How B2B Marketers Are Using Webinars and Plan to Improve Them

July 29, 2019

Marketers have found that webinars are one of the most successful top of the funnel demand generation tactics. Consequently, more than three-quarters (77%) of B2B marketers are using webinars as part of their marketing mix and, per new research [download page] from Demand Gen Report and GoToWebinar, another 15% of survey respondents plan on including them into their mix in the next 12-18 months.

Indeed, the survey of about 150 B2B marketing practitioners reveals that close to 4 in 10 (38%) say that the quality of leads from webinars are higher than from other channels, while nearly half (48%) say that webinars provide better quality leads based on engagement.

The benefits do not stop with lead generation. Some 37% of marketers say that webinars provide them with the ability to obtain customer insights. Another one-third (33%) of respondents also say they’ve experienced a better conversion of leads to opportunities from webinars.

How Are Marketers Using Webinars?

Almost two-thirds (63%) of B2B marketers are using webinars for lead nurturing and reactivating existing leads. Additionally, 40% say they use webinars for segmented campaigns for targeting verticals or roles, with a similar percentage (42%) planning to do so in the future.

Prior research found that the average sales cycle for a new B2B customer can take somewhere between 4-7 months or more. This may be one reason why more marketers plan on using webinars for sales enablement. Three in 10 (29%) say they are currently using webinars for this purpose, while 38% say they are planning to use it.

As B2B marketers continue to see the benefits of the account-based marketing (ABM) approach – with half of the B2B tech marketers surveyed by Spiceworks considering it one of the trends expected to have a big impact on business this year – more marketers are seeing how webinars can be used with the approach. In fact, half (50%) of the respondents to Demand Gen Report’s survey plan on using webinars to support ABM initiatives, with around 1 in 5 (19%) currently doing so.

How Do Marketers Plan to Improve Their Webinars?

The vast majority (84%) of B2B marketers surveyed said they find insights on who attended webinars (versus who registered for them) to be one of the most useful pieces of information from reports they get from their webinars. Another two-thirds (64%) find source tracking on which channels drove registrants useful, while 62% are interested in analytics on engagement metrics.

As a way to increase attendance and engagement, marketers are also keeping their minds open about ways to improve webinar performance. For example, about two-thirds (64%) of respondents say they are either using shorter duration webinars or will try to use them next year. Likewise, half (50%) of the respondents are either trying or will use a panel format with industry leaders.

Some 46% of respondents also say they will aim for deeper audience engagement by using polls or surveys. This differs slightly from webinar benchmark data from ON24, which found that Q&A was the webinar engagement tool used most often by its clients, with polls being the least often used.

To read more, find the report here.

About the Data: Results are based on a survey about approximately 150 B2B marketing practitioners.

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