Importance of webinars for ecommerce sites plays a great role. Some of the common strategies used to promote such sites include word of mouth promotion, creating blogs, writing product reviews, using social media, distributing flyers and buying Pay-per-click (PPC) ads.
However, an often overlooked strategy for promoting online stores is webinars. Also referred to as video conferences, webinars are becoming increasingly popular tools for digital marketing.
Webinars allow you to interact in real time with participants from anywhere in the world via audio or multicast video conferencing.
Here are some of the reasons why webinars are important for ecommerce sites:
- Affordability
Ecommerce sites can use webinars to market their products and services in an effective, affordable and repeatable manner. There are numerous webinar platforms out there which are either free or require you to pay a small monthly cost.
Such platforms come with tools which allow you to easily invite prospects to webinars, monitor registrations, host webinars and monitor sales. This can be done over and over again, thus enhancing your chances of making more sales.
- Build credibility
One of the best ways of establishing credibility with your customers and prospects is through webinars. You can introduce yourself, share your values as a company and talk about the products and services you are offering.
At the end of the webinar, you can have a question and answer session where objections and questions can be addressed. Once you have engaged with your prospects and built trust, you are likely to make more sales.
- Brand awareness
If a product or service is new in the market, webinars can be a great tool for creating brand awareness. You can talk about what you are offering and mention why it stands out from the competition.
In addition, you can give your prospects and customers a practical demonstration of how your products work. Having this information will make it easier for prospects to make a buying decision.
- Training and education
Besides talking about your products and services, you could webinars to educate your customers and prospects about different topics which are related to your industry.
For instance, if your ecommerce site sells books, you could offer training about effective reading techniques. Such how-to webinars will showcase your expertise and are likely to generate more interest in your products.
- Convenience
While making presentations ‘live’ has its merits, it is not always possible. Webinars offer ecommerce sites a convenient solution for reaching many customers and prospects from anywhere in the world. This saves the time and cost of travel that would have been incurred for live presentations.
- Generating leads
One of the best ways of making more sales from your ecommerce site is by creating a contact list of potential customers. Having such a list will allow you to keep your prospects updated on future promotions and offers. Webinars offer a great opportunity for generating leads and building a contact list.
Even if someone does not buy anything right away, the fact that they signed up for your webinar shows that they are interested in what you have to offer. You can therefore capitalize on this interest by sending frequent updates via email.
- Attracting partnerships
One of the best ways of building partnerships is through affiliate marketing. Hosting webinars is one of the best ways of attracting affiliate marketers for your ecommerce site.
As participants begin trusting your brand, they might be more willing to be involved as affiliates. With time, you could consider co-hosting webinars with other big players in your industry. Such webinars will give even more exposure to your ecommerce site.
