Welcome to the fifteenth blog in our ‘Ask the Expert’ interview series, where we bring you industry experts to talk about outstanding practices in email marketing.
Anna Levitin is an email specialist with a background in cultural anthropology who deeply appreciates A/B tests and segmentation. Her passion lies in analyzing customer behavior, predicting their needs, and providing personalized content to make them feel valued. Anna has extensive experience in SaaS, eCommerce, and financial products and is a member of the ‘Women of Email’ association and a speaker at MailCon, InboxExpo, and Litmus Live.
In this Q&A blog, Anna Levitin talks about promoting webinars through the email channel as a cost-effective solution, and creating compelling Call-To-Actions (CTAs) in email.
1. Could you tell us about your professional journey and any exciting projects or notable experiences you have had in this field?
My marketing journey began during my university years when I was enrolled in cultural anthropology and ethnology major. You might wonder what’s the connection between email marketers and ethnologists. Well, the common ground is our shared focus on understanding people’s behavior. However, in email marketing, we have the advantage of relying on concrete numbers and data.
Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work on email campaigns for various companies, including B2B, eCommerce, SaaS, and finance industries. One aspect of this work that I particularly enjoyed was handling multilingual email campaigns, reaching out to audiences in more than 13 different languages across 20+ countries.
The most fulfilling part of my job has been working with a vast database of over 10 million subscribers and engaging with individuals from all around the globe!
2. What’s your take on promoting a webinar through emails? Can you share some examples of creative promo emails and talk about them?
The promotion of webinars through the email channel is a cost-effective solution. You can reach a large audience of users who are already subscribed to your product updates. By segmenting existing subscribers and targeting specific audiences, you increase the likelihood of higher attendance and engagement.
I genuinely love Slack’s webinar invitations! A few other B2B brands that I follow for webinar inspiration are Miro, monday.com, and Mixpanel.
3. What are the typical components of a successful email marketing campaign for webinars?
I know that the focus of this question is email campaigns, but it’s crucial to address other key marketing components as well. The general components include a landing page, registration form, webinar tools, SDR outreach, and a seamlessly integrated CRM system.
Regarding email templates, it’s important to have various types to cover different types of engagement. Invitations, reminders, follow-ups (which serve more of a marketing purpose), and sales outreach. The latter two can be combined for more effective communication.
Content-wise, I recommend being specific. Instead of merely listing features, explain how users can use them. For instance, rather than saying ‘bulk action feature’, phrase it as “Want to make adjustments to an entire document with just one click? Learn how to do this effortlessly!”. To boost registrations, consider mentioning different time zones or implementing dynamic features tailored to each customer.
4. What are some tips for creating a compelling Call-To-Action (CTA) that drives registrations?
A/B testing CTAs is a great practice! No one knows your field better, so if your audience is big enough, my advice to you – test, measure, repeat!
At Powtoon, we embrace the idea of using refreshing and innovative calls-to-action such as: “I’m ready for a fresh perspective.” or “Yes, let’s break the norm in {topic}.” These unique CTAs can capture your audience’s attention and create a sense of excitement. However, the classic “Register now!” CTA remains a reliable choice. Sometimes simplicity can be effective.
When analyzing the results of A/B tests, it’s crucial to go beyond just measuring the CTR, I recommend tracking the number of actual registration submissions resulting from each CTA variation.
5. What is the ideal frequency for sending webinar email reminders without overwhelming recipients? Is there any specific email sequence to follow for high impact?
First of all, for evergreen webinars, add invitations to the onboarding sequence and/or set monthly notifications.
For time-based webinars, I recommend starting the promo campaign three to four weeks prior to the date. Depending on how often your company runs webinars, create two or three invite emails.
The next step is a reminder the day before and one hour prior to the webinar.
Following the webinar, send a follow-up email within 24 hours of the webinar.
6. Are there any email automation strategies or workflows that can be utilized to streamline the promotional process?
Diversify promotion channels! I understand that promoting webinars solely through email and within a specific time slot, like two or three weeks, can be challenging.
I highly recommend implementing a chatbot in addition to emails. For instance, you can place it on the on-demand (replay) page. The scenario can be as simple as “Interested in other webinars? Register here!”.
Another way to automate and streamline promotion is to include information about an upcoming webinar after form submission. Instead of a generic “Thank you for registration.” message, you can promote another webinar, a different time slot, or a language option.
7. How can I track and measure the success of the webinar email campaign? What key metrics should a marketer pay attention to?
Great question! Not all webinars aim to generate leads or sales. Understanding the diverse objectives of webinars, I’ve compiled these 11 crucial metrics that are worth monitoring:
1. Number of registrants
Keep track of the total count of users who registered for your webinar.
2. Conversion rate from landing page to registration
Measure the effectiveness of your LP in converting visitors into registered participants. You may also track conversion from opening the registration form to submitting it.
3. Webinar duration
Determine the average time for which leads attended the webinar.
4. Webinar expenses
Promotional costs and any other expenses related to the webinar, such as paid speakers.
5. Attendance rate
Calculate the conversion rate from registered users to actual attendees.
6. Source of registrants
Identify the sources from which registrants discovered your webinar, an important metric to track in co-partnered webinars.
7. Live views vs. replay/recording views
Differentiate between live attendees and those who watched the webinar recording later.
8. Attendee feedback
Collect valuable feedback from attendees, I personally prefer anonymous surveys.
9. Engagement/interest rate
Analyze the percentage of users who actively interacted during the webinar, whether through surveys, polls or Q&A sessions.
10. Number of leads
Measure the impact of the webinar in terms of generating leads categorized by their level of interest or existing relationship with your organization.
11. Revenue generated
Track the revenue generated directly from the webinar. Make sure the attribution is set correctly since this might take, for some B2B cases, 3 – 12 months.
8. How do you view the innovative engagement that AMP emails bring about today? How can they be used to increase registrations and user experience?
The registration form inside the email itself is a great example of AMP implementation. By embedding interactive forms directly within the email, recipients can register for the webinar without leaving their inbox.
Additionally, interactive features like carousels allow users to explore more dates, topics, and languages. Moreover, polls within the email can tailor the content to suit users’ needs.
9. What are some parting thoughts or do’s and don’ts for effective webinar email marketing?
I’ll highlight four elements that have become essential in my experience of promoting 5+ webinars per month:
In the highly competitive field of webinar promotion, email marketing emerges as a cornerstone strategy to not only inform but engage, ensuring a successful turnout. Businesses can convey the narrative of their upcoming webinars to highlight the value and insights awaiting participants through well-crafted campaigns. With precise targeting and data-driven insights, email marketing becomes a conduit for nurturing active attendees who contribute, learn, and derive value from the webinar experience.
At Netcore, we’re constantly analyzing customer behavior, studying trends and forecasts, optimizing data processes at different levels, and bringing innovations to achieve the highest marketing goals in email marketing.
Connect with us to understand how you can benefit from our expertise and experience. We send over 20 billion emails a month on behalf of 6500+ businesses across 40 countries.
