4 Emails You Need To Get People Showing Up Live On Your Webinar

You spent ages creating and perfecting your webinar content. You took a ton of time structuring it just right so people will walk away with a ton of value. You agonized over your webinar topic for the longest time.

You methodically wrote each and every bullet point on the registration page and invitation email so people can see how good your webinar is going to be and why they need to sign up for the event.

I get it.

Yes, webinars take a ton of work, but they also make you a ton of money. However, for this to happen, you need to get people to show up live.

Isn’t it a pity that after putting in so much time and effort, people fail to show up live? I remember a time when I had close to 500 people register for a webinar of mine and did you know how many showed up live? 22. That’s twenty two – I nearly had a panic attack that day.

Since then I have learned how to do webinars right, and by doing them right I don’t mean creating and structuring the content (I’ll talk about that in my next blog post). I mean doing the things it takes for people to make a commitment and show up live.

Firstly, you need to send out a series of emails to warm people up. This is also known as ‘on-boarding’ sequence. You can also send text reminders but this can’t be done with every tool so we will cover the emails in this post.

Secondly, don’t start promoting the webinar more than 7 days out, 5 days is ideal. The closer you can get people to register for the event, the more likely is that they will show up live.

These two things alone made a HUGE difference to my show up rates.

And you DO want people to show up live. Some people won’t even send out a replay because they want their registrants to show up live. Now since I live in Australia, and most webinars happen when I simply can’t make it live, I don’t necessarily advocate that you shouldn’t send out a replay, but that being said, I kind of understand why they do it.

It is super important to get people to attend live if you want to create a connection with them and sell them your stuff.

The energy is different. People interact with you and get to ask questions, and they also interact with others. There’s social proof and credibility and the K-L-T goes through the roof. The result is SALES.

Alright, so what kind of emails you should send?

Now just to make one thing clear, when I talk on-boarding emails, I am not talking about the webinar reminders emails that your webinar’s platform will send out. For example, let’s say you are using GetResponse Webinars, they would be able to send out webinar reminders without you having to take any action.

Usually the first reminder goes out as soon as somebody registers and gives them the link to attend. Then a reminder should go out to let people know that the webinar starts in 24 hours, then again in 1 hour, then 15 minutes and finally a ‘we are live’ reminder. These are fairly standard and people expect them and kind of  ignore them at the same time.

Back to the on-boarding emails. This is what I recommend:

Email 1: Thank you and must attend the webinar

You send out this email as soon as somebody registers for a webinar. Thank them for signing up and and congratulate them for making the right decision.

Then you need to remind them why they must attend your webinar live. Explain how people who attend are action takers and really serious about seeing results, whereas people who don’t, often don’t take things seriously. Encourage them to add the webinar to their calendar, block off this time and treat it with the respect it deserves.

Finally, remind them that this isn’t just any webinar. Tell them one huge benefit of attending this webinar (create their website, learn to eat right, find their ideal partner, whatever it is.) so they feel like they must do their best to make it.

Tell them explicitly that they will walk away with 5 action steps, or an overview or something that you are going to give them that they can take action on immediately.

Let them know that they understand their time is precious and promise them it will be totally worth it.

Email 2: Overcome an objection or two

People have become cynical.

They are overwhelmed with information overload and have become a bit jaded. It is your job to let them know that your webinar is different and this will work.

First create empathy by stepping into their shoes and talk a bit about how it feels to be like them. Then address a few objections they might have and handle them head on.

For example, if you are writing to someone and promising them to help create an online course, talk about “I don’t have an idea”, “I am not techy enough” or “I am scared my course won’t sell’. These are the thoughts that are running through their heads and might prevent them from making an effort to show up live.

You can explore the single biggest limiting belief that holds them back or you can quickly address more common ones. This lets them know they know what’s it like to be them and they’ll be more likely to take the time and show up live.

Email 3: Paint a picture of happy future

Remind them of what the perfect future looks like and how you can help them get there.

Share you story. Tell them your struggles and your results. Then focus on the kind of results they can expect to get from your webinar.

You can also give them a brief case study of a client that is ‘just like them’. Talk about the situation they were in and where they are right now.

Focus on how it would feel like to finally achieve what they want.

Email 4: Give them a workbook

Send them a workbook they can use to fill out as they follow along.

Now this email gives them a preview of what’s going to happen. They check it out and anticipate what you will be covering. They see the fill-in-the-blanks type set up and their mind wants to answer the questions.

The workbook shouldn’t take you too long to create, especially when you have created content for the webinar. You hand it over to a designer so they can make it look pretty. Make sure to match the brand and overall look and feel of your slides.

Tell them to print it out ahead of time so they are not struggling with multiple windows. For this reason, I don’t recommend giving them a fillable PDF.

Now, depending on the email service provider you use, you will set up emails to go out like this:

• Everyone will receive email 1 as soon as they sign up.
• Person X signs up 7 days out. They will receive all 4 emails. They receive email 1 (welcome and any attend live) on day 1, email 2 (handle objections) on day 3, email 3 (paint the future) on day 5, and final email, email 4 (workbook) on day 6.
• Person Y signs up 5 days out. They will receive only 3 emails, email 1, 3 and 4.
• Person Z signs up on the second last day. They will receive only 2 emails. Email 1 and 4.

This is just a rough guideline. The further away someone is from a webinar, the more email content they will need.

You can of course increase or decrease the number of emails you want to send depending on when your webinar is.

So there you have it.

I am not saying you have to follow this exactly. Nothing is set in stone.

I have given you ideas on how you can make the most of the time you have leading up to the webinar. Feel free to play around with the email sequence and come up with something that makes sense for your business and also feels good to you.

Every person who signed up to your webinar are clearly interested in hearing what you have to say or they would’ve have done so. Their interest ranges from mild to extreme.

But they are also humans you are dealing with here. And by definition, humans are busy. So you have to make them truly understand that your webinar is NOT going to be a waste of their time.

In the comments below, share your story, share some results, reassure them by painting a bright future and entice them by giving them a sneak preview by giving away a workbook.

Do this and watch your live attendance rates soar.

Good luck!