeting make the branding options go even further – allowing the waiting room, broadcast graphics, logos, and invitation cards to capture your companies aesthetics.
Tracking Your Webinar Metrics
Analyzing how your webinar performed can be critical for the success of a business or a marketing campaign. Knowing what platform your attendees are coming from will give you a fantastic insight into where to focus your efforts for the next session – increasing the amounts of leads generated and subscribers gained.
Will You Want to Archive Your Content?
As mentioned previously, there are a large number of people who won’t mind watching the webinar when it isn’t live. With that being said, you may want a way to archive your past webinars in an organized format for the guests who plan to watch at a later date. With this function, you can also play one of the pre-recorded videos during a live webinar. This can form part of the session’s content.
If this is something you would be interested in, then you will want to investigate the library options that are on offer, playback quality and the duration the videos are stored for.
Will Your Webinar Platform Support The Size Of Your Audience?
It may sound like a fairly obvious point, especially for those expecting a high volume of attendees to their events. But you will want to choose a package that can not only handle your current expected numbers, but also the amount of attendees you may receive in the future.
Some price plans may sound more appealing than others, but you must make sure that they will support your attendee size. Nothing looks less professional than invited guests being unable to enter a webinar room, not to mention the potential financial losses that come with individuals not being able to partake.
The Level Of Interaction
During your sessions, will you want attendees to participate? Maybe you want them to ask or answer questions, submit data to surveys or polls or even speak to your audience.
A number of webinar platforms, such as WebinarJam, Clickmeeting and WebinarNinja, have some fantastic interactive features that increase engagement and may encourage follow-up action via sales or showing interest in future webinars.
Almost everyone has a smartphone these days, that means the audience of a mobile compatible webinar service would guarantee those invited have the means of being involved with the live session.
Some webinar services are yet to incorporate mobile device compatibility with others having unreliable or buggy integration that can ruin an attendee’s experience.
WebinarJam, Zoom and Clickmeeting have stable mobile device setup and are popular with certain organizations for that reason. The webinar can be accessed anywhere, by anyone who has been invited.
Webinar Registration Fields
It’s essential to understand what information you want from your attendees. Do you simply want individual names, or the organization or company they work for?
Recording names will make you aware of the audience you are broadcasting to. Knowing who is watching can allow you to change your strategy, especially if you are selling a service or a product.
Do You Plan To Have Guest Speakers?
Do you plan to be the only speaker at your webinar, or will you have guest speakers? Maybe you plan on having multiple hosts to speak about different areas of the webinar subject matter. If this is the case, make sure you pick a platform and package that allows 2 or more people to co-host or speak.
Thinking about this before you purchase a package is the difference between the session going smoothly or you having to find problem-solving tricks to overcome the issue. Ultimately looking less professional and potentially causing major problems during the session.
Take Your Time
Before you commit to a service, make sure that you have considered all the points mentioned in our guide.
If you want to provide your guests with a positive experience that will have positive potential on your brand or business, you need to make sure that you only provide the highest level of content and quality.
We know how difficult it can be when scouring the internet for the best recommendations, but we are confident that our top picks will not steer you wrong.
It’s also worth taking some of the free trials to really get to know the software and all it can offer.
Why Use Webinars?
The benefit of webinars makes it an incredible resource for many businesses. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many entertainment industries took advantage of their interactive broadcasting capabilities.
With webinars, there is no travel involved for attendees, which can often turn people off. They are cost-effective and can be repeated with minimal effort, with invites being sent to the attendees who are saved in the database.
Because nearly everyone has a smartphone these days, every attendee has the opportunity to join. Due to the advancement of the webinar technology, it’s getting increasingly easy for hosts to use and customize.
Webinars are a fantastic way to generate leads and sales, where information, product or service can be shared with a large number of interested people via the webinar broadcast. Also, the built-in marketing services are easy to understand and will begin providing benefits straight away.
Top Uses For Webinars
Webinars are used to broadcast to audiences that are spread over vast distances or prefer more time-efficient communication channels. The top uses for webinars are for sales, lead generation, marketing, training and education. As well as meetings, internal communications, public outreach, business conferences and of course, sales.
How Other Marketers Are Using Webinars
The Content Marketing Institute’s 2016 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report states.
Marketers believe webinars are the second most effective B2B tactic companies can implement.
Webinars are so versatile, having a use in almost every industry, makes it an incredible strategy to use when networking. Or generating leads or promoting a service or product.
With the success of webinars being apparent and the continuous developments making them easier to use, now is the time to utilize the webinar format – especially as more people are being forced to work from home.
Best Practice For A Successful Webinar
The first thing that any host needs to do to ensure a positive webinar experience is to plan the presentation carefully and be clear on the message you want to portray.
For example, are you trying to teach something? Sell a product? Generate more leads, or simply deliver instructions to your team in a timely and efficient manner?
Once you know what you want to say, you then need to put yourself in the shoes of your attendees and consider what would make their experience engaging and exciting.
Choosing the right presenter or speaker is critical to a successful session. Make sure they understand the webinar software and are confident and knowledgeable speakers.
Generating as much awareness and interest as possible prior to the webinar will encourage registrations and subscriptions.
Consider using social media to source the right people for your webinar, as well as placing focused advertisements on forums, social media accounts, and other avenues that will have the type of attendees you are looking for.
If you’re truly serious about a successful webinar then take the time to download and read this benchmark report from ON24 which gives tons of stats and guidances on making yours a success.
Keep It Engaging
Keep your webinar visually engaging, interactive, and ensure all information is to the point. This will hold the attendee’s attention and will have a greater effect on them. As well as improve their perception of the entire experience.
Make sure the analytic features of your platform are working correctly. Also check you are recording the crucial information that you could benefit from later on.
Testing all the features, as well as the visual and audio elements, could be the difference between an embarrassing scurry to get things fixed and the whole thing going smoothly.
Conducting dummy runs with a small group of testers within your circle will ensure that the broadcast is faultless and is as professional as it could possibly be.
Always be prepared to think on your feet, as difficult questions can roll in while you are in the middle of a webinar. Also, be prepared if something goes wrong – no matter how much preparation you do, issues that you may not have thought about might crop up.
Think about when you send your registration, data from GoToMeeting suggests that 36% of registrations occur between 8am and 10am.
Summary of the best webinar software
There are webinar services that cater to everyone, whether it is a corporate meeting, a product demonstration or 1-2-1 coach. Because different developers often specialize in certain areas of webinar services, it means that your needs can be met with enough research.
There of course will be many of you looking to keep spending to a minimum. In this case you will be better off trying out some of the free trials that are offered.
WebinarJam and Demio are definitely our first recommendations thanks to their vast range of features and ease of use. If you only have a small team and will only be doing short updates, the answer could be Livestorm. With their basic package that is entirely free.
For most businesses, a webinar needs to be reliable, customizable and generate leads. It must also have exceptional attendee management, analytic data recording. Not forgetting engaging content, a high-quality record function and be easy to use. By far, again, WebinarJam and Demio tick all of those boxes and offer some truly phenomenal features.
Whatever webinar program you choose to go with, make sure you take advantage of the free trials first. You may find that the service you were interested in won’t be compatible with your needs after all.
With the Covid-19 lockdown still in effect around the world, there is a limit to the number of people allowed to gather in one place.
This means there has never been a better time to investigate and utilize the capabilities of an excellent webinar service. I hope that this guide helps you find the best webinar platform to take your business and events to the next level.
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