Webinars are a popular tool used by companies for years and for a number of reasons. Some can be used to educate, while others use them as onboarding tools for new hires. According to a recent study, the global webinar and virtual events market market size was valued at $1.57 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $4.4 billion by 2025. Webinars do take some time to create and put together, but now we have automated webinars to take that stress away. This guide will answer all of your automated webinar questions as well as provide you with some of the best-automated webinar software and their benefits!
An automated webinar is simply a regular webinar, just on autopilot. These webinars can be created in advance by the webinar host and run on a timed schedule. There doesn’t even need to be a host- the videos can be set on a timer and play automatically! There are many features of a webinar that can be automated, not just videos playing automatically.
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The great thing about the webinars being automated is that the automation actions you want to be automated can be chosen by the hosts. Throughout the live webinar, videos are able to play on their own, and polls can be sent to the guests. It all depends on what the webinar creator wants to automate. Some webinar actions that can be automated may include:
This feature allows for the webinar to start right on time. Nobody likes waiting for an event to start, which can draw attention away from the webinar. Automating your webinar to start right on time helps your guests pay full attention to the webinar. When it comes to scheduling a start time, the best time to host a webinar is 11:00 AM Eastern Time in the United States, as it allows attendees from both coasts to attend during normal business hours.
Most people have attended an online event that ran way over the scheduled end time. This can delay guests from working on other projects or attending other events. On average, the most common length for a webinar is 45-60 minutes, with 63% of webinars falling into this range. When you end your webinar right on time, your guests can view the webinar in a timely manner and then be on their way. Like starting your webinar, an automated end time for your webinar requires no further action from your hosts or guests.
Videos are able to be automated, which is one of the main benefits of an automated webinar. Most webinar platforms are able to support the videos playing automatically, and guests can just sit back and take in the information being given in the videos.
Videos can be stopped automatically once they are done playing. These videos can stop once the information is done being given. If there are multiple videos being shown to the guests, you have the ability to stop one video and play another one right after it. These videos will stop for every guest at the same time, so there is no need to worry about a guest not seeing the next video in the queue.
Polls help webinar hosts get feedback in real-time! Webinar hosts can create these polls to ask questions, rate the webinar or give any other feedback they feel is necessary. These interactive polls can be sent automatically at the end of the webinar, while it is still fresh in the mind of the guests.
Read and Learn: How to Add Energy, Impact, and Results at Every Stage of Your Webinar
If there is a presentation within your webinar, you have the ability to automate it. Webinar hosts can begin their presentation, and even have the slides change automatically. Be sure to give enough time on each slide, in case your guests want to take down any of the information on the slides!
Your presentation can end automatically, just like the videos. At the end of the presentation, webinar viewers will be able to experience a seamless transition to the next aspect of the webinar.
A call to action can allow your guests to register for any future events you may have. This call to action can be done through a live chat section. Be sure to send this call to action at the end of the webinar, as it won’t take the attention away from your guests and their presentations!
Every business is going to be different, so not every webinar platform is going to work with your needs. When you begin your research for your automated webinar platform, keep these tips in mind:
There are some platforms that are 100% fully automated, while others allow hosts to choose which actions they want to be automated . Your business may not need every single aspect of the webinar to be automated, so choosing a platform that allows you to pick and choose what you want to automate is going to be your best bet.
When planning your webinar, you need to identify the needs of both your company and your audience. Take a look at each platform and what is being offered; is anything offered for free? Do you need to purchase a plan? Does everything need to be automated? Once you determine what your business needs in an automated webinar platform, you can then make your selection!
Keep in mind that your business has a budget that you need to stick to when selecting your webinar platform. Hubilo offers a variety of pricing plans to fit each individual businesses’ budget. Some platforms may offer free trial features to take advantage of. Some platforms may even offer daysfree trials of their platforms, so you can try before you buy.
In order to determine if your webinar was a success from the inside, you need to look at the event analytics that a platform offers. You can see what people enjoyed and spent the most time on. If analytics are not offered but are something you’ll want, you may need to continue your search.
Interactions and engagement are such an important part of webinars! They allow guests to ask questions and give their honest feedback to the hosts. You may find a platform doesn’t have these automated interactions, so you may want to steer clear of those. With Hubilo, you can maximize attendee participation using one of our engagement features such as gamification or group discussions.
Landing pages help businesses bring their guests to a page that houses all of the information they need. Guests can see every feature of your webinar before they make their decision to register. With a landing page builder like Hubilo, you can customize an easy-to-use template to reflect your unique branding and offerings.
Automated webinars are useful to both the webinar hosts and guests! With the right automated webinar platform, hosts can upload their webinar and guests can attend the webinar at a time that works best for them. There are certain features of an automated webinar that your business may find more useful than others, so you should keep those in mind when doing your research. No matter what platform you choose, your webinar is going to be successful and your guests and hosts will reap the benefits of your webinar. Speak with our webinar software experts today on how Hubilo can make your next webinar unforgettable!
Hubilo is the webinar platform built for marketers that helps you 2X your pipeline. Founded in 2015, Hubilo's powerful engagement features, dedicated client experience team, and custom branding tools have helped create over 12K virtual events & webinars, creating hundreds of millions of minutes of high-engagement experiences and counting. Headquartered in Bengaluru and San Francisco, Hubilo's 200+ employees are dedicated to enabling webinars & virtual events that convert.
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