Webinars can be a truly powerful tool in medical device marketing. They provide a forum for your company to establish itself as a thought leader. In addition, they can be an inexpensive revenue driver for your business.
For instance, did you know that webinars generally have a conversion rate ranging from 5% to 20%. To put that in context, the average conversion rate of a website is between 2% and 5% across most sectors.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the internet has been saturated with webinars, leading to much speculation about whether they are still as successful as they once were.
That is why it is so important to run webinars the right way, ensuring that they are engaging enough to capture an audience and keep their attention. We’re going to share our 12 top tips for running successful medical device webinars.
Webinar statistics
- 73% of B2B marketers and sales leaders say webinars are the best way to generate high-quality leads (source)
- In 2017 webinars were reported as one of the top revenue drivers for B2B marketers (before Covid-19 drove up the popularity of webinars!) (source)
- Webinars produce 453 times less CO2 than in-person events (source)
- Pharmaceutical webinars receive the highest attendance rate at 63% demonstrating that the life sciences industry clearly engages in webinars) (source)
- 89% of marketers believe webinars outperform other channels in creating qualified leads. (source)
Are people bored of medical device webinars?
Firstly, we need to address the concern that webinars aren’t as popular as they once were. There is a belief that the sheer volume of webinars being run by companies has diminished their appeal, leading to a decline in attendance. In a sense, this is true—people are indeed tired of poor-quality, sales-driven webinars.
However, we still find that medical device webinars offering informative content and vital insights continue to attract hundreds of registrations.
Providing helpful content without expecting anything in return builds trust with your potential customers, laying the foundation for relationships that are likely to generate better ROI than sales pitches that demand something upfront.
Webinars led by healthcare professionals (HCPs) rather than sales reps or business leads consistently deliver better returns, as audiences expect actionable, applicable content.
Therefore, it is crucial that webinars are highly relevant to the potential audience and focus on being informative rather than promotional. For example, a compelling title might be, "Complications in orthopaedic surgery and how to address them." This approach helps build trust with your audience by providing genuinely helpful information.
Our top tips
Start promotion a month before
One of the biggest challenges in running webinars is gathering registrations. With so much noise in the digital space, it can be difficult for companies to stand out and attract the necessary attention to secure registrations and attendees. Because of this, some marketers may think they need to start promoting the event months in advance.
However, we wouldn’t recommend this approach, as registering too early can lead to people forgetting about the event by the time it arrives.
Instead, we suggest beginning promotion about a month before the event. This timeframe is ideal for gathering registrations through social media promotion and email campaigns, while still being short enough that registrants are less likely to forget they signed up.
Encourage speakers to promote
Another excellent way to promote webinars is by encouraging your speakers to use their own platforms to advertise their participation on the panel. This strategy allows you to tap into their audience, significantly expanding your reach.
Optimise the registration process
Getting people to click to register for your webinar via social posts or emails is a win, but it doesn’t guarantee they will follow through with the registration. To ensure they complete the process, it's crucial to optimise the registration page.
First, make sure the page is visually appealing by incorporating your company branding. The registration process should feel seamless, and designing the page with your brand’s logo and colours is an effective way to achieve this.
Next, ensure the description is compelling. It should clearly outline the topic of the webinar and highlight the benefits attendees will gain from participating.
Include detailed information about the panellists to let potential attendees know who will be speaking and why they are credible sources. We recommend featuring their job titles, recent photos, and brief bios on the registration page.
Finally, end the description with a strong call to action, encouraging visitors to complete the registration. Let them know what to expect next, such as, "You will receive a confirmation email shortly."
Use a diverse panel
People may be less inclined to register for a webinar if it doesn’t feature a diverse panel that presents differing viewpoints. A panel of speakers who are too similar, such as those with the same job roles, may come across as unengaging or monotonous to the audience.
Moreover, companies that feature an all-male panel, often referred to as a “manel,” may appear outdated and risk alienating part of their audience. To avoid this, it's important to strive for diversity in your panel, not just in terms of gender, but also in professional background and perspectives.
Pre-record and edit speakers
Presenting live can be challenging, but it can be especially awkward when you can’t see your audience or their reactions. That’s why we recommend that panellist presentations be recorded in advance, so they can be edited.
The final result will be much more polished and will allow the presenter to get their point across succinctly, without feeling the pressure of having an audience. This will also be more engaging for the audience and reflect well on the webinar host, who has clearly put time and effort into producing the webinar.
If pre-recorded presentations don’t seem like the right fit for your webinar and you prefer to go down the route of open discussion, ensure that you have plenty of topics and questions on hand. You should also prep your panellists and let them know what to expect beforehand.
Start at a time that works for your audience
The time your webinar starts should be determined based on when your audience is most likely to attend. For instance, if you're targeting an audience in a different time zone, you’ll need to adjust your timing to suit them.
While it's often suggested that the ideal time to host a webinar is between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., if you aim to attract healthcare professionals, it might be better to schedule it in the evening when they’re less busy with patients. In our experience of hosting webinars for our clients, 7 p.m. on a Monday or Tuesday is an effective time for surgical teams.
Test speakers
Before setting the webinar live, time should be set aside to test all speakers' microphones and ensure they are comfortable with the webinar's flow. This should include having someone available to provide technical support in case any issues arise. Technical problems during the webinar will not reflect well on the host.
Have a moderator run the session
A moderator on the session can help things to run smoothly and will keep the audience abreast of what is happening at every stage. The moderator can introduce each panellist and facilitate the Q and A session.
Mix up the format
It can be difficult to hold people’s attention after 10 minutes, so it's useful to vary the content to keep them engaged. Instead of having speakers talk continuously for an hour, it can be beneficial to incorporate videos, polls, and other interactive features to maintain viewer interest.
We find that the ideal format is to begin with a video to draw the viewer in, and then split the webinar into three sections. Each panellist should have up to 15 minutes for their presentation, followed by a 15-minute Q&A session. Webinars should ideally not exceed an hour, as it’s challenging to maintain attention for that long, and taking up a large portion of the day may discourage people from registering.
Have seed questions ready
When it comes to the Q&A section, viewers are usually prepared with questions, but it’s a good idea to have some questions ready just in case. The moderator should prepare seed questions to help get the conversation flowing, which can encourage viewers to start submitting their own questions. The last thing you want is for the webinar to end awkwardly due to a lack of audience questions.
Survey the attendees
Once the webinar is finished, it's a good idea to gather feedback. Zoom allows hosts to direct attendees to a survey after they close the webinar, presenting a great opportunity to hear from your potential customers.
You should ask what they enjoyed about the webinar, where they see areas for improvement, and what topics they would like to hear more about. This will provide valuable insights into your customers’ wants and needs, which will not only help you run better webinars in the future but can also positively impact your overall marketing efforts.
The better you know your audience, the better you can appeal to them. Surveys are also a great way to conduct a small amount of market research—you can add 1-2 non-webinar-related questions while you have an engaged audience.
Use the content on social media
Just because the webinar has finished doesn’t mean you should stop promoting it. Clips and quotes from the session can make great content on social media for those who missed it. Videos perform well on social media in terms of engagement, so reusing content from your webinar is a great way to easily create videos that will benefit your social media presence as a whole.
You can also allow your audience to watch a recording of the session, expanding its reach even further. Often, recordings of webinars see even more success than the original event because they are available on demand; they don’t require people to be available at a certain time on a specific date.
Time to host your own medical device webinar
Webinars can bring in an impressive number of leads for your business as they allow you to display your knowledge, portraying you as a knowledge leader in order to build trust with potential customers. But they have to be done right, otherwise, they may not see the same level of success.
Our top tips should help you host your own events, but get in touch if yo would like our help.