Your webinar sucks.
Very few people will say it to your face. But here am I, with dozens upon dozens of webinars under my belt, ready to tell you the truth.
I know a thing or two about webinars. They’re my favorite way to sell.
They let you speak directly to your customers wherever they are. They bring energy and sizzle. They let you nerd out with people who share your passion! Webinars are a huge asset when done right.
Webinars are the best way, in my opinion, to explain your high-ticket offers and answer any questions immediately during the Q&A. You just can’t beat that instant connection that makes selling almost effortless.
But I know from my 1-on-1 consults that many people are not getting the conversions they want from their webinars.
So, I decided to share a few simple tweaks I use that have brought in millions of sales for our information products.
Now, don’t think these tips won’t work for you if you’re not in the information business. They will because they’re all about techniques to optimize your webinar delivery regardless of which niche you’re in.
Ok, so with that said, let’s dive into my top 15 tips to boost your webinar sales conversion rates.
1. Optimize Your Registration Page to Get High-Quality Leads
Here’s a mistake I see too many people make – they simply ask for an email address on their webinar registration page and let anyone sign up.
This type of registration page fills your webinar with tire kickers. Not ideal!
Instead, add a few qualifying fields to filter for true prospective buyers:
- Ask for name and phone number
- Include a question about their biggest problem to assess relevance
- Use checkboxes to confirm their interests are a fit
Adding some speed bumps keeps out the looky-loos and gets you excited, qualified registrants.
And…a bonus tip…SEGMENT YOUR LIST
Don’t make the mistake of blasting your webinar registrants together with your main list emails. They’ll tune you out quickly.
Here’s what I do. I segment my webinar registrants from my main list and set up a dedicated email sequence for them.
By doing so, I’m not only keeping them engaged while waiting for my webinar to go live, but I’m also creating opportunities to up-sell or cross-sell other relevant products or services and enhance the overall user experience of my emails.
2. Promote 3 Days in Advance
As a webinar newbie more than 10 years ago, I used to promote my webinars weeks in advance. But you know what I discovered?
People just don’t stay pumped that long! The excitement fizzles out faster than you’d expect. Not gonna lie; it stung watching all that hard-won momentum go down the drain.
So here’s what I do now – I focus ALL my webinar promo energy into the final 72 hours leading up to go time.
Why just 3 days? Because that taps into our brain’s craving for urgency and anticipation! Anything important happening soon captures our attention big time.
So, in these final 3 days, I send some solo emails just about the webinar. But most promotion happens organically woven into my regular content.
Either way, I make sure registrants know it’s game time VERY soon. The value is right around the corner!
And that morning of…oh man, it’s ON! I send one last email reminding registrants about the event.
Hearing their name and reminding them of the amazing transformation ahead gets people pumped to show up. Try this in your webinar marketing and watch those attendance numbers rise!
3. Choose a Webinar Platform Focused on Increasing Attendance
When selecting what platform to host your webinar on, the #1 priority should be finding one focused on boosting show rates.
We use AEvent. And, no, I don’t get paid for this, I just genuinely love the tool. It makes it easy for my team to set up multi-layered automated reminder sequences.
Many platforms send a single reminder email and call it a day. But AEvent sends a series of follow-up emails with different messaging, as well as text reminders and even MMS (think GIFs) alerts.
We found that consistent nudging across platforms improves live show rates.
The point is you’d have to choose the technology wisely. Look for calendar integrations, advanced targeting features to send customized reminders, and robust engagement tools when choosing a webinar platform.
4. Master Webinar Presentation Skills For Engagement
Having killer slides isn’t enough to captivate your audience for an entire webinar. You need to master presentation skills if you want to sell anything online.
I’ve done over 1000 webinars, and here are some of the key skills I focus on constantly improving:
- Vocal Tonality – Don’t use a monotonous, flat voice. Strategically vary your vocal tonality to inject energy, enthusiasm, and interest. For example, raise your pitch and speak faster when sharing an exciting accomplishment, but lower your tone and slow down when relating a personal failure to appear sincere.
- Pacing – Avoid speaking at the same tempo non-stop. Know when to strategically speed up to convey urgency and passion or slow down at key moments you really want to land. Abruptly pausing after making an important point gives it more impact.
- Audience Engagement – Interact with and acknowledge your audience frequently. Call out individuals by name when they ask questions or provide feedback. Directly tell attendees to type in the chat or use emoticons to react. Keeping them active prevents zoning out.
- Humor – Funny anecdotes and jokes sprinkled throughout get your audience smiling and laughing, which releases feel-good hormones that bond them to you. Just don’t overdo it or tell inappropriate jokes that could backfire.
- Authority – Share credentials, accomplishments, results, and client testimonials that substantiate your expertise. But don’t come across as bragging. Strike the right balance to build credibility.
- Voice Projection – Speak loudly and enunciate clearly so you’re easily heard and understood. But don’t yell. Moderate your volume, mic position, and audio mix for the right balance.
Great content is useless if presented poorly. Ask yourself: would YOU stay engaged watching a recording of your webinar? If not, keep practicing!
5. Use Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) Techniques to Increase Conversions
A powerful way to boost webinar conversions is by employing Neuro-linguistic programming to prime your audience for conversion.
Throughout your presentation, give your audience simple commands like:
- Type “YES” in the chat box if you agree
- Raise your hand if this sounds familiar
- Stand up if you’re committed to change
Getting people to take micro-actions like these trains them to listen and follow your instructions. This is an example of participation marketing at work.
It starts creating compliance on an unconscious level. So when you ultimately say, “Go buy now,” they are conditioned to take action on your directives.
These little engagement-boosting activities also make your webinar more lively and fun. Constantly getting feedback prevents you from feeling like you’re just talking to a wall.
6. Extend Your Funnel Before and After the Webinar
Many marketers think of a webinar as a standalone event. They present to attendees, and the sale happens after.
Look, don’t kid yourself and think that one webinar will convert every person.
To maximize results, you need to think of your webinar as part of a broader strategy with extended pre- and post-nurturing activities.
You already know to promote your webinar 3 days before, but what do you do after?
Here’s my advice: After your webinar concludes, segment your audience based on their actions.
- Send exclusive offers and resources to highly engaged attendees.
- Provide additional training to more passive viewers.
- Survey no-shows to learn how to improve.
Extending your webinar funnel beyond the webinar event itself reduces drop-off, provides feedback you can use for succeeding webinars, and gives you more opportunities to interact and convert leads over time.
7. Use Open Loops to Keep Viewers Glued to Their Seats
An amazing way to prevent people from dropping off your webinar early is by creating open loops.
Open loops are honestly kind of crazy. Think of it this way…
Have you ever heard someone who’s come out of a relationship say something like, “I just need closure.
Well, everybody needs closure. Our minds are such interesting beings. They need a loop closed. Everything has to be closed.
So when I begin a presentation, I always say…
“Hey, today you’re gonna learn about this, this, this, this. Oh, and by the way, a little bit into the presentation, I’m gonna reveal this killer case study for you where I did boom, boom, boom, boom. And also, by the end of today’s presentation, you’ll walk away with boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.”
I also love to do things like “the 3 secrets” or “the 5 steps” – hell, I even do that in these posts!
So what happens is you’re watching me present, and if I’m only on step #2, you don’t want to leave until you get to the last one. At a subconscious level, you gotta get all five.
Whether it’s a video or a webinar and you’re going to pitch, try to create as many open loops as possible, and don’t close them until the END.
The curiosity of wanting closure will keep attendees engaged until your pitch.
8. Take a Permission-Based Approach to Your Pitch
Trying to surprise people with a pitch at the end comes across as salesy, and DAMAGES trust these days.
Look, people know that they’re probably going to be pitched to. There’s no use hiding it. But they also need to know they’ll get VALUE even if they don’t buy.
That’s why I’m very transparent upfront that I will be making an offer later in the webinar. Here’s how I phrase it:
“I’ll be sharing a ton of value with you today, and then later, I’ll make an offer. Feel free to leave when we get to that part if it’s not for you. For now, let’s dive into the great content!”
This “permission-based” approach reduces resistance and builds goodwill. Be upfront. Deliver value first. Then make your pitch.
People appreciate honesty. Don’t try to dupe them with a surprise pitch. Let them know it’s coming, deliver value, and give them the choice to opt out when you present your offer.
9. Share Personal Stories to Build Connection
In my webinars, I always ask my attendees to come early.
Why?
This is the perfect time for me to engage with my audience and build connections.
Here’s the deal. Sales is all about HUMAN CONNECTION. So you have to invest the time in knowing your audience and letting them also learn more about you.
I open my webinar room 30 minutes before and I just hang out with my attendees.
People ask me questions like “Are you married?” “Do you have kids?” “What’s your favorite food?”
I get to tell them stories about my personal experiences, my journey as an entrepreneur, and all that great stuff.
But what’s really happening here is that I get to connect with people.
In case you didn’t know, 83% of prospects are more likely to purchase from sellers they have an emotional connection with.
Personal stories humanize you and make prospects far more willing to invest in your offers.
Webinars give you the gift of time, often an hour or more to talk to your attendees. Use a big chunk of it to share experiences from your journey.
Be vulnerable but don’t fake it. Share real lessons you learned in your life and business. The more you’re able to do so, the greater the trust and connection you’ll build and the more you can convert prospects to paying customers.
10. Give Those “A-Ha!” Moments
During your webinar, you want your attendees to experience at least 3 big A-HA moments where they think “Wow, I hadn’t thought of that.”
For example:
Wanna lose weight? Eat less.
Booooring. Good luck getting me to pay with that advice.
Now, let’s try this:
Wanna lose weight? Eat any food you want that is the size of your palm or less.
The other person thinks, “Wait, what? How? Why? This is interesting.”
You’ve created a concept that is intriguing and something new for them. Now, you have to back it up and prove it.
But, if you do this, you’ve created an A-HA and won credibility in their minds. This is going to get you very close to getting the sale.
Do this 3 times.
There are TWO ways to create A-HA moments…
Pick the 3 biggest objections your prospects have and help them have a breakthrough in each of them.
Pick 3 amazing “wow, never revealed before” things about your industry and reveal them…
Blow their minds…be so good they would have paid for the info you provided.
11. Don’t Undervalue the Q&A
As the initial flurry of sales during your pitch starts to wind down, don’t end the webinar yet. Take your Q&A session seriously!
Believe it or not, I have had webinars where I have stayed on for an hour and a half after my webinar and pitch were done just answering questions and talking.
I found that 50% of my audience was still there at the end of the Q&A and we’ve gone back and tracked that Q&A time. We generated 25% of our sales during the Q&A time!
That means had I not invested my efforts in that additional Q&A time, I could have lost a heck of a lot of moolah.
So again, don’t think that everyone decides the offer.
People do indeed sit around thinking about it and things like an extended Q&A can firm up that final sale.
Answering questions reduces objections and builds belief in those prospects who need that extra reassurance before they purchase.
12. Use a Countdown Timer
This tip works like a charm over and over.
When you position your offer, throw a bonus or something then put a 10-minute, 15-minute—I don’t care how many minutes you use—but put a timer on it.
Say your offer is only for action-takers, so go take action now.
That countdown timer gets people off the fence and into sales motion.
Here’s why it works:
You’re creating urgency. You’re giving the brain a definitive cut-off point to make a decision rather than leaving people swirling in overthinking limbo forever.
Having a countdown timer lights a fire under them to listen to their intuition and make a call within that short time window you’ve provided. Does it feel right? Then go for it!
The timer incentivizes them to take action NOW if it feels right, rather than falling victim to analysis paralysis.
I can’t even tell you how many extra sales those simple countdowns have generated for me. The fear of missing out is real!
13. Offer a "Golden Goose" Bonus For Fence Sitters
Even after an amazing webinar and stellar offer, you’ll always have some “fence sitters” who just can’t decide. Don’t leave money on the table – give them one final bonus!
I call this the “Golden Goose Bonus” because it needs to be so insanely valuable that it pushes hesitant prospects off the fence.
When creating your Golden Goose Bonus, don’t just tack on any random thing. Put real thought into what would bring incredible value to your audience that specifically helps them achieve their goals faster.
Put yourself in their shoes. What “done for you” bonus would make them feel silly for saying no? Personal access to you? Custom-done templates? One-on-one services?
For my mastermind launch, I offered a full day of personal consulting with me for free. People bought just to get that without even hearing the rest of my pitch!
Come up with a bonus that goes above and beyond. Something so good, people will buy just to get it. This is a powerful way to capture those last remaining fence-sitters.
14. Go Above and Beyond With Risk Removal
Offering a standard money-back guarantee is expected these days. To make your offer truly irresistible, you need to take risk removal to the next level.
Here’s the thing, people don’t just fear wasting money. They also fear wasting time and effort. So think beyond just protecting their purchase price.
For my high-ticket coaching program, I offer a double your money-back guarantee. If clients don’t get the promised results, I refund 200% of their investment.
I’ve also provided unlimited 1-on-1 calls with me for free until they achieve their goals. This shows I’m willing to invest MY time if they aren’t satisfied.
Brainstorm creative ways you can overdeliver on risk reversal. The goal is to make saying no seem downright foolish because you’ve removed all risk.
Could you refund their purchase AND cover related expenses if your product underdelivers? Provide done-for-you services at no cost? Get creative!
Generous risk removal proves your extreme confidence in your offer and cements the decision to buy as a no-brainer.
15. Take Down Your Webinar Replays
You know how we all use webinar replays for follow-up sales?
Here’s the thing – too many marketers leave those replays hanging around online forever collecting dust. BAD idea!
Replays just don’t pull the same weight they used to 5, 10 years ago. Want to know why?
Because replays are EVERYWHERE now! Your audience is on replay overload.
So what can you do about it? Two words my friend: Create. Scarcity.
Yup, take those replays off the web after just a couple days, max! 48 hours is what I usually do.
Once it’s gone, FOMO kicks in big time. People tune in like crazy to catch it before it disappears into the abyss!
This is a POWERFUL way to convert webinar viewers into customers.
After that, shoot them over to your sales page to keep the momentum going. The lesson here is DON’T let your replays loaf around forever. Put an expiration date on them and watch your conversions shoot up!
Get Ready to Watch Those Webinar Sales Soar!
There you have it. I tossed out a truckload of battle-tested tips to take your webinar game to the next level.
Now here’s what I want you to do…
Pick 1 or 2 that really resonate with you and start there. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed trying to implement them all at once!
Maybe try beefing up your registration page first. Or focus on better presentation skills. Heck, just adding countdown timers can give your conversions a nice boost.
The key is to take it step-by-step rather than getting discouraged by the big picture. Consistent small improvements lead to massive results over time!
Want more help with your webinars? I give my best advice daily in our free Expert Scale Facebook group.
Aside from having a direct line to me, you can also connect with business owners CRUSHING it with their webinar sales!
Join our Facebook group today and I’ll see you inside!