Webinars can be a powerful tool for raising engagement and awareness – if used correctly. With today’s digital landscape, maintaining an online presence with constant engagement is a must. However, it can be hard to get the formula for a successful webinar. In this article, we will go over the basics of a webinar, as well as the webinar metrics you should keep an eye on to raise webinar success.
What is a Webinar?
Before we get into the webinar KPIs you need to measure, it is important that you get a better understanding of what webinars are and why you should double down on raising your webinar success levels.
Webinars are online events that typically have an informative purpose. These events come in the form of webinar conferences and webinar workshops that can be held for internal or external corporate events. Webinars are also suitable for educational and multinational institutions. These online events are usually hosted via a compatible program, such as the EventX hosting platform.
Contrary to popular belief however, a successful webinar is about more than just setting up a room and holding the event – it’s about making sure that your objectives for the event are met. In today’s highly digital workplace environment, brands and marketers rely on the potential of webinars to drive leads and raise awareness.
According to ReadyTalk, 62% of all B2B marketers rely on webinars for lead generation and nurturing. The EventX hosting platform comes equipped with webinar lead generation features precisely for this reason. With enough effort and reinforcement, these numbers can add up and reap massive ROI in the long run.
Now that you know more about what a webinar is all about, it is time to find out the webinar performance metrics you need to work on to guarantee your webinar’s success.
What are the Webinar Success Metrics That You Need to Raise?
When undertaking any project, it always pays to set KPIs that you can work towards – and webinars are no different. Below are some webinar KPIs that you can evaluate after every webinar you launch to gauge your success and see what you can do better.
Number of Registrants vs Number of Attendees
This pair of KPIs may seem confusing at first but as we stated previously, only a certain percentage of your webinar registrants actually make it to your event. To better understand the difference between these two webinar performance metrics, we must first dissect what they are individually.
Number of Registrants
The first step to a high attendee turnout is getting more people to register for the event. This particular webinar metric is largely based on your pre-webinar marketing and the awareness that your efforts amassed during this period. Ask yourself the following questions when evaluating the number of registrants that you garnered:
- What kind of advertising and publicity did you invest in for your webinar?
- Do your chosen platforms fit your target audience?
- Did you receive inquiries via your digital platforms from people?
- What CTA did you use for your webinar marketing efforts?
- Did you incorporate the CTA in websites, posts and newsletters?
- Did you run any promotions to get more traction for your event?
- What percentage of total registrants went on to become attendees on the day of the event?
By asking yourself these questions, you get a better idea on whether your pre-webinar strategy was effective and if it is worth replicating for future webinars.
Number of Attendees
The second part of this webinar metric falls under the actual attendees present during the webinar. These are the registrants that went through the entire process of pre-registration before eventually choosing to join the event on the day itself. Just like your number of registrants, your total number of attendees can also fluctuate due to factors like the date and time of the event, the platform you are using to run it, and the length of the webinar.
When combining these two into a single KPI for webinar analysis, the resulting figure will be the conversion rate of registrants to attendees. The average figure for webinar-attendee conversion is around 42%. If your own conversion rate seems a little low compared to this figure, you may want to reevaluate your webinar program, schedule, or length.
Cost of Webinar
Despite having a reputation for being a cost-effective option, holding a successful webinar may require some investment on the part of the organizer. When calculating costs for your webinar, take into account the following expenses to accurately measure this metric:
- Marketing – Did you pay for any ad placements and promos to encourage more people to register?
- Equipment – Did the setup of your webinar require any equipment to be rented?
- Food & Refreshments – With hybrid events rising in popularity, some VIP attendees may want to join you and your team on-site for your webinar.
- Software – If you see your organization conducting webinars and other virtual events more frequently in the future, it may be worth it to spend on a paid event hosting platform that offers more UI and additional features.
These are only a few of the possible expenses you may need to list down to assess your total cost.
View Duration
This webinar performance metric is one that requires careful consideration. With Zoom fatigue being scientifically proven, the amount of time that your webinar can hold someone’s attention is also a matter that requires your careful assessment. No one wants to go through the trouble of organizing a webinar only to have half the audience leave in the first few minutes.
To extend average view duration and prevent viewers from dropping off from your webinar too soon, it may be best to consider the factors that contribute to audience retention. Here are a few tips that we have picked up from successful past webinars:
1. Pick an Engaging Speaker
Whether you are choosing a host or a keynote speaker, choosing personalities that make the audience feel engaged with their enthusiasm and energy do a better job of holding an audience’s gaze than a well-made deck does. While visual aids certainly help, 32% of attendees feel most involved if the webinar speaker goes through the trouble of mustering up the energy for animated speech that can perk up any participant.
2. Choose a Relevant Topic
When deciding on a topic for your webinar, it is best to steer away from evergreen and motherhood subject matter. 38% of attendees are more inclined to stay if the webinar topic is timely and relevant to their current challenges. By picking a topic that feels important to them and their unique circumstances, you make the experience more value-adding.
3. Webinar Duration
No one wants a long-winded sermon. Tell your keynote speakers to keep their talks between 30 to 45 minutes, as these are the webinar lengths most liked by the average attendee. Accounting for a combined 85%, these numbers give your speakers a lot of room to work with while giving you time to divvy up the program to include more speakers with shorter talks.
Attendee Feedback
After any webinar, it is important to give attendees an avenue for engagement. Whether this is a live Q&A session after the talk proper or a post-webinar survey, giving them an opportunity to voice out their questions and takeaways can make your attendees feel heard. Additionally, viewer retention may rise if they attend the webinar bearing questions.
By giving them these avenues for feedback and inquiries, you may gain valuable webinar performance metrics that give you an idea of the general audience reception.
Attendee to SQL Conversion Rate
The EventX hosting platform features a lead capture function that adds business contact information for your company or sponsor use. Gain important information from your attendees that you can use for further marketing efforts after touching base at the event.
Webinar ROI
Monetizing your webinar is a great way to generate revenue. Whether it be from a registration fee or special offer packages and discounts specially made for the attendees, this webinar success metric is especially valuable if you wish to acquire sponsors for future webinars and online events. Showcase your ROI numbers to give them an idea of the revenue they can generate through partnering up with you.
The key to accurately capturing this webinar KPI is keeping tabs on completed sales deals that were directly closed at your webinar, as well as ongoing negotiations and dealings with customers working their way down the consumer funnel.
Increased Brand Awareness
It goes without saying that your webinar is an excellent platform for boosting brand awareness. Whether this is for your own brand or for the sponsors under your care, recognizing the opportunity to build rapport with potential customers and educate them about your brand and products is key to maximizing your webinar’s ROI and customer retention potential.
Participant social media activity is a qualitative webinar performance metric that can shed light on where your brand or your sponsor brands stand. While brand awareness is not your primary purpose for webinars, there is no harm in directing efforts to making sure you get word out about what your institutions have to offer.
Make use of catchy hashtags, or simply browse brand mentions to see what the buzz on your brand is. Web searches, social media clicks, and website visits are also great potential metrics that inform you about where you stand with your market.
As the potential that webinars hold slowly becomes apparent to marketers and companies alike, it is important that you catch the wave early. We hope that this guide on webinar metrics will help you learn how to better take charge of your virtual webinars and other online events.
If you are unsure on how to hold webinars, then consider attending an events management webinar or check out our virtual event guide for other types of online activations that you wish to host for your organization. Our EventX online hosting platform can offer you the webinar metrics featured above, as well as many more useful features for both online and hybrid events you hold!
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