Webinars x MOFU = More Sales & Higher Conversions
If you’re an avid reader of the EasyWebinar blog, chances are you read the topic all about TOFU. If you didn’t read it, you might be thinking… “TOFU… What are you talking about Casey?”
Don’t worry, I’ll explain how TOFU relates to webinars.
TOFU is marketing jargon for “Top of funnel.” Your funnel is the path that new people take when they learn about you and your brand. The top of funnel is the first stage of a sales funnel that guides new leads into a buying cycle.
Essentially, funnels convert your email subscribers into buyers. The more effective your funnel is, the more people you can impact and the more revenue you can generate as you acquire new leads.
A funnel is normally broken down into three parts; top, middle and bottom. In this post, we’re going to focus on the middle funnel and show you how to use webinars to increase your conversion rates.
3 Parts of a Sales Funnel
Here’s a quick recap of each part of your funnel…
The top of the funnel, also known as TOFU, is the awareness and education stage. This is usually the first time someone is interacting with you and your brand.
The goal here isn’t to start selling but instead, introduce yourself, build awareness, and talk about the problem that your offer solves. People usually find you through organic content (like a blog post or YouTube video) or maybe a paid ad to sign up for a freebie.
The second part of the funnel is the middle funnel, which is the evaluation stage. The goal here is to teach people a solution and link it directly to your product or service. Webinars are one of the best strategies here and what we’ll cover in this post.
The final part of the funnel is known as the bottom of the funnel. This part explains why your product is ultimately the best solution for your audience and is known as the purchase stage.
The goal is to get new leads through the funnel effectively so you can scale your business but not too aggressively. As Brian Tracy said, “Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her to solve a problem or achieve a goal, not of selling a product or service.”
How to Use Webinars in Middle of a Sales Funnel
While I teased in the intro what happens at the middle of the funnel, let’s take it one step further. The middle of the funnel is well past the awareness stage and the mindset is different for you and your potential customer.
Here’s what I mean…
At this point, you should have indoctrinated your new subscribers with more information about yourself and what you believe in. The top of the funnel helps them build rapport with you and start to learn more about how you can help them.
Once through your top of funnel emails, it’s time to get to the middle of the funnel. This is where they are much more likely to buy your product or service (or least be open to hearing more about it).
From the other side, the middle funnel is different from you as well. As you go from top of funnel to middle of funnel, this is where you want to teach how your offers can help them solve their biggest problems. This is the time to show off your skills, share case studies, and stand out as an expert in your niche.
And what’s the best way to do all that (and more)?
Webinars.
Webinars build more trust and rapport with people faster than video sales letters or an email autoresponder. Not to mention, they convert at a much higher rate too.
Webinars are so great because they leverage the 3B’s – being there, building a trust bridge, and big results. Which makes them amazing for the middle of your funnel.
Here are two great strategies to help you maximize the middle of your funnel using live and automated webinars.
#1. Freebie Method
If you read about Tanya Aliza’s massive success using webinars, you might know a little more about her freebie method. This strategy helped her grow her business from a side hustle to a full-time 7-figure business! And webinars were a crucial part of her growth and success.
Here’s how it works, instead of inviting people straight to a webinar via Facebook ads or organic content, instead, get them to download a freebie first. This helps for a few reasons:
- First, it’s a smaller ask than asking someone that you don’t know (cold traffic) to attend a 60-minute webinar.
- Second, it helps you build trust and start a relationship with them before asking them to sign up for a webinar. This will help them learn more about you and hopefully, build the know, like, and trust factor much faster.
- Finally, it makes your automated webinar more of an exclusive event and something that’s only available to your email list. The key is to make sure it’s only offered to people who opt in to your email list, not anyone that finds your blog or social media channels.
Learn From The Best: How Tanya Uses The Freebie Method
Setting up this invite is easy too.
After they enter their email to download the freebie, direct them to a thank you page. On your page, have a section that is dedicated to inviting them to the webinar.
Tanya Aliza does it like this:
- She has a short video thanking them for downloading the freebie, then telling them about the webinar. Specifically, she focused on the benefits of attending and how it relates to the freebie.
- Then, a button to register for the automated webinar. In her case, 65% of people who downloaded the freebie sign up for the webinar.
- Finally, make sure to include invites to the webinar in your email sequence for those that choose not to sign up on the thank you page.
#2. Live Launches = Live Sales Webinars
While webinars work great with freebies, they’re also an amazing way to generate sales from your list. Top entrepreneurs use our platform to run launches throughout the year to generate buzz around their products and services.
By having a live launch window (instead of an automated webinar), it helps get email subscribers to learn more about your offer. For example, one of our EasyWebinar users, Amy Porterfield, does yearly launches for her signature program, Digital Course Academy.
This is a higher ticket offer that she only opens the doors to once per year. And webinars are how she converts her massive email list into buyers.
Live launches are great because:
- They help you teach instead of just providing free content.
- Build your email list by inviting cold traffic to join your live webinars.
- With a strict cart close deadline, they help people on your list decide if now is the right time to invest or not in your offer. But even if they don’t buy, it helps them gain more awareness about you and your offer.
And a lot more.
How to Use Live Webinars Effectively
Ready to start using live sales webinars for launches? Then make sure to follow these best practices:
Share More Stories
Let’s face it, people don’t remember much of what they learn. Think about the last book you read, how much of it do you actually remember? My point exactly…
But what people do remember most is stories.
Storytelling is highly effective in helping people retain more information and also build more rapport as well. As Margaret Atwood said, “You’re never going to kill storytelling, because it’s built in the human plan. We come with it.”
During your webinar, don’t just share information, instead share more stories. The more examples you can use and the more you can relate to your audience, the better.
When I first started running webinars I did this by sharing my failures and low moments with my audience. Even though it wasn’t easy, it hit home with them and I started seeing better conversion than ever before!
Show Your Passion
Webinars are so effective because they allow you to connect with your audience at a deeper level. Unlike a YouTube video or podcast, you’re not just talking at them. Instead, you’re sharing and hanging out with your audience… live!
This live interaction allows you to show off your passion and excitement about your topic and business. Plus, your energy has a direct impact on your audience too.
The more energy and passion you have, the more likely they are to stay longer, engage, and learn. With live webinar launches, make sure to go all in and not skimp on any energy.
Talk About The Benefits
One of the biggest mistakes that I see so many people make with sales webinars is focus on the offer itself. But here’s the thing, no one necessarily wants an online course, coaching, or membership… they just want an answer to their problem!
It’s up to you to talk about how your offer is the solution to their problems. Instead of focusing on the modules and training videos, share how each part of your offer helps solve their biggest problem. Link each part of your offer to a specific benefit and I promise you’ll create a higher converting webinar.
Provide Useful and Helpful Content
Finally, make sure your webinar content is extremely helpful for anyone who attends. In your time together, make sure that you reward your audience for showing up, whether they buy or not.
Remember, most people won’t buy!
If you get 10% or more of your attendees to become customers… great. But that means 90% or more won’t buy your offer. So make sure that you still deliver for your audience so they’re more likely to sign up for a future webinar.
Don’t forget the rule of seven in marketing. Sometimes it takes people several times (usually seven or more) to actually buy your offer. So if they don’t buy the first few times, don’t worry about it. Keep showing up, providing tons of value, and thank them for being with you.
Do you want even more tips and tricks so that you create the most effective webinars possible? Then make sure to read “25 Webinar Best Practices to Increase Registration, Attendance, and Sales.”
Bonus: How to Pick Your Webinar Topic
While live and automated webinars are great, the secret ingredient is your webinar topic.
If your topic doesn’t provide a huge benefit for your audience, chances are they won’t register. And if they don’t register, it’s a lot harder to move them from the middle of your funnel to the bottom.
If you’re using strategy number one, the freebie method, create a webinar topic that is highly relevant to your freebie. This way it feels like a no-brainer for them to attend your webinar.
If you’re using the second strategy, live launches with sales webinars, you have a few options. You could create topics based on:
- The biggest issue you see with your audience.
- A pillar or module from your online course or membership site.
- The “reverse solution.” For example, if your audience is photographers who have trouble landing clients, instead of creating a webinar on how to land clients, do the opposite. Instead, have it been something like “5 Reasons You Aren’t Landing Clients” or “5 Reasons You’re Repelling Clients.”
Related: How to Create Scroll Stopping Webinar Topics
Final Thoughts on MOFU Strategies
As you can see in this post, webinars are great in the middle of your funnel.
Webinars will help in the consideration stage and move them one step closer to becoming a customer. This is the time to move them to your unique solution and how it can help them with their biggest problems.
The cool thing about them is that there is no one way to run webinars. While I shared a few ideas that have worked for me and other EasyWebinar users, don’t be afraid to experiment with others too.
Finally, make sure that you have a good top of funnel sequence to set yourself up for success in the middle. Otherwise, it’ll be much harder to make the sale and probably see lower conversions.
Next Steps
Start using webinars in all parts of your funnel, specifically the middle part of your funnel!
It doesn’t have to be difficult to set all this up either. With our all-in-one platform, you can save the tech stuff for us so you can focus on serving your audience.
When you join any of our plans (which all include a FREE trial), you can start running:
- Live webinars: As I mentioned, using live webinars for a 4-7 day launch window is a great way to create urgency and awareness for your offer. Plus, you can share valuable content with your audience, become a trusted authority in your niche, and generate more revenue. With EasyWebinar, you can run highly engaged events and share your message to an audience worldwide.
- Automated webinars: While live webinars are great, don’t forget about automated ones too. These work great to build trust with your audience on autopilot.
- Integrating all your software: Finally, don’t forget that EasyWebinar integrates with your favorite software. This makes it easy to connect all your systems together, even if you don’t love the tech side of things. We make it easy!
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