how to use webinars to grow email list

How to Use Webinars to Grow Your Email List: 6 Best Practices

This is a guest post by content marketer Adela Belin.

Studies show that close to 80% of small and medium-sized firms use email in their customer acquisition plans. 

Why? Email marketing has a strong ROI, making it a vital asset in a business’s growth strategy.

But like any other growth strategy, email marketing also has its fair share of challenges. 

First, building an email list is no easy feat. Customers today may be less willing to share personal details or data with companies. Brands, therefore, have to do more when asking someone to join their email list. 

One way to get customers into your email list is by giving them an offer they can’t resist, such as freebies, discounts, or a valuable piece of content. 

Webinars are one such example. Here’s why webinars are effective in boosting email sign-up rates:

Webinars raise brand awareness

Webinars are not only for educational purposes, but can also be an excellent avenue to market your product.

They offer a better learning experience

The audio and visual elements of webinars capture the attention of your audience. This limits distractions and how people process the information you share with them. All in all, by their very nature, webinars offer a more comprehensive learning experience than blog and social media posts.

They allow real-time communication

Webinars allow you to converse with your audience in real-time and respond to questions right away. You can easily and quickly create a better connection with the people you’re trying to convert.

They’re highly targeted

Webinars can generate high-quality targeted leads, which means they help boost conversion rates.

how to use webinars for email marketing

How to Use Webinars to Grow Your Email List

As you can see, running webinars can be an effective way to grow your email list. However, to achieve your goal, you have to follow some best practices. Let’s talk about them and see why they’re important.

#1 Narrow down on a topic

The first thing your audience will look at before subscribing to your webinar is the title. 

So, aim to hook your audience right away with a headline that gets attention. Settle on a topic you know people are passionate about so they resonate at first glance.

Here are a few elements to keep in mind as you brainstorm for a headline:

  • Create curiosity
  • Be unique
  • Offer value
  • Answer the how, the why, and the where 
  • Include a targeted keyword
  • Make it short
  • Add a sense of urgency
  • Solicit action
  • Use numbers
Teal background shows cartoon man riding a rocket advertising 2021 content marketing webinar.

Nonetheless, the secret to a good title is finding a problem your audience faces and sharing how you’ll solve it. Once your audience understands the value you bring, they will be more inclined to subscribe.

Want to see how ZeroBounce works? Give it a try!

#2 Find the right tools

Choosing the right tools for your webinar is paramount. First, it ensures a smooth experience with your brand, and that matters in keeping people focused and so they don’t lose interest due to system glitches. 

Once you find the best platform, don’t forget to test it and rehearse before you go live to avoid last-minute hiccups.

#3 Promote your webinar

So, you have settled on a topic and found the appropriate tools to use. Now you need to get the word out there!

How do you do that?

Start by creating a dedicated landing page on your website – it’s a better way to get more people to sign-up for your webinar and email list.

On your landing page, have a brief of what your webinar will cover. You can use bullets or lists. Also, consider adding info about yourself, the company, the host of the webinar, and how long it will take. Simplify your sign-up process and make it clear to your new subscribers that they’ll be receiving emails from you.

how to grow email list

To pique your audience’s interest, you can record a short teaser video and promote it on your landing page and to your existing email subscribers and social media followers.  

With social media, use hashtags, social media groups, and paid social to reach the people who may be interested in your webinar. Remember to include case studies and social proof to instill confidence in your brand, like in this ad below. 

Alternatively, to help spread the word, you can look for influencers and other content producers. The advantage of partnering with another content creator or brand is that you will probably share the email lists and promotional costs. 

get more email subscribers

#4 Build a personal relationship by providing value

For an audience that hasn’t met you or knows little about you, the best way to convince them to register is by luring them with exciting content. You want to make it worth their time and offer some key information they can use in their businesses.

Getting this part right matters because it helps you build a long-term relationship with these new subscribers. So, do your best to gain their loyalty and trust.

For starters, ensure you build your webinar around educational content, and the value you provide will make people look forward to your next emails and webinars.

To succeed at providing value:

  • Decide on your webinar format. Is it a single or dual expert presentation? Is it an interview or a product demonstration? Plan your webinar format early so you can have enough time to prepare.
  • Find the right setup. If the topic is less business-related, find a more relaxed environment to host your webinar. 
  • Offer in-depth and practical tips that people can start using right away.
  • Enable the sharing of images and screenshots to get your audience to focus on what you want. 

Through live presentations, you can genuinely connect with people using emotions, physical, and verbal gestures. And when you manage to build a positive connection, your new subscribers will continue to engage with you once they start getting your emails.

#5 Reuse your webinar

Do you know that 49% of customers say they wish to receive promotional emails from a brand? 

Once the webinar is over, continue to interact with your new subscribers to stay relevant in their inboxes.

You can put the content of your webinar to better use in several ways.

Recycle: Repurpose the webinar content and publish it on your website, put it in an eBook, blog post or social media to maximize your content marketing efforts.

Furthermore, you can group a few webinars into one and set them live as a brand new online course.

See how the ZeroBounce team repurposed the webinar “Why Data Integrity Matters” on this blog.

growing your email list with webinars

Follow-up: You can send a recording of the webinar to those who missed the live presentation and to give your attendees a way to watch it again. In these follow-ups, ask them for their feedback so you can create even better experiences in the future.

Remember to promote the products you think are right for your new leads. Alternatively, you can use the recorded webinar to promote new webinars and in your various email marketing campaigns. 

As a content upgrade: Most marketers end a blog post with a call-to-action. To get more qualified leads from your old content, use your webinar recording as a content upgrade.

All these tactics help you get more out of your webinar and skyrocket your email sign-up rates. Besides, repurposing your webinar into blog posts, social media, or as a content upgrade fills your editorial calendar with fresh content.

Conclusion: Make the most of webinars to grow your email list

Gaining new customers today is labor-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive. For companies looking to acquire new leads, creating great content offers is a way to stand out and build relationships.

So, if you’ve never run a webinar, consider it for 2021 and beyond. When executed correctly, webinars are incredible channels for communication, building and sustaining your following, and improving your email sign-up rates.

Author bio:

Adela Belin is a content marketer and blogger at Writers Per Hour. She is passionate about sharing stories with the hope to make a difference in people’s lives and contribute to their personal and professional growth. Find her on Twitter and LinkedIn.