I’ve seen people pour countless hours and resources into organizing their webinars, only to crash and burn as sales numbers dip.
So, are webinars dead?
Hell no!
When 83% of marketers report webinars are effective, you can bet your bottom dollar that webinars are alive and kickin’!
But people need to up their game on webinars. And it all starts with optimizing your webinar sales funnel.
In this article, I’ll show you the five elements you need for a high-converting webinar.
We’ll get into the nitty gritty—from what to include in your webinar funnels to building relationships and promoting your webinar.
I’ve even simplified things so you can immediately apply these tips in your next webinar and convert better.
Plus, I’ll reverse engineer Jon Penberthy’s automated webinar system as we go along so you can see firsthand how a webinar marketing ninja like Jon does it. His system has generated over $4 million in the last few years and consistently makes around $200,000 monthly.
Before we dive in, I want to make sure we’re on the same page with what a webinar sales funnel is and why you should care.
What is a Webinar Sales Funnel?
A webinar sales funnel is a marketing strategy where you attract qualified leads and convert them into paying customers using your free webinar, online training, Masterclass—or whatever fancy term you can come up with—as the lead magnet.
I’m the KING of webinar funnels! I’ve been using them for over a decade and making millions, so I can tell you, I’ve been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt.
So, how does a sales funnel for a webinar work?
The idea is to get people to sign up, keep them plugged into what you’re teaching through a series of emails, and then BAM!—hit them with your IRRESISTIBLE offer.
Deliver such mind-blowing value that they can’t help but think, “Where has this been all my life?”
That’s it. Sounds simple enough.
But that’s just scratching the surface. Webinar funnels do so much more for your business, and that’s why they freakin’ rock!
The Benefits of a Webinar Funnel
An optimized funnel for your webinar can mean a MASSIVE boost in sales.
Any marketer worth their salt knows this, too—in fact, 53% of marketers say webinars are the top-of-the-funnel format that generates the most high-quality leads.
Another 42% say webinars are the most successful in converting and accelerating leads at the middle and late stages of the funnel.
When implemented effectively, webinar funnels become lean, mean, lead-generating, revenue-making machines.
Connect Directly with Prospects
Write this down: SELLING IS ALL ABOUT HUMAN CONNECTION.
When I give webinars, I always ask people to come early.
Why?
This gives me the perfect opportunity to connect with my audience.
I open my rooms 30 minutes before, and I do giveaways, ask people to subscribe to my podcast, join my Facebook group, or send me an email—I just LOVE doing fun stuff and hanging out with my attendees!
People ask me questions and get a chance to connect with me. That’s relationship-building right there. That ain’t something you can do with cold calls.
The cool thing is once you get leads into your webinar sales funnel, you can nurture relationships and engage, and it becomes much easier to earn their trust.
And that brings me to the next benefit of webinar funnels and great webinars.
Demonstrate Expertise
Customers want to buy from experts.
It doesn’t matter what niche you are in. If you want sales, you have to position yourself as an expert in your field.
Webinars are HANDS DOWN, the best way to showcase your expertise, what your product can do, or what your service offers.
How?
When people watch your webinar, when you give insightful information that they can apply immediately, when they see that you indeed know your stuff, you earn their trust—and that, my friend, is your GOLDEN TICKET.
When people trust you, believe in your brand, and know you can help them solve their problems, selling practically becomes automatic.
With trust, people are more likely to purchase from you. They’ll buy your product and hire you as a coach or consultant because you’ve demonstrated your expertise.
Increase Brand Awareness
At the end of the day, webinar sales funnels are tools to get people into your webinar to buy something.
But webinars aren’t just about immediate sales. You can leverage webinars for brand awareness, which you can cash in for sales later.
Say you’re testing a new offer.
You set up your webinar funnel and run a Facebook ad asking people to sign up for a free webinar.
People who have never heard about you will see your personal brand and the service you’re offering pop up on their social media feeds.
They’ll learn more about you when they sign up and attend your webinar.
Now, you won’t be able to convert every attendee – at least not right after the webinar.
But since they know you exist and you blew their minds with such a great webinar, they’ll likely remember you and choose your services once they’re ready to make a purchase.
5 Elements Every Webinar Sales Funnel Should Have
Your webinar sales funnel can make or break your marketing strategy, so it’s crucial to nail it from the get-go.
That said, let’s look at the first key element of a webinar sales funnel.
Simple Registration Page
I’ve seen a bunch of mistakes marketing people make when creating their webinar registration page:
- Flashy designs
- Overly long copies
- Too many fields in their form
- A gazillion logos on the page
It’s too messy and distracting.
You have to channel your inner Marie Kondo and cut the clutter out.
Don’t make things complicated for people to sign up for your webinar.
No matter what niche you’re in, you only need these four elements on your registration page:
- A headline
- A few bullet points
- Images
- A button to register
That’s it.
Jon shared he doesn’t use video anymore on his registration page.
Since the leads come from paid ads on YouTube and Facebook, they’ve watched your content and liked the sound of it, so they just need to come to a page where they can register.
Thank You Page
Your Thank You page is the only page that ALL of your leads will land on, so it must be amazing.
What makes a thank you page incredible?
- A video thanking people for registering
- A button they can click to receive free training on Facebook
That’s Jon’s MAGIC formula!
While your registrants don’t have anything to do until the day of the webinar, why not keep them engaged with the free training?
You don’t only provide more value, but you also lead them further down your sales funnel.
How?
At the end of the free training video, pitch the product.
A segment of your leads will always want to skip the webinar and head directly to your offer. Their trust in you eliminates the need for a full-length webinar.
Email Sequence
I swear by email sequences. They’re a HUGE part of how I’m able to put 2,000 to 3,000 people into webinars every time.
Ok. Hold up. I know what you’re thinking: “Duh!? Anik, everyone does that for their webinars. It’s the oldest trick in the book.”
Yes! But UNLIKE everyone, my emails are not just—
“I have a webinar coming! I have a webinar coming! I have a webinar coming.”
Bor-rring!
My webinar sales funnel has email sequences built around a STORY. It’s like a Netflix series where I keep the audience hooked and eagerly awaiting what’s next.
I create buzz with new strategies, giveaways, cash prizes, and more. The goal is to create excitement.
The webinar is not just a webinar—it’s an EVENT.
Get stories into your email sequences so people who sign up get super hyped about attending your webinar. GO!
Bonus Offers
Bonus offers help create value in your promotion.
I’ll give you two strategies for bonus offers that you can immediately apply in your next webinar and see attendance numbers go through the roof.
Number one. Offer a bonus for arriving early in your webinar.
I do this all the time. This isn’t just to secure a spot in my webinars (which maxes out due to technological limits). But also to leverage the psychological benefit of interacting and connecting with my attendees.
I usually do giveaways or ask people to do stuff like email me using the subject line XYZ, and you win 100 bucks.
Number two. Reward attendees for staying until the end.
I love to give books. That’s what I offer at the end of my webinars.
One of my books, “The Silent Salesman,” has generated multiple six figures already, and I give this book, but only if you attend my webinar and stay the whole time.
We’ve actually found that having a free gift helps get show rates up.
PRO TIP: Your bonus offers should still complement your primary offer or be relevant to the people attending your webinar. That way, prospects see it as an exceptional deal they’re getting for free.
Post-webinar Engagement
Your webinar won’t magically turn everyone into customers.
And that’s OK.
Maybe it’s not the right time for them to purchase, or they can’t decide whether to buy or not.
Here’s what I do after my webinars: I spend some serious time segmenting my list to put the right offer in front of the right person.
You can have hundreds of ways to segment your database, but I recommend focusing on warm leads.
These are the people who rated your webinar highly, asked questions, and showed interest in your products.
To segment your list around warm leads, do the following:
- Identify Warm Leads: Pinpoint those who actively engaged during your webinar.
- Keep Educating: If they need more info before they buy—give it to them.
- Stay on Their Radar: Regular, relevant content will keep their interest piqued and your brand at the top of their minds.
- Seal the Deal: With consistent, targeted information, transition them from interested attendees to committed customers.
Focus on the leads that count and guide them as smoothly as possible toward doing business with you.
How to Create a Webinar Sales Funnel that Converts
By now, you’ve got a good understanding of what goes into a webinar sales funnel.
Let’s tackle a few more things you need to do to amp it up and get those conversions rolling in!
Build Relationships
Let’s face it. A lot of marketers look at sales funnels for webinars the wrong way.
When they put out their ads, they become obsessed with getting clicks.
You have to shift your focus.
Instead of begging for clicks, build relationships.
Why should you even bother?
Because building a good relationship is about earning TRUST.
I’ve probably said this a thousand times to my clients – people buy from those they know, like, and trust.
Would you buy from someone you’ve just met and know nothing about?
I thought so.
91% of customers say they would buy from a company that gained their trust.
So, in your videos, you should educate people and show your expertise to build trust. That way—by the time viewers click—they’re doing so with intention and are ready to move forward.
Use Jon’s GTI formula to build relationships.
GTI stands for:
- Grab
- Teach
- Invite
Grab your audience’s attention by addressing their main challenges or desires.
Action: List out the top three pain points of your target audience. Ensure your content directly speaks to at least one of these right off the bat.
Teach key insights related to their pain points. Give them a reason to think, “This is useful.”
Action: Choose three main insights or solutions related to their pain points. Deliver them clearly and confidently.
Invite people to your webinar once you’ve provided value. Tell them what to do next if they want to learn more.
Action: Draft a concise invitation pointing out the benefits of attending your webinar. Remember, no fluff—just direct benefits.
Promote Your Webinar
Whipping up a killer webinar is just half the battle. Now, you must get the word out and ensure folks know about it.
There are lots of ways to go about promoting your webinar. I lean toward paid advertising and emails.
Now, I can mail my list and fill a room – no problem. Don’t think paid ads are my secret. But all I’m saying is dare to play.
Think spending $6, $7, or even $8 per registration is the norm? Think again. We do webinars from $4-$5 bucks per registration.
That’s right, just $5 to get someone to register and, in the process, secure their invaluable email address forever. It’s an investment that can reap benefits for years to come.
Let’s break down the math behind this approach.
Suppose you have a daily budget of $50. If each lead costs $5, that’s ten leads a day.
Multiply that by a month, and you’ve got 300 potential customers.
And if only 25% attend your webinar, you’re essentially paying $20 for 90 uninterrupted minutes with an engaged audience member.
These numbers simply make sense.
Provide Real Value in Your Content
Content is what sets my webinars apart.
To reiterate: My webinars are events, not sales pitches.
I don’t straight-up knock people over the head with a pitch. I give a lot of value.
When you sign up for my webinar, the experience starts way before the actual event. I typically release a 20 to 40-minute content-rich video on my YouTube channel for attendees.
Not only does this drive registrants to my channel (and hopefully earns me a subscriber), but it also sets the stage for the webinar.
PRO TIP: Use pre-webinar content as a primer. It introduces topics to guests and provides a foundation for what’s to come.
Here’s the thing about humans: they don’t mind being pitched to as long as they get value.
When you ensure your attendees walk away feeling smarter, they’ll associate that growth with your brand. You’ll gain their trust.
They might not buy during the webinar, but they’ll remember you when they’re ready to purchase.
Use a Clear and Compelling CTA
If you’re not hitting attendees with a strong CTA, you’re just leaving conversions on the table.
Here’s my 3-item CTA checklist you can use in your webinar funnel:
Define The Action – Write down your desired action. Everything in your webinar should steer attendees towards this.
What exactly do you want your attendees to do? Sign up for a course? Purchase a product? Book a consultation? Be precise. Ambiguity is the enemy of conversion.
Emphasize Benefits, Not Features – People don’t buy products; they buy results.
Instead of saying “Join our 4-week digital marketing workshop,” say “Master the strategies of top marketers and learn how to explode your online sales.”
Always answer the attendee’s silent question: “What’s in it for me?”
Create Urgency – Humans are naturally inclined to procrastinate.
Fight this by infusing your CTA with a sense of urgency. Limited-time offers or bonuses can be effective nudges.
Phrases like “Only for the first 50 sign-ups,” “Offer ends in 24 hours,” or “Go Here Now – Bonus Expires in 1 HOUR!” can drive immediate action.
Example of Webinar Sales Funnel
You have the 5 elements you need to include in your webinar funnel, and you know what to do behind the scenes to increase your show rates and conversions.
It’s time to look at my webinar funnel example to see how everything falls into place.
My Go-to Webinar Funnel Template
If you’re anything like me, you prefer to keep things simple.And that’s exactly what this webinar funnel template is. It only has three stages: Lead Capture, Purchase, and Post-Engagement.
Lead Capture
I run a Facebook ad that introduces my personal brand to someone’s feed. They click the ad that takes them to my registration page.
The ad leads to my sign-up page with a clear headline, some bullet points, and images.
When someone registers, that triggers my email sequences, where I send out more information and continuously engage with them leading up to the webinar.
Purchase
Remember, don’t go on a pitch-fest during your webinar.
Deliver VALUE. Your attendees need to know they’ll get value even if they don’t buy.
I like to start my webinars by saying something like:
“Listen, I’m going to deliver tons of value to you, but at the end, I do want to make you an offer.”
This strategy is Permission-based marketing, and it will make you so much more relatable, and the trust will be so much higher by the end of your presentation.
Post-Webinar Engagement
I don’t just sit around after my webinars.
Like I said, I segment the hell out of my list.
Not every attendee will convert immediately, but that doesn’t mean the relationship ends.
For people who didn’t buy that day, I do retargeting.
The post-engagement stage is also where I can upsell any other product that we have in our funnel for those who purchased our offer. These could be exclusive offers or advanced training programs for attendees eager for more in-depth knowledge.
There you have it. My webinar funnel template isolates each stage, so you see the process from sign-up to the event and what you need to do after your webinar.
Your Next Steps
There’s no need to overcomplicate your webinar sales funnel. Simple works!
Take these tips and implement them in your next webinar.
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