Webinars are considered a marketing initiative, aren't they? So how do they relate to the customer experience? Many people get bored and leave such events, while others get annoyed when the speaker is constantly trying to sell a product.
Yet many specialists use the customer experience of webinars as a springboard for sales, and they do so successfully, with satisfied customers returning time and time again.
So what's the secret? Is using webinars for marketing purposes the only objective? How can this tool be used wisely to build trust and improve the customer experience?
We'll answer all these questions in the article below.
What characterises an exceptional customer experience?
First of all, what is customer experience?
Customer experience is the overall experience of your customers interacting with your brand. Every interaction counts when someone forms a first impression of the company, whether it's the first visit to your website, the loading time, etc., conversations with the support team or how quickly you manage to deliver the product.
The fact that the buyer has had a good experience determines whether or not they will return.
Why is it important to retain customers by offering them an exceptional experience? Because the people who have already bought from you are the best source of potential future revenue. A small 5% increase in retention can generate 25-95% extra profit.
What's more, 50% of shoppers say that the customer experience is more important to them today.
Every year, people look forward to a better shopping experience. These days, a good CX includes:
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Honest marketing creates realistic expectations
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Easy to access self-service opportunities
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A live support team, preferably 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to help resolve brand issues
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Information available on the most common problems
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Intuitive website and product design, etc.
A perfect customer experience makes it easy for the buyer to reach his goal of using your product or benefit from your service.
And it’s interesting to note that webinars can become a useful part of the customer experience.
Ensure the right people find your webinar online
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Conduct appropriate keyword research. Define the keywords your target audience uses to find your business and similar businesses. After analysing them, their intent, and the competition, you will identify the most promising keywords. Then, use them to optimise your landing pages, webinar scripts, etc.
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Optimise the landing pages. Landing pages are crucial in the webinar sales funnel, as they serve as the primary entry point for converting prospects into sign-ups. Create personalised content, add compelling headlines, and clear calls to action.
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Use your Google Business Profile. If you run a business that serves customers in a specific location or a defined service area, your business profile can help people discover you and your webinar more easily. Use local SEO tools to engage with potential customers and keep their interest by using automated posts on your Google Business profile.
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Integrate your on-demand webinar. After your live webinar, create a landing page for the on-demand version. Include the webinar video, a summary, and a transcript. This will allow you to optimise the content for keywords.
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Create quality content to boost your webinar. To do this, you can create informative blog posts on the webinar topic, share teaser videos on your chosen social media platforms, and host live Q&A sessions to generate interest.
Why use webinars to enhance the customer experience?
Using webinars to improve the customer experience makes sense, as a webinar is not just part of a sales funnel where you provide useful information and spend the rest of the video selling your products and services. All kinds of online workshops, live courses, and virtual training sessions can also be considered webinars – online seminars.
The value of webinars for businesses is clearer now, isn’t it?
So, why use them?
Simple. To inform your customers on the smart and productive ways to use your products and services. Such an approach will:
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Improve customer satisfaction
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Increase retention
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Build trust
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Boost customer loyalty
Educational materials and practical advice can become an integral part of your brand image and increase long-term brand awareness and trust in the company.
Using webinars wisely to enhance the customer experience for businesses
It’s not enough just to use webinars for the customer experience. You need to do so wisely to get the results you desire. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of practical recommendations for you:
Answer questions
Many people attend webinars not only to gain useful information about products but also to get answers to their questions. That’s why many online events include a special Q&A section. (You can answer some questions on the web if that suits you.)
Answering multiple questions helps build trust and shows people that you truly care about them. Who doesn’t like a company that cares?
You can also ask customers to submit some questions in advance and adjust the webinar flow and topics accordingly.
Promote your webinars and make them accessible
We’ve already mentioned accessibility, but there are other ways to promote webinars that we’d like to highlight. In addition to recording videos and making them downloadable, you can write transcriptions, blog articles featuring quotes from the webinars, offer downloadable materials, presentations, and so on.
It’s not enough to just make your webinars accessible. Make sure you promote them. Write about them in newsletters, mention them on social media, and use other distribution channels to ensure the knowledge you provide gets out there.
Consult with your teams
Regularly communicate with your social media, support, and sales teams using surveys or polls to discover the topics they most frequently discuss with customers. What questions do people have about your business, products, etc.? What are their concerns? What content gaps exist?
Maybe they’re interested in a new product range and want to know if it will be available. Perhaps they want more customer case studies to see if the product or service is up to par. Or maybe they don’t know how to make the most of your product.
Most of the time, potential and existing customers clearly inform your representatives about the knowledge they’re lacking. Organise a Q&A webinar or one on the relevant topics, and you’ll see an increase in customer satisfaction due to a better overall experience.
Invite experts
This could be an internal or external expert, or both. Allowing an internal speaker to provide useful insights, answer questions, and talk about your products will build trust and show people how the company operates from the inside.
Involving an external specialist gives you a fresh perspective on your products or the topic at hand, while also strengthening the trust between you and your customers, as they’ll see someone from outside the company speaking about you (this discussion should, of course, be for the benefit of the business).
PLUS! People who follow the expert will also attend your webinar, which means a new audience and potentially new customers who will enjoy their experience and come back.
Tip: Invite seasoned specialists that your customers typically don’t have access to.
Host webinars for each stage of the customer journey
There are so many types you can do:
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Thought leadership webinar: Show that you are the leader in your niche, and you’ll see an increase in sales and trust.
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For prospects : Encourage them to purchase by informing them about the product or service features. This literally forms part of a good customer experience. (Workshops and case studies apply here.)
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Product demonstration site: 67% of buyers conduct digital research on products before contacting sales. Help them in their search by hosting an excellent product demo webinar. Again, education is part of a successful customer experience.
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Customer onboarding webinar: The most important type of webinar for new customers. During such a webinar, you have the chance to either enrich their experience or ruin it for them.
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New product webinar: To make everyone aware of your new products or features, a clever and engaging webinar is a good idea. This approach is excellent for customer retention.
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On-demand webinar: Making webinars accessible (recorded and ready to be viewed at any time) ensures that most prospects and/or customers will watch them.
All of these elements improve the customer experience in one way or another and promote customer retention.
Conclusion
The customer experience of webinars should definitely become a reality. With a wide range of types and topics, easy-to-understand educational video content should be part of your marketing strategy and customer experience.
