How to Create an Online Webinar Sales Funnel in 7 Simple Steps

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Online webinars are a popular – and effective – way to reach potential business prospects. You can personally present a product related topic, generate interest in your brand and start to build relationships with new leads.

But you can’t stop there.

A seasoned online marketer knows the webinar is just the first step towards nurturing those leads into sales.

In this article I’ll walk you through 7 simple steps for creating your own online webinar sales funnel. I’ll break down each step as we take leads down the funnel towards the sale. Let’s get started.



1. Webinar Sales Funnel: Create a Website Landing Page


The first step in any online marketing campaign is to create an optimized landing page. (If you don’t know what a landing page is, check out my previous article “ what is a landing page”).

A webinar landing page can be hosted directly on a standalone page on your website. If you use an awesome landing page builder template, you can get people to sign up for your presentation directly through the landing page.

There’s a number of elements to optimize when you’re designing your page:

  • Headline – Your headline should be clear and compelling in order to grab your viewers’ attention immediately. If you’re using PPC Google Ads (as we’ll see soon), you should be using your headline in your ad – so make it clickable!
  • List of benefits – Show what the potential customer will gain by signing up for your webinar. Even if it’s free, it’s still your job to convince that person that they should 1) give you their email and 2) spend the time to participate with you.
  • Call to Action – Make your CTA color contrasted with your design. It should be one of the first things your visitor sees when they click on your page
  • Form Fields – To gain more conversions (and leads), keep your required form fields to a minimum. Ask for an email and a first name. As we’ll see, you can ask progressively more information as your visitor continues to get to know you.

Check out more landing page optimization tips.

2. Webinar Sales Funnel: Online Advertising


Once you’ve designed your landing page with great copy and visuals, it’s time to promote your webinar event. I’m going to assume that you’ll already be posting your event to all your engaged social media platforms. Use Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and any other platform your particular market uses.  I’d suggest you add fuel to your reach too by using online advertising.

Facebook Ads and Google AdWords are both incredibly effective online marketing tools. For a webinar, they can gain you tons more leads, and extend your brand presence to a far reaching, highly targeted demographic.

Google Adwords gives you the power of intent marketing. People see your ad specifically when they search for campaign keywords – in other words, they see your enticing ad copy exactly when they are looking for webinar topic. AdWords has a click through rate (CTR) of up to 7%.

For best results:

  • Use your landing page headline as your ad headline – The better you match your ad to your campaign, the higher your conversions.
  • Target your ad with topic keywords – Use your webinar topic keywords as targeting methods, and include at least one of two of them in your ad copy.

Facebook Ads gives you amazing hyper-targeting. You can market your webinar to people who work in online marketing, speak English and Like Pages of you or your competitors. Facebook ads are effective at both getting a decent conversion rate and increasing brand awareness.

For best results:

  • Use eye-catching, related images – The first thing people see in a Facebook ad is the image. Make it stand out with contrasting colors and a visual that shows your topic without a thousand words.
  • Hyper-target to reach your exact demographic – Facebook ads have the most powerful targeting ability available to online marketers. You can target using all of Facebook users’ incredibly rich demographic data like Lookalike audiences, Interests, Custom Audience and even Website Custom Audience (which allows you to target to anyone who’s visited pages on your website).

I’ve been asked if advertising on Facebook is successful for B2B’s – as Facebook tends to be a better place for retailers. My short answer is Yes. If your market is social media managers, content marketers and digital advertisers, for example, it’s the best place to advertise – we’re on the site all the time – for work of course!

3. Webinar Sales Funnel: Remarketing


Remarketing is one of my personal fav’s in online advertising. It’s a more advanced marketing technique that drives bounced traffic back to your website. If you’re not sure what remarketing is yet, check out my recent article “ What is Ad Retargeting and How Does it Work?

Here’s how a retargeting strategy works for your webinar campaign:

  • Someone visits your webinar page via your Google AdWords campaign. They bounce.
  • Your remarketing ‘cookie’ follows them around as they zoom around the internet.
  • Your webinar landing page remarketing campaign specifically targets your bounced traffic with copy like “Thanks for checking out our webinar. Register before July 9 to reserve your spot!”
  • The ad then directs traffic back to the original webinar sign-up page. (Or, you could get all advanced and create a personalized landing page specifically catering to your bounced visitors, with copy like “Thanks for coming back…. “).

Remarketing can increase conversions by as muc h as 147%. Personalizing your landing pages with your remarketing efforts only adds fuel to your conversion – and future engagement – rates.

The bonus is that even if you don’t get the conversion, you still benefit by increased touchpoints and brand awareness. You know you’re marketing to the right demographic because they’ve already shown interest by visiting your webinar landing page.

4. Webinar Sales Funnel: Email Marketing Automation Campaign – Pre-Webinar


As soon as someone signs up for your webinar, your next objective is to make sure they attend your event. If it’s a free webinar, the drop off rate for engaging with you further and actually attending is steep….

Set up an email marketing automation campaign to send out an immediate message within a minute or so of the conversion. Your email marketing automation campaign might look something like this:

  • #1 Thank the prospect for RSVPing, and remind them of the benefits your awesome webinar will give them. You could include a link to a blog post or other pertinent content they may be interested in. Show them who you are and that you provide valuable knowledge.
  • #2 Send out an email a few days prior to the webinar to remind your prospect to add your event to their calendar. You could even say that there is limited space and you have a waitlist (if you do). Ask people to let you know if they won’t be attending so you can open up the exclusive opportunity to others.
  • #3 Send out a second reminder email an hour or so before your webinar starts – and include all the information on what the viewer needs to do (such as download the meeting software, check the volume on their computer, and how to sign in)

A few simple emails on your part can increase your webinar attendance rates and build relationships with people who may have never even heard of you before.

5. Webinar Sales Funnel: Email Marketing Automation Campaign – Post-Webinar


Your relationship-building shouldn’t stop just because you’ve gotten a conversion and had the most successful attendance ever for your webinar!

  • #1 Send out an email to all your participants scheduled soon after the webinar. Thank your market for attending. It’s at this moment, when you and your brand are fresh in the minds of your prospects, that you need to engage to keep them moving along your sales funnel. Send a link to your free trial page or VIP demo to encourage them to take the next step.
  • #2 A few days later, send out an email with a link to your webinar recording (and transcript if you’re making these publically available) as soon as it’s up on your website. Engage with your prospects and encourage them to share your recording. Again, let them know about your free VIP consultation. Keep the sell a little softer by giving them links to additional content related to your webinar topic. For example, if your webinar is about “ How to create a landing page”, send them a link to your ebook on How to Create a Landing Page.

Let’s take a short look at your ebook and free trial landing pages.

6. Webinar Sales Funnel: eBook Landing Page


Of course, before you actually send webinar attendees to your free ebook, you need to create a landing page for it. An ebook landing page makes your PDF file easy to download.

You probably already have a long standing landing page for your ebooks. If you don’t – make one for each of your books immediately! An ebook landing page – one that’s optimized for search and designed for conversions – is a no-brainer method of capturing leads even without a full online marketing campaign.

I’d recommend you create a unique post-webinar landing page that’s personalized. Use messaging like: “Thanks for being part of our webinar. As a special offer, we’d like to give you our comprehensive guide to landing page building. For FREE!”

7. Webinar Sales Funnel: Free Trial Landing Page


When you’ve sent out your second post-webinar email, it directs them to your Free Trial landing page. As in the ebook tactic above, I’d suggest you create a uniquely crafted webinar campaign landing page. Personalize it to deepen the consumer connection.

Use copy on your landing page like:

“As a special offer to our webinar participants, we’d like to offer you a free trial of our awesome products.

All you have to do is sign up and you can explore all of our tools – from landing pages, simple-to-make online ads, social promotions, remarketing tools and email marketing automation software.

Your free trial lasts for 14 days. There’s no obligation. What have you got to lose?”

Success! Once you’ve got the sign up for your free trial, give your prospects plenty of support. Send out emails to ask if they have any questions. When the free trial period is coming to a close, send out a reminder email. In that email, reinforce the value of your product. Show the benefits – even send an embedded video with your product benefits or case studies.

Bonus tip: Even if your prospect discontinues the free trial without signing up for paid plan, don’t be angry! Send out an automated email thanking the person for kicking your tires around, and ask them to connect with you on your social sites.

Wrapping it Up


Online sales funnels increase your consumer touchpoints to generate interest in your business and get you sales. Start with a webinar and take it further to build relationships through a comprehensive seven step process. Always A/B test your landing pages and ads for optimal results. A slight variation in your uniquely personalized ebook landing page could increase conversions from 17% to 21%. A 3% increase could mean thousands of dollars to your business’ back pocket. Here’s an article we recommend for you to read about the best webinar platforms to use.

Read more about sales funnels and landing pages:

wishpond

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