Whitepaper

How to inspire
customers with
exciting webinars

with support from

How to inspire customers with exciting webinars

How to inspire
customers with
exciting webinars

Contents
Why are webinars such an effective way of generating leads?....................... 3
What makes a good webinar?.......................................................................... 4
How do I get attendees involved?.................................................................... 8
How do I turn attendees into customers?........................................................ 9

How to inspire customers with exciting webinars

Vorwort

Why are webinars such an effective way

of generating leads?
Its an all-too-familiar situation. Youre planning a lead-generation campaign for
your business, perhaps a direct marketing campaign. Youre probably buying
suitable addresses for your target group, having expensive materials printed and
sending them out to potential leads with high postage costs. So far, so good.
But when you look at the response rates, you realise that, in spite of your careful
planning and organisation, the campaign hasnt been the success you hoped
for. The quality of the addresses wasnt as good as the supplier promised, the
message wasnt communicated as well as the agencys creative team thought,
and the usable leads are fewer than expected. You failed to engage the interest
of your target group and inspire them with your products or services.
Webinars use a different approach. They allow you to communicate with your
target audience live and in colour, get them involved and get them inspired. People
can take part in your presentation no matter where they are all they need is an
Internet connection. Webinars can also be interactive, allowing you to engage with
your future customers on all levels and inspire them with your products.
Surveys and statistics from major service providers like Citrix show that webinars
are one of the most effective tools available for lead generation. Read on to find
out what makes a good webinar, how to get attendees involved and how to turn
them into customers.

How to inspire customers with exciting webinars

What makes a good webinar?

A good webinar requires planning and preparation. Simply taking a presentation
designed for the classroom and repackaging it as a webinar wont work.
Webinars have requirements of their own, and you need to bear these in mind as
you plan and organise yours. Here are the building blocks of a good webinar:
Structural plan
The structural plan is the framework for your webinar. You will start by deciding
how your webinar will be structured dont worry about content at this stage.
Elements that might feature in your structural plan include content elements,
interactivity (chat surveys, multiple-choice surveys, show of hands more on
these later), live presentations of on-screen content (such as a software demo)
and the transitions between these main elements. The elements you include
in your structural plan will depend on the length of the webinar. A 60-minute
webinar, for example, should include two or three interactive elements. If the
webinar is longer or shorter than this, the number of interactive components
should be adjusted accordingly. The content elements are then linked to the
interactive components to fit the overall structure.

How to inspire customers with exciting webinars

Presentation
The presentation is an essential part of any webinar. Unlike a classroom,
attendees usually cant see the presenters body language. So, as far as they
are concerned, the presentation is the key visual element. When designing a
presentation, always remember the following points:
Dont use more than three ideas or statements per slide.
Never use a font smaller than 20 pt.
Be brief and to the point; avoid long sentences.
Avoid text that is simply read out word-for-word by the presenter (except quotations).
Strong, meaningful images reinforce the visual impact on an emotional level.
Use only a few relevant animations or none at all.
Stick to this rule of thumb: One slide = one minute of the webinar

Introduction
The introduction to the webinar and presentation is a very important part
of the overall event. Usually the first few minutes decide whether attendees
are enthusiastic about the webinar or not. These days, everyone has a busy
schedule, and we are all wired to invest time only in things that we believe will
give us added value and help us achieve our goals.
The same applies to webinars. Attendees have a certain expectation that
the time invested in the webinar will be time well spent. Each attendee will
decide for themselves how much benefit they have to gain. So during the
first few minutes of a webinar, all attendees (sometimes consciously, often
unconsciously) will compare the content of the webinar with their own
expectations and the anticipated benefit.

How to inspire customers with exciting webinars

Here are a few things to avoid in your introduction (not an exhaustive list,
by any means):
Focusing on the presenter and giving a CV
Giving a detailed point-by-point summary of the webinar
Slides containing nothing but text
Slides showing successes, customers, number of subsidiaries/branches

Storytelling
Storytelling is a good way of engaging an attendees interest during a seminar or
webinar while presenting the content in a vivid way. Try to find real-life examples
relating to your topic that have actually been experienced by you or someone
else. These stories should be incorporated into your webinar at suitable points.
People love stories. Its much easier to listen to a story than to concentrate on a
list of dry facts. Storytelling also brings you emotionally closer to your audience.
It makes somewhat abstract ideas more tangible and helps people grasp the real
idea. If you ask a group of people a few days after a webinar what they remember
about it, its often the stories built into the presentation that they recall. These
are much easier for attendees to absorb and take note of, as most people can
associate them with their own experiences.
Interactivity
Interactivity involves attendees in the webinar. You can use interactive elements
to make attendees follow the webinar more attentively and quickly re-engage
with it after an interruption or distraction.
Many attendees are exposed to a lot of distractions during the course of a
webinar. Unlike a classroom-based event, each individual is sitting in front of
their own computer. Frequently used applications like email programs and
communication tools (e.g. instant messaging) are usually running at the same
time. There may also be other browser windows open for social media platforms,
which issue new messages second by second. All these things, plus an
individuals surroundings, provide potential distractions.

How to inspire customers with exciting webinars

So incorporate interactivity at key points during your webinar. This might be a

multiple-choice question with clickable answers or a simple chat question inviting
a brief response from attendees. With the right approach, you can return peoples
concentration to your presentation and re-engage with your audience.
Examples of interactive elements:
Multiple-choice question
Chat question
Whiteboard vote
Show of hands
Interactive drawing

Conclusion
The conclusion is vital to the success of your webinar. To inspire attendees to
remember you as an expert and recall your message, you need to make an impact
at the end of the webinar. Studies show that just 3 days after a presentation,
people only remember a very small amount of the content: the emotional
introduction, storytelling (see above) and the conclusion. So at the end of your
webinar presentation, recap on the key points and explain what benefits the
attendees can draw from the webinar and the action you are prompting them
to take. Use further strong arguments and meaningful images. A well-designed
conclusion achieves much of the overall effect.

How to inspire customers with exciting webinars

How do I get attendees involved?

To reach your audience, you need to engage with them as a presenter and make
them enthusiastic about the products or services you are telling them about. The
webinar will only result in sales if your audience can see the actual added value
of a solution and has developed trust in you.
Here are a few pointers to help:
Identify pain points and offer a solution.

Before the webinar, think carefully about your target audience. What
challenges do they face? What kind of resources or aids do they often
need? Only when you understand these pain points can you address
your audience at the right level. If you can offer solutions, even if only
small steps, then you will win over your listeners.
Build trust.

People buy from people, not from companies. A customer will only
choose you if you have won their trust and sympathy. But this isnt
always easy. Nowadays, thanks to the Internet and mobile access to
information, consumers are extremely well informed. Studies show
that it takes five-to-seven contacts for a potential customer to acquire
enough trust to make a confident purchase decision.

How to inspire customers with exciting webinars

Position yourself as an expert.

To lay the foundations of trust between you and the customer, they
must perceive you as an expert. How can you support this impression
during the webinar? As well as demonstrating your expertise through
the presentation of the topic, the question-and-answer part of the
webinar is very important in this regard. During the question session at
the end of the webinar, attendees will quickly recognise whether you
really know your stuff or your knowledge is limited to the content of the
presentation. So we suggest preparing two or three questions yourself
to go into the topic in more depth in a different direction. You can then
answer these, and audience questions, with confidence.

How do I turn attendees into customers?

Put yourself in the attendees shoes.
When you prepare your presentation, make sure you dont lose sight of the
attendees point of view. Presenters often make the mistake of presenting a
topic too much from their own perspective. As a result, much of the content is
not adequately communicated to the audience. Always ask yourself: How would
attendees see this? What do they get from this?
Never give your potential customer the impression that you are only interested
in acquiring them as a lead. The attendees will quickly catch on to this and
instinctively resist the idea of being a record in your CRM system, even if it would
mean benefits and a good solution for them at the end of the day. Always make
the attendees feel that you are offering them real added value.

How to inspire customers with exciting webinars

Increase your attendance rate.

There are tons of webinars these days; some free, and some you have to
pay for. So its not surprising that not everyone who signs up for a webinar
actually attends the event. Its not unusual for attendance rates to be less
than 50%. You can increase this figure with a few simple measures:
Make good use of email reminders. Lots of people sign up for webinars
and then forget to dial in at the appropriate time. So always send out
reminders the day before and one hour before the webinar is due to
start. In these emails, remind the recipient of the exact content of the
webinar and the benefits of participating live.
Include offers that are only available to people who attend the live webinar
and not those who simply view the recording (such as a prize draw).
Ask yourself whether it would be better for the target audience to offer
a recording or to offer two alternative dates/times for people who cant
attend the main event.
Offer bonus material

Bonus material or other extras are an effective way of building additional

trust between you and the customer. Its best to offer this bonus material
at the end of the webinar. As an added benefit, this provides an extra
incentive for people to stay until the end of the event. Route people via
a website that allows you to measure the number of people who access
the material. This will allow you to gauge the success of the offer and
optimise it for future events. Bonus material might include:

Trial offer

Test access

List of further reading

Useful links

Self-test

Checklist

E-books
Make a time-limited offer.

Analyses of webinars have shown that just 72 hours after a webinar,

attendees recall little of the action they were being prompted to take.
To achieve a good impact and satisfactory response rate, its important
to provide a time-limited offer. This forces people to act within a certain
period of time if they want to take advantage of certain special benefits.
For example, you can make certain bonus material available for a limited
time or in a limited quantity, or offer a special price for a limited period only.

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How to inspire customers with exciting webinars

About Kai Morasch - the Webinar Doc

Kai Morasch has been designing interactive webinars for many years.
In addition to 20 years in marketing for hardware, software and services,
he also has extensive experience in moderation and presentation. He regularly
hosts webinars in which he shares his expertise with potential webinar
organisers. He advises businesses on webinar planning and implementation
and trains webinar presenters.
Email: doc@webinar-doc.de

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How to inspire customers with exciting webinars

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About Citrix
Citrix Systems, Inc. is transforming how people, businesses and IT work and collaborate in the cloud era. Its portfolio of
GoTo cloud services enables people to work from anywhere with anyone by providing simple-to-use-cloud-based collaboration,
remote access and IT support solutions for every type of business. Learn more at www.citrix.co.uk and www.citrixonline.co.uk
2013

Citrix Online, UK Ltd. All rights reserved. Citrix, GoToAssist, GoToMeeting, GoToMyPC, GoToTraining, GoToWebinar,
HiDef Corporate, Podio and Sharefile are trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc., or a subsidiary thereof, and are or may be registered
in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Mac and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Android is a trademark of Google, Inc.

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