12 June 2020
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10 min
4.59
How to Create a Perfect Webinar Invitation Email
A proper email invitation is one of the first things when planning a webinar or any other online event, such as a workshop, Q&A with experts, product demonstration, etc. It fulfills different goals:
- promotes the event and encourages participation;
- provides the necessary information (topic, location, time, duration, speakers, how to apply);
- collects additional personal info;
- generates leads and sales.
Although the content of all inviting messages may look similar, the way you present and deliver it to your subscribers determines the response it would generate. Below we’ll take a look at webinar invite best practices that would drive as many participants and increase your conversion rate.
1. Catchy Subject Line
A webinar invitation subject line should comply with the same rules applicable for any other emails. It shouldn't be too long so as not to get cut by email clients. It also should clearly state the subject of the message and explain what content to expect inside.
1. Include in the subject line the word webinar to identify the message from the start:
- Webinar Invite: How to kick-start your career in Management?
- [Webinar] Achieve True Dimensional Accuracy in 3D Printing.
- Thursday 30 Webinar: PPE Product Offering.
2. Add How to: state the practical use and knowledge the participant will learn from your event:
- Learn How to Make Graphics from Scratch!
- How to renew your ISO 27001 certification.
- Tomorrow: How to give every client an extraordinary experience.
3. Set the suspense by asking leading questions:
- Is IT right for you?
- What to Do If Your GMB Listing Gets Suspended? ? [Live Q&A]
- How to make your skin glow?
4. Introduce speakers, especially if their names are world-famous:
- Webinar: Interview with renowned architectural photographer Sean Conboy.
- Zoom with ExhibitView Software with Kyle Newman, Esq.
- Boost Global Sales with International SEO Chris Raulf.
5. Use emojis and symbols where appropriate:
- ? Free Vitamin & Supplement Webinar from New Chapter ?
- Hair Driving You Nuts? ? Join us for a free Hair & Makeup Webinar!
- ?We're going live, for real this time – Customer Acquisition Strategies.
6. If your event is free, focus on its availability:
- We’re excited to invite you to our free webinar.
- Free Webinar: Be your own boss & teach English online.
- Free Data Warehouse training – May 26th.
2. Appealing Banner
Since a banner is located at the top, it’s responsible for making the first impression to a great extent. Its purpose is to grab attention and prompt the recipient to register for the webinar. Its design depends on the event purpose and format.
For B2B-oriented events, it would look more formal and standardized. If you launch an event with a famous speaker, put them upfront. If you’re going to discuss some complicated business processes, digital tools or platforms that have no visual representation, consider using animation or graphics to convey the idea. Your banner should also include your company logo and answer three WWW questions – What, Where, When – and (optionally) a CTA.
Even without reading the further agenda, this banner clearly states the purpose of the webinar and provides all details.
This is how you can combine several speakers within one banner.
For B2C companies, it’s better to include more visually appealing images that would rather cause an emotional response and demonstrate benefits of the offer: a fit athlete for a fitness workshop, a model with healthy skin for a beauty webinar, a delicious meal for a cooling masterclass.
Or you can include an image that resonates with the discussed problem, offering its solution.
Email Templates for Webinar Invitations
3. Follow-Up Header
The task of the header is to further explain the benefits of the event (complementing the subject line) and provide more reasons to attend the webinar. Rewrite the title and add extra details, or come up with several extra lines.
Note that you don’t necessarily need to add a header if you have a comprehensive banner with full info. Make sure the top part of your invitation isn’t overloaded with text and graphic elements.
4. Text
What you include in description (and whether you have it at all) depends on the structure of your email. If you have an explicit banner and a complementary header, the text part may be reduced to a minimum or cut off at all. There is no need to duplicate the info you’ve already mentioned two lines above.
However, if you opt for a simple design with several plain images, or on the contrary are holding a big event that requires expanded information, add text to provide more details. It can include:
- what you will learn from the webinar;
- topic, location, time, estimated duration (if not stated above);
- location description;
- speaker introduction;
- presentation order (if there’s more than one speaker);
- partner info;
- who can apply;
- price options;
- required equipment (if any).
5. Agenda
Each webinar email typically includes an event agenda – a short list of the main takeaways of the event. Here, you can give more details on the issues that will be covered.
The bigger your event and the more presenters it hosts, the more detailed the agenda should be. The webinar title may sound too general, but more specific topics can sound more applicable and generate a better response.
6. Call to Action
A CTA is a required element of any email you want to prompt an action with. It should be noticeable and convey a direct and understandable call. If you’re asking people to register for the webinar there’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
Stick to tested and proven Register Now/Register Free/Sign Up instead of getting too creative with crafting new fancy calls. An event invitation has one purpose – offer registration, so people who are ready to apply would look exactly for such a button.
However, if you do want to try something else, here are a few more options:
- Save my seat/Reserve my seat/Save my spot;
- RSVP;
- I’m in;
- Sign me up;
- I want to participate;
- Join the webinar.
Those new to email marketing who only learn to compose emails, can use our free ready webinar invitation templates and edit them as needed in our drag-and-drop editor. A user-friendly interface and a structure-based layout enable to optimize any template for your needs without HTML knowledge.
Set a Series of Invitation Emails
If you carefully follow the above advice and adapt them for your particular purposes, you’ll be able to craft an awesome webinar invitation. However, if you set a series of such emails, it can generate more registrations.
Set an automated series and send a triggered reminder to those who didn’t open your first emails or opened but made no clicks.
Also make sure you prepare several email copies. You may not change the content of the reminder you send to people who didn’t open the first email. However, consider changing the subject line and invert the banner and header or text.
The reminder sent to those who opened the first email but didn’t click should differ. A complete duplicate would most likely bring the same result. Edit the subject line, change the text, add additional info that can make your offer look more lucrative.
You can also send a series of 2 to 3 drip emails, that will be consequently sent on a preset schedule.
When creating emails for such a campaign, make sure all copies contain comprehensive information and are clear to the recipient regardless of the order in which they open them. For example, if the person opened only the third email, they shouldn’t feel like they’re missing some details from previous messages.
Take a look at the example by upGrad. They sent three consequent drip emails with a day delay.
1. Subject line: Webinar: upGrad's Job-Linked Management Program with PGP from IMT Ghaziabad
2. Subject line: Webinar Invite: How to kick-start your career in Management?
3. Subject line: Webinar Reminder: upGrad's Job-Linked Management Program with PGP from IMT-G
You see that each email has different subject lines and text inside, however, all the details remain the same. No matter what email you open, you know the topic, time and location of the webinar and can register for it.
Email Workflows for Effective Marketing
Best Webinar Invitation Email Examples
Moving from theory to practice, I’ve scanned my inbox for examples of nice webinar invitations. Below, you can see the result. All these emails are of different design and structures but have similar characteristics that make them effective:
- clear navigation;
- easy-to-digest text organized into small paragraphs;
- enough white space;
- important details in bold;
- speaker images where applicable;
- corporate colors and fonts followed;
- easy-to-spot registration button;
- no distractive elements.
Hopefully, if you’ve made it to this point, you have some ideas for your next webinar invitation. Definitely, the above isn’t a direct command but rather a suggestion. Feel free to experiment and try new designs. Remember that your first goal is to attract registrants and not to follow any guides step by step. Whatever method works for your service and your audience is fine so go ahead with it.