Webinars are a great way of building relationships with your customers, raising brand awareness and boosting sales.
But while hosting a webinar can be a tad nerve-wracking for anyone who hasn’t done it before, the biggest challenge can be getting people to turn up in the first place.
Research has shown that the average conversion rate for registrants to attendees is 55%. That’s not too bad—but it could be better. What’s more, you could increase your reach by improving your webinar email sequences.
That’s the basis of this article today. We’re going to walk you through the process of creating webinar email sequences. One that builds a buzz around your webinar and convinces people to turn up—as well as turn them into loyal customers once it’s over.
Let’s dive in.
What Does A Webinar Email Sequence Achieve?
You’ve prepared your webinar script, and you’ve invested in some equipment—so why spend the time creating a webinar email sequence?
A webinar email sequence introduces people to your webinar and reminds them of the:
- What
- Where
- Why
- When
As mentioned, it builds a buzz around your webinar, persuading people not just to sign-up but also attend. You’ll remind them of the benefits and keep nudging hesitant folk to actually give your webinar a shot.
The Winning Webinar Email Sequence You Need to Create
Let's take a look at the different types of emails you need to create for your webinar email sequence.
Announcement Email
Your announcement email should cover what your webinar is all about—who’ll host it, when it’s taking place and what people can expect to learn from it.
You can also add one or two links to any helpful resources you think might be useful, such as Google Calendar so that they can add your webinar.
Registration Confirmation Email
Send a registration confirmation email to anyone who’s signed up to attend your webinar—to further elaborate on what your announcement email has already promised.
Additionally, the registration confirmation email should also confirm and thank them for registering.
Keep in mind that, If you don’t confirm their registration, they might not be 100% sure that they’ve successfully registered.
This doesn’t have to be a long or a wordy email, but it should cover all the basics.
First Webinar Reminder Email
Many people will register for a webinar—before totally forgetting all about it.
And they might forget all about it forever unless they receive a reminder email.
You can send your first reminder email about a week before your webinar begins. This email should be engaging but brief, and it just needs to remind them that your webinar is coming up and that it’s taking place on X date and at X time.
You can also include a link to your webinar here once again.
Second Webinar Reminder Email
The reasons you should send your first webinar reminder email a whole week before your webinar are:
- It gives your attendees plenty of time to clear their schedules.
- It means you can send a second webinar reminder email a few days later.
Sending reminders out is important—but you don’t want to bombard your attendees with emails. As such, we suggest sending out your first reminder email a week in advance and your second reminder email 24 hours before your webinar is due to start.
This second reminder email needs to be as brief as possible.
It just needs a relevant subject line “Your webinar on X date is coming up!” will suffice. It will need a bit of body copy that again reiterates the date and time.
You should also include a link to the webinar at the bottom of the email.
Third Webinar Reminder Email
The third webinar reminder email is your very last chance to remind any attendees who might have missed your previous reminder emails.
You can send this out 60 minutes before your webinar is due to begin (or 30 minutes before) and it needs to remind them that your webinar is due to start.
You can reiterate the time (no need to include the date) as well as a link to the webinar.
A small piece of text that says something like “see you there!” might be helpful too.
Other than that, it’s important to keep this email as brief as possible. You’re simply reminding them that your webinar is about to start.
A “Thank You” Email
Once the show is over, your marketing work doesn’t end.
In fact, the post-webinar period remains a crucial part of your email sequence.
Now’s the time to apply a bit of etiquette and manners by sending out a thank you email. In this email, you can thank your attendees for turning up.
Thank you emails tend to have a really good open rate. People have seen your webinar, (hopefully) enjoyed it, and it’s nice for them to feel like their company was appreciated.
However, a thank you email is more than just a show of appreciation on your part. It’s also a key marketing email that you should use to ask for a bit of feedback.
Did they enjoy the webinar? What did they learn? What perhaps was missing?
You can also let them know that you’ll be sending them a recording of your webinar very soon (if you plan to do this).
The Follow-up Email to Non-Attendees
Use this follow-up email to deepen your relationship with the people that didn’t attend your webinar.
For example, it’s a smart idea to let them know that the webinar has ended—but you think they’ll still find it helpful.
Since you’ve got their attention, built trust and shown them that you’ve got the solution to their problems—now is the time to double down and provide the replay link to your webinar.
Webinar Email Sequences: Tips & Tricks
We’ve covered what emails you need to include in your webinar email sequence.
But before you begin writing them, here are some additional tips and tricks that can improve their conversions.
Personalize Your Emails
It’s no secret that personalization is hot right now. People want to be addressed directly in an email and they want to feel that their personal needs are noted and understood.
To personalize your emails, you can dig into your customer data.
As well as addressing them by their name, send your emails at an optimal time (don’t make the rookie mistake of sending a 3 am webinar reminder email to people who are in bed in one part of the world).
Likewise, highlight relevant links/products in your emails.
Segment Your List
Segmenting your list will also help you personalize your emails.
Segmentation can improve both open and conversion rates, and you can segment your audience according to their current position in the customer journey, the pages they’ve visited, as well as their location. Before segmenting your list make sure you verify it so you only send emails to correct inboxes. Use a tool to find email addresses in order to send effective email campaigns.
Automate Your Emails
Email automation can take a load off. It ensures your webinar emails get sent out at the right time and frees up your time so that you can take care of other much-needed tasks.
There are email automation tools available that will help you segment your list, personalize your emails and create a sequence of emails that, once you’ve finalized the sequence, get sent out exactly at the right time.
And if you feel as though your budget doesn’t cover things, personal loans are a good way to finance your business.
The Three Core Ingredients
It’s important to remember that there are three core ingredients that make an email standout:
- Subject line
- CTA
- Copy
When it comes to your webinar emails, your subject lines can be as direct as you want. A reminder email should stick to the topic in the subject line. Don’t try to be too clever. A CTA, meanwhile, just needs to remind them to book their spot and click the link. All your copy needs to be brief, concise and to-the-point. Now isn’t the time for fluff.
Final Thoughts
Once you’ve created a webinar email sequence, it’s time to rinse and repeat. Do it all again, keep adding more customers to your list, and keep building strong relationships with them.