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How to make an automated webinar

Holding webinars and automated webinars is one of the key business processes in educational businesses. There is a lot of information on the Internet about how to hold a live webinar and what to speak about, so in this article, I will tell you how to make an automated webinar.

Attention! This information is for those who have already held live webinars and know how to convert webinar visitors into sales. If you haven't, this article won't help you, but it will only make things worse.

What is the difference between webinars and automated webinars?

A webinar is a live performance in front of the audience.

You broadcast live, show a presentation and answer questions in real-time. An automated webinar is a recording that is turned on at a specific time.

An automated webinar looks like a live webinar. Exactly the same presentation, links to your products and chat in the webinar room.

In good services, you can prepare questions that will appear at a certain time in advance and you'll be able to answer them during the presentation.

You probably think why I should do an automated webinar when I can give a link to YouTube.

The automated webinar starts at a specific time. It cannot be paused or viewed at a convenient time.

Today we need to learn to hold the attention of the client. Watching a two-hour video on YouTube, the user can find something more interesting and close your presentation with the usual excuse "I'll watch this later".

When you hold an automated webinar, the client doesn't know that it's a record. He thinks it's a live webinar and there will be some information that shouldn't be missed.

Why are automated webinars worth to be done?

It's difficult for you to create new unique content constantly. You cannot give new information endlessly, because you'll have nothing to sell.

That's why you repeat one topic, and everyone who comes to your webinar says that you are "saying the same thing" or "saying commonplace things".

Our task is to create several unique automated webinars and guide the client through this content in a logical sequence. For many, it's a chance to pull themselves out of the constant wheel of webinars.

Let me show an example of a problem you will face

You have a specific topic and you decided to hold the first webinar. Of the 500 registered users, 200 came.

You held a webinar and tried to sell your product. 10 people bought. Then you held the second master class, and from viewers who came, there are half of those people who had been on the first one and half the people who saw you for the first time.

You made 10 sales again.

This happens several times and the person who has come to five webinars doesn't receive new information at all. He listens to the same thing, the same subjects from another angle.

He loses interest in you and leaves.

After several years of active work, you accumulate a lot of content on the same topic. The problem is that the profundity of this content is mediocre, because you provide the basic information in paid trainings.

New users don't understand where to start and start to drown in your content.

This problem can be solved with the help of automated webinars.

Pros and cons of automated webinars

For what businesses automated webinars are suitable?

Firstly, I want to say that webinars and automated webinars are suitable for almost all types of business and I'll tell you why. But before this, let's discuss a business in which webinars are one of the key business processes.

Educational business

In this type of business, holding the masterclasses directly affects earnings. You constantly need to improve the skills of creating presentations and sales at the webinar. In addition, you need to use an automated marketing system.

Thanks to it, you can focus on improving the content, rather than increasing its amount.

It is better to make an automated webinar on a specific topic once than to make 5 webinars on the same topic, but show it from different angles.

Service business with big average check

When you sell expensive services such as construction, design, law, you need to do 2 things.

The first is to explain to the client why this service is needed and why exactly you are the best to make it. In the case of construction, there's no need to explain why the client needs the house, but in the business of implementing CRM, you need to explain this. There are many builders.

Why should exactly you make this service?

It can be explained through information and content. How you will provide this information isn't important. It can be a personal meeting, a blog article or an automated webinar. The bottom line is that you tell the client how to solve his problem in the best way.

I've seen several cases where the construction company held webinars and told people how they can build a house better. Automated webinars can be made in almost any business.

Automated webinars for SaaS

Automated webinars work very well in businesses for digital products. If your SaaS (Software-as-a-service) product is targeted at small businesses, automated webinars will help you.

In the Enterprise segment, to sell you need to make personal presentations. Long deal cycle and big checks. Even in such a conservative segment, automated webinars will work well, but in the SMB segment, it will be much more effective.

In SMB, you cannot afford individual sellers who will call each customer and sell the product. You simply will not converge unit economics. An automated webinar can replace your sales pitch. Even if you have salespeople, talking to customers who have already watched the presentation is much nicer.

Features of automated webinars platforms

In most cases, automated webinars platforms have all the functions that usual webinar platforms have: screen translation, recording, chat, etc. Let's talk more about the unique features that are in automated webinars platforms.

Making an automated webinar from a live webinar

You have an opportunity to make an automated webinar from the recording of your real webinar. You had a good webinar, you know that it converts visitors to sales, there were a lot of people, they asked questions, you answered them.

This is an ideal situation.

You just take a recording and with one click of a button make an automated webinar. All questions in the chat are also transferred and will appear exactly at the time they were asked. It turns out a complete simulation of a live webinar.

The number of webinar visitors

You can set a dynamic change of visitors to the automated webinar. Even if there is one person watching it, it will seem to him that he's not alone.

At the beginning of the webinar there will be one number of visitors, in the middle it'll be another number, and in the end, it'll be the third. The number changes gradually and the visitor won't notice that it's fake.

Chatbots

In advance, you configure the chat in such a way that fictitious users write messages at a certain point in time.

For instance, you want to overcome the objections through an answer to a question. The bot writes a message at the 48th minute of the automated webinar: "Why is it better than your competitors?" and you answer it.

For a webinar listener, this will sound organically.

Automatic date change

You can set the automatic date change. You don't need to worry that you are launching traffic to the "passed" webinar. You configure the webinar to take place every Tuesday at a specific time. Also, on the landing page, you can create a script that will do automatic date changes.

Time Zone Setting

This feature is important, especially if you sell to an audience from other countries. Now everyone can attend your events, regardless of time zone. The user himself will be able to choose his time zone and when he wants to watch an automated webinar.

Also, the system can automatically determine in which time zone the client is located and substitute the variant he needs.

Price Blocks

When you hold a webinar, at a certain time you give a link to your product.

In an automated webinar, it can be done too. At the right moment, at the right minute, a link to your product will appear.

You can show the price on the banner.

You can change it, and in the webinar recording itself, don't talk about it. Just say the phrase "You see the price on the banner".

Thus, you can do A/B price tests and won't re-record webinars every time in a new way.

Engagement tracking

Webinar platforms can track engagement in a webinar. Who's come? When did he come? How much time he watched the webinar? When did he leave? Did he click on the offer or not? And much more. This data can be transferred to your CRM or marketing automation software.

Tagging

The system can tag each subscriber. Tags can be a trigger for other actions.

For example, for those who came to the webinar, you put the tag "came" and send an email with an offer to buy. For those who didn't come, you put the tag "didn't come" and offer to buy a webinar recording. And for those who came and spent more than an hour, you put the tag "Saw the offer" and send another letter.

To transfer tags, you need to use integration through Apiway.

Series of automated webinars

You can make a special chain of emails that will automatically register people to different automated webinars.

Let's say you have 7 automated webinars and they will be held every day. But the user will receive an email with an invitation to these automated webinars once a week or once every two weeks. He will have the illusion that you constantly hold webinars.

Also, you can track which automated webinar the user has visited and resend invitations to him. Automation can be closed. This process requires a special function. In this video, we use TimeDigital CRM and EverWebinar for such purposes.

How to increase the attendance rate of an automated webinar

This rate is influenced by many factors: brand awareness, topic relevance and the niche in which you work. The average attendance rate on an automated webinar is approximately 25-35%.

If your percentage of attendance is lower, then you do something wrong. If it's higher, everything is fine. It is also important to understand that in large volumes the rate will fall. Here are some screenshots from our automated webinar.

Our attendance record is 57%

Screenshot from the EverWebinar platform

We've put together a list of recommendations that can improve your attendance.

  1. SMS notification 15 minutes before the start.
  2. SMS notification 1 hour before the start.
  3. Notification in the messenger (Trigger mailing by API).
  4. Dialing 15 minutes before start.
  5. Different landing pages and different automated webinar for each time zone.
  6. Warm traffic from your newsletter, not from paid advertising.
  7. Retargeting for those who registered with a reminder of the webinar. (Advertising starts working through the marketing automation system, not in the advertising office).
  8. Webinars are held every day.
  9. Do A/B testing with the time of the automated webinar.
  10. Make a webinar record paid.

Mistakes in automated webinar launch

You don't need to make an automated webinar as a simple broadcast on YouTube and hire programmers for this task. There is special software for automated webinars, where everything has already been made for you.

The big mistake is to rely only on email notifications or only on Facebook Messenger. It is important to use the combination of Email + SMS and, if necessary, FB Messenger.

Don't wait too long periods between webinars. For example, a user clicked on an advertisement, the topic is interesting, but the webinar will take place in a week.

Automated webinars should be held every day. You can make the webinar the next day and send warming content before it. So, at the webinar, you will have an opportunity to make the deal immediately.

Don't launch an automated webinar without having experience in live webinars. First, understand what you have learned to sell at live webinars, and then do automated ones.

Don't try to do your best for the first time, with prepared bots in the chat of the webinar room, ready answers, etc. You can spend a lot of time making such a webinar, but it doesn't give you a guarantee that it will bring money.

In the beginning, make an automated from a live webinar. Make poorly at the beginning, understand how it works, and only then do well.

Don't drive a lot of traffic for the first time. When you set up an automated webinar, it will work correctly for the fifth time.

In the beginning, you seemed to do everything, everything worked. You made advertising, but SMS didn't come. You did this all again.

Then the link didn't work, then the broadcast didn't launch in time.

It's ok.

You just need to get through it. I remember my friend drove a lot of traffic on his first automated webinar. But the video didn't work. This mistake cost him $ 3000. He did the same 3-4 times and as a result, he spent a lot of money on testing.

Don't repeat his mistakes. Invite 5-10 visitors and when you realize that everything works correctly, scale it.

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