Feb 16 2025 15 mins 1
In this episode of 'Your Dream Business Podcast', I addressed the challenge of low attendee turnout at live launch events like webinars, bootcamps, or challenges. I discussed the significance of live attendance for building trust and increasing sales conversion rates. I offered actionable strategies to improve live show-up rates, including sending multiple email reminders, creating a workbook or cheat sheet, offering exclusive bonuses, promoting live Q&A sessions, and leveraging social proof from past events. Ideal for course creators, membership owners, and coaches, this episode provides valuable insights to ensure more engagement and higher turnout for your next live event.
If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to Apple podcasts or Spotify and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.
Connect with Teresa on Website, The Club, Sign up to Teresa's email list, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook
It's super frustrating where you spend a lot of time and effort creating your launch event, like a webinar or a bootcamp or a challenge only to do the live thing and not have many people show up live. Over the last few years, I have seen a slow decline in the number of people who show up live. And yet it's more important than ever that we do get those people to show up live in order to help convert them into customers.
So what if I told you there is a simple and actionable strategies that you can take to actually get people to show up live? In today's episode, I'm sharing with you five key tactics that you can use in order to increase the number of people who actually show up live to your next launch event.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Your Dream Business Podcast. As always, I am so grateful to have you here with me and spend your very valuable time. In this week's episode, we are going to be talking about something that's super important when running a launch experience.
One of the things that we have seen in the past year or so when running a launch experience is that the show up rate has been fairly low compared to previous times. And what I mean is [00:02:00] webinar or a bootcamp or a challenge, The number of people who sign up compared to the number of people who show up have been much lower than they have been in the past.
When I first started doing webinars, like eight, nine years ago, I would expect easily a 50 percent turn up rate. And then. It started to die off a bit and then during COVID it really picked up again because obviously no one was going anywhere, they had nothing to do. And then it's died off again and really now if someone says to me they had anywhere between a 30 or 40 percent show up rate, I think that's good.
So first off we're going to look at why you want them to show up live and then I'm going to talk you through five tactics that I have to help you to get them to show up live. So let's start off by talking about why you want people to show up live to your launch event. Now, it goes without saying, if you're doing a webinar or a challenge or a bootcamp and you're doing it to an [00:03:00] empty room, that isn't going to feel very good for starters.
So apart from that very obvious reason, there are lots of other really important reasons as to why you want people to show up live. The first reason is it creates a stronger connection and trust between you and the person that is on the live webinar or the challenge or whatever it is. And when that comes to the buying part of it, people only buy from who they trust.
So when they see you live answering questions, addressing concerns, offering immediate value, they feel more connected to you and your brand. And this connection often translates into a higher likelihood that someone will buy from you. It also helps them if they think that there's a sense of urgency. So having someone come along to an event with a deadline date is really helpful because it's like you want to come and take part in this while it's still available.
There's a higher perceived value when they turn up live. So You'll know that if [00:04:00] you, I don't know how many webinars and things you've signed up for, and you think, Oh, I'll do that afterwards. And you never get around to doing it because we're not perceiving it as a very high value. Whereas if it's a really good event, launch event, and I perceive value in it, then I'm going to make sure I turn up live.
And when I'm turning up live, that automatically means I think this has some value. And the perception of a higher value increases the likelihood that people will take your offer seriously and be willing to invest in your program or course. So. Again, it's super, super important for that increased accountability and commitment if they're willing to show up live to a challenge or a webinar or a bootcamp or something that's free.
They obviously have a much higher accountability and commitment. They, you know, they are saying, no, I really want this. I'm really interested in it because they're willing to show up live to do the thing. Also, it really helps with things like live testimonials and social proof. Often when I've done challenges or [00:05:00] webinars, I attract some people that are already in my world and already work with me, which is always lovely.
And then what happens is they end up saying. Hopefully really nice stuff on the call and you kind of end up getting live testimonials and live social proof. Even if you don't know them, even if it's a cold audience, hopefully people should be kind of saying that was great. That was helpful. And you should be getting that reassurance as you go through.
So in short. Getting people to show up live is really important for many reasons, but predominantly the sales aspect, they are more likely to buy if they have come along and they've engaged and they've seen who you are and what you do and can make a much more better informed decision. The key thing with doing any launch event, live launch event is encouraging those people to turn up live and take part live.
So how do we do that? Okay. I have got five tactics that [00:06:00] you can use when planning any launch event in order to encourage your launch attendees to show up live and take part. Tactic one, send multiple email reminders. I am confident that you are probably not sending enough emails to the people who have signed up.
We are often so, I guess, are preoccupied by getting people to sign up that once they sign up, we kind of forget about them. When I do a launch strategy for myself, or if I help someone else do it, we have A chunk of emails that go up to people who haven't signed up and a chunk of emails that go out to people who have signed up.
They're actually very similar in their themes, but rather than saying, Hey, come and join, it's saying, I can't wait to see you there. Or it's saying, you know, I'll see you at the live, whatever it might be. In terms of how many emails you should send, that gets a bit trickier. Now, if [00:07:00] I had done something, if I'd been promoting an event two weeks out, I work backwards from when the event takes place.
So let's say I'm doing a webinar and the webinar is at two o'clock on a Thursday afternoon. As the webinar goes live, I might do an email that says, we are live now. Come and join us. I might do an hour before. I might do 24 hours before and then before that I might do one three days before, six days before, eight days before, ten days before.
You basically want to be sending those emails to remind them what amazing stuff they're going to get by coming to this thing and attending live. It's a really, really helpful to. Encourage them to show up live, to come and take part and for you to keep those, the same points, like I said, the same points that I would put in an email to go, you should come and join me and, and sign up for the thing I'm using for why they should turn up live.
[00:08:00] Also within those emails, I'll be mentioning some of the other tactics. So some of these other tactics that I'm going to be mentioning, I would include in the copy of the emails. So tactic number two, create a workbook or a cheat sheet. Now this is a really super interesting one because it's a really funny one that comes down to kind of psychology as to why this works so well.
But for everything I do, I always create a workbook. And I encourage people within the emails that I'm sending, once they've signed up, I go, here's the workbook. And I encourage them to print it off and put it on their desk ready. And there's many reasons why workbooks are so useful in encouraging people to turn up live.
Firstly, it's a reminder. So if they have gone and put it on their desk and printed it off, it's a kind of constant reminder. Oh yeah, I'm going to do that thing. Oh yeah, that thing's coming up. Secondly, it gives them a perceived value and accountability. Offering a workbook or a cheat sheet increases the perceived value of an event.
They feel like they're getting something practical and [00:09:00] tangible to help them take action. So there is a real reason why when they have something valuable to take away. That actually their sense of investment is higher, which means they're more likely to shop live to the event. And just as a quick, quick heads up, the workbook doesn't have to be massive and huge and beautifully designed.
It can really be quite simple, but it's that act of having a workbook that is really important in terms of getting people to actually show up and attend the live event. Okay. Next one. Tactic three, offer an exclusive incentive or a bonus for attendees. This is really important. And again, this is something that you can include in your emails in a webinar specifically, and in other, like I said, bootcamp or challenges, it works in all of them.
I will often do a bonus for those who attended live. This would be something value wise from a kind of lead magnet value. Hopefully it's not something that you're using somewhere else. Hopefully it's something that. Kind [00:10:00] of compliments, but doesn't take away from the product you're trying to sell. So for instance, if you were trying to sell, I don't know, some ideas for something, and you're going to give them some ideas for free as part of that gift, that's not going to work.
So. for instance, if you, I might give some templates away, or I might give a swipe file away or something like that. So what is it that you can give for free as a bonus that is exclusive to show them that actually when they turn up live, they're going to get this. And like I said, talk about it. in the emails and say, you don't even have to tell them what it is.
You just have to say, I have a special bonus for those of you showing up live. I also then include it in the introduction bit of the webinar, the bootcamp, the challenge, and say, for those of you who turned up live, if you stay till the end, this is what you're going to get. So having some kind of incentive or bonus for attendees to turn up live is really, really helpful.
Okay, [00:11:00] tactic number four, talk about the fact that you're going to be doing a live Q& A. In most launch events, there is an opportunity for you to show up live and provide them with some kind of Q& A rather than It just being a pre recorded thing. And that is part of the beauty of doing a launch event is that they get to pick your brain and they get to have a conversation with you.
So make sure you make that clear because that is a real incentive for someone coming along along live to the launch event. Maybe even give them some, some suggestions of the things that they might want to ask or questions that people have asked in the past, but make sure you say to them. come along because this is going to be your chance to ask me questions and your chance to get me to answer these things for you.
So make sure you include that in your emails and in your sign up and make that a real point of this is the reason you've joined this to get this live [00:12:00] access to me. And tactic number five, leverage social proof. This is really good. If you've done something like this before, if you've done a challenge, a bootcamp, a webinar, show people how good people think it was.
Show people the value that people got from it. So if you've got screenshots of chat, if you've got testimonials that people have put in or comments that they've said where they've basically gone, this was amazing. I got so much from it. Make sure you include that again in your emails, in your sign up stuff, make sure that you are putting it everywhere that basically you are saying this is not going to waste your time.
And of course, the most important thing is don't waste their time. Make sure that when you do put something together like a bootcamp or a challenge or a webinar, that it is good value and that they understand what they're going to get from it and what they're going to walk away from it with now. An additional tactic, which I didn't really want to talk about too much because I haven't done it myself, but I've seen others do it, is not [00:13:00] offering a recording.
Now, often with most live launch events, there is a replay of some sort. So whether it's a, especially, I'm talking really if it's a webinar, if it's a bootcamp or a challenge, then really they tend to have a dashboard or somewhere where those things sit. sit for a set amount of time and people can go back and review them on a webinar on a masterclass.
One option is to not offer a replay that for sure will have an impact on your turn up rate. I guess the thing that you need to think about is there are going to be some people who just can't make that time and date and actually they are really invested and they are really interested. They just can't make it.
Whereas if you don't offer a replay, you lose them altogether. Where I would say this works better is where you are doing more than one masterclass. So the examples where I've seen people do this, where they are not offering a replay at all, is where they were doing three masterclasses over [00:14:00] three days.
at different times. That is another option and it'll certainly help with getting people to turn up live. In terms of conversion, you'd have to look at how that works from a who then buys. But because the other thing that's interesting about the people who turn up live is they are really interested and therefore your conversion might be better when they actually, for, for the people who buy than if you don't do a replay.
So all of this stuff and everything I've said is very much about trial and error and test, but I can assure you that the ideas I've given you are tried and tested, smart strategies in which you can use to get more people to show up live to your launch event. Okay, I really hope that this has helped. Let me just recap those five tactics again.
So tactic one was send multiple emails and ones to remind them, sort of, 24 hours out, an hour out immediately. Create a workbook or some kind of cheat sheet that they can have as they go along the free training. Offer an [00:15:00] exclusive incentive or bonus to attendees who show up live. Make sure you make it clear to them they are having a live Q and A or having the opportunity to pick your brain and then leverage that social proof.
If you've done it before, show them what people thought of it and that they thought they got genuine value from it. Okay. I really hope that this has helped. If you have any other cool ideas that have really helped you get people to show up live, I would love to hear them. Please come and find me on Instagram at Teresa Heath wearing and drop me a DM.
I'd love to hear what strategies you're using as well. I will see you next week with an interview.
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
- Live Attendance Matters – Getting people to show up live helps build trust and increases your chances of making sales. A strong turnout can make a big difference in your launch success.
- Reminders & Engagement Boost Attendance – Sending multiple email reminders, offering a workbook or cheat sheet, and creating excitement with exclusive bonuses can encourage more people to attend.
- Social Proof & Live Interaction Work Wonders – Showcasing testimonials from past attendees and promoting live Q&A sessions can make your event feel more valuable, encouraging more people to join in real time.
If you enjoyed this episode then please feel free to go and share it on your social media or head over to Apple podcasts or Spotify and give me a review, I would be so very grateful.
LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Connect with Teresa on Website, The Club, Sign up to Teresa's email list, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook
Transcript
It's super frustrating where you spend a lot of time and effort creating your launch event, like a webinar or a bootcamp or a challenge only to do the live thing and not have many people show up live. Over the last few years, I have seen a slow decline in the number of people who show up live. And yet it's more important than ever that we do get those people to show up live in order to help convert them into customers.
So what if I told you there is a simple and actionable strategies that you can take to actually get people to show up live? In today's episode, I'm sharing with you five key tactics that you can use in order to increase the number of people who actually show up live to your next launch event.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Your Dream Business Podcast. As always, I am so grateful to have you here with me and spend your very valuable time. In this week's episode, we are going to be talking about something that's super important when running a launch experience.
One of the things that we have seen in the past year or so when running a launch experience is that the show up rate has been fairly low compared to previous times. And what I mean is [00:02:00] webinar or a bootcamp or a challenge, The number of people who sign up compared to the number of people who show up have been much lower than they have been in the past.
When I first started doing webinars, like eight, nine years ago, I would expect easily a 50 percent turn up rate. And then. It started to die off a bit and then during COVID it really picked up again because obviously no one was going anywhere, they had nothing to do. And then it's died off again and really now if someone says to me they had anywhere between a 30 or 40 percent show up rate, I think that's good.
So first off we're going to look at why you want them to show up live and then I'm going to talk you through five tactics that I have to help you to get them to show up live. So let's start off by talking about why you want people to show up live to your launch event. Now, it goes without saying, if you're doing a webinar or a challenge or a bootcamp and you're doing it to an [00:03:00] empty room, that isn't going to feel very good for starters.
So apart from that very obvious reason, there are lots of other really important reasons as to why you want people to show up live. The first reason is it creates a stronger connection and trust between you and the person that is on the live webinar or the challenge or whatever it is. And when that comes to the buying part of it, people only buy from who they trust.
So when they see you live answering questions, addressing concerns, offering immediate value, they feel more connected to you and your brand. And this connection often translates into a higher likelihood that someone will buy from you. It also helps them if they think that there's a sense of urgency. So having someone come along to an event with a deadline date is really helpful because it's like you want to come and take part in this while it's still available.
There's a higher perceived value when they turn up live. So You'll know that if [00:04:00] you, I don't know how many webinars and things you've signed up for, and you think, Oh, I'll do that afterwards. And you never get around to doing it because we're not perceiving it as a very high value. Whereas if it's a really good event, launch event, and I perceive value in it, then I'm going to make sure I turn up live.
And when I'm turning up live, that automatically means I think this has some value. And the perception of a higher value increases the likelihood that people will take your offer seriously and be willing to invest in your program or course. So. Again, it's super, super important for that increased accountability and commitment if they're willing to show up live to a challenge or a webinar or a bootcamp or something that's free.
They obviously have a much higher accountability and commitment. They, you know, they are saying, no, I really want this. I'm really interested in it because they're willing to show up live to do the thing. Also, it really helps with things like live testimonials and social proof. Often when I've done challenges or [00:05:00] webinars, I attract some people that are already in my world and already work with me, which is always lovely.
And then what happens is they end up saying. Hopefully really nice stuff on the call and you kind of end up getting live testimonials and live social proof. Even if you don't know them, even if it's a cold audience, hopefully people should be kind of saying that was great. That was helpful. And you should be getting that reassurance as you go through.
So in short. Getting people to show up live is really important for many reasons, but predominantly the sales aspect, they are more likely to buy if they have come along and they've engaged and they've seen who you are and what you do and can make a much more better informed decision. The key thing with doing any launch event, live launch event is encouraging those people to turn up live and take part live.
So how do we do that? Okay. I have got five tactics that [00:06:00] you can use when planning any launch event in order to encourage your launch attendees to show up live and take part. Tactic one, send multiple email reminders. I am confident that you are probably not sending enough emails to the people who have signed up.
We are often so, I guess, are preoccupied by getting people to sign up that once they sign up, we kind of forget about them. When I do a launch strategy for myself, or if I help someone else do it, we have A chunk of emails that go up to people who haven't signed up and a chunk of emails that go out to people who have signed up.
They're actually very similar in their themes, but rather than saying, Hey, come and join, it's saying, I can't wait to see you there. Or it's saying, you know, I'll see you at the live, whatever it might be. In terms of how many emails you should send, that gets a bit trickier. Now, if [00:07:00] I had done something, if I'd been promoting an event two weeks out, I work backwards from when the event takes place.
So let's say I'm doing a webinar and the webinar is at two o'clock on a Thursday afternoon. As the webinar goes live, I might do an email that says, we are live now. Come and join us. I might do an hour before. I might do 24 hours before and then before that I might do one three days before, six days before, eight days before, ten days before.
You basically want to be sending those emails to remind them what amazing stuff they're going to get by coming to this thing and attending live. It's a really, really helpful to. Encourage them to show up live, to come and take part and for you to keep those, the same points, like I said, the same points that I would put in an email to go, you should come and join me and, and sign up for the thing I'm using for why they should turn up live.
[00:08:00] Also within those emails, I'll be mentioning some of the other tactics. So some of these other tactics that I'm going to be mentioning, I would include in the copy of the emails. So tactic number two, create a workbook or a cheat sheet. Now this is a really super interesting one because it's a really funny one that comes down to kind of psychology as to why this works so well.
But for everything I do, I always create a workbook. And I encourage people within the emails that I'm sending, once they've signed up, I go, here's the workbook. And I encourage them to print it off and put it on their desk ready. And there's many reasons why workbooks are so useful in encouraging people to turn up live.
Firstly, it's a reminder. So if they have gone and put it on their desk and printed it off, it's a kind of constant reminder. Oh yeah, I'm going to do that thing. Oh yeah, that thing's coming up. Secondly, it gives them a perceived value and accountability. Offering a workbook or a cheat sheet increases the perceived value of an event.
They feel like they're getting something practical and [00:09:00] tangible to help them take action. So there is a real reason why when they have something valuable to take away. That actually their sense of investment is higher, which means they're more likely to shop live to the event. And just as a quick, quick heads up, the workbook doesn't have to be massive and huge and beautifully designed.
It can really be quite simple, but it's that act of having a workbook that is really important in terms of getting people to actually show up and attend the live event. Okay. Next one. Tactic three, offer an exclusive incentive or a bonus for attendees. This is really important. And again, this is something that you can include in your emails in a webinar specifically, and in other, like I said, bootcamp or challenges, it works in all of them.
I will often do a bonus for those who attended live. This would be something value wise from a kind of lead magnet value. Hopefully it's not something that you're using somewhere else. Hopefully it's something that. Kind [00:10:00] of compliments, but doesn't take away from the product you're trying to sell. So for instance, if you were trying to sell, I don't know, some ideas for something, and you're going to give them some ideas for free as part of that gift, that's not going to work.
So. for instance, if you, I might give some templates away, or I might give a swipe file away or something like that. So what is it that you can give for free as a bonus that is exclusive to show them that actually when they turn up live, they're going to get this. And like I said, talk about it. in the emails and say, you don't even have to tell them what it is.
You just have to say, I have a special bonus for those of you showing up live. I also then include it in the introduction bit of the webinar, the bootcamp, the challenge, and say, for those of you who turned up live, if you stay till the end, this is what you're going to get. So having some kind of incentive or bonus for attendees to turn up live is really, really helpful.
Okay, [00:11:00] tactic number four, talk about the fact that you're going to be doing a live Q& A. In most launch events, there is an opportunity for you to show up live and provide them with some kind of Q& A rather than It just being a pre recorded thing. And that is part of the beauty of doing a launch event is that they get to pick your brain and they get to have a conversation with you.
So make sure you make that clear because that is a real incentive for someone coming along along live to the launch event. Maybe even give them some, some suggestions of the things that they might want to ask or questions that people have asked in the past, but make sure you say to them. come along because this is going to be your chance to ask me questions and your chance to get me to answer these things for you.
So make sure you include that in your emails and in your sign up and make that a real point of this is the reason you've joined this to get this live [00:12:00] access to me. And tactic number five, leverage social proof. This is really good. If you've done something like this before, if you've done a challenge, a bootcamp, a webinar, show people how good people think it was.
Show people the value that people got from it. So if you've got screenshots of chat, if you've got testimonials that people have put in or comments that they've said where they've basically gone, this was amazing. I got so much from it. Make sure you include that again in your emails, in your sign up stuff, make sure that you are putting it everywhere that basically you are saying this is not going to waste your time.
And of course, the most important thing is don't waste their time. Make sure that when you do put something together like a bootcamp or a challenge or a webinar, that it is good value and that they understand what they're going to get from it and what they're going to walk away from it with now. An additional tactic, which I didn't really want to talk about too much because I haven't done it myself, but I've seen others do it, is not [00:13:00] offering a recording.
Now, often with most live launch events, there is a replay of some sort. So whether it's a, especially, I'm talking really if it's a webinar, if it's a bootcamp or a challenge, then really they tend to have a dashboard or somewhere where those things sit. sit for a set amount of time and people can go back and review them on a webinar on a masterclass.
One option is to not offer a replay that for sure will have an impact on your turn up rate. I guess the thing that you need to think about is there are going to be some people who just can't make that time and date and actually they are really invested and they are really interested. They just can't make it.
Whereas if you don't offer a replay, you lose them altogether. Where I would say this works better is where you are doing more than one masterclass. So the examples where I've seen people do this, where they are not offering a replay at all, is where they were doing three masterclasses over [00:14:00] three days.
at different times. That is another option and it'll certainly help with getting people to turn up live. In terms of conversion, you'd have to look at how that works from a who then buys. But because the other thing that's interesting about the people who turn up live is they are really interested and therefore your conversion might be better when they actually, for, for the people who buy than if you don't do a replay.
So all of this stuff and everything I've said is very much about trial and error and test, but I can assure you that the ideas I've given you are tried and tested, smart strategies in which you can use to get more people to show up live to your launch event. Okay, I really hope that this has helped. Let me just recap those five tactics again.
So tactic one was send multiple emails and ones to remind them, sort of, 24 hours out, an hour out immediately. Create a workbook or some kind of cheat sheet that they can have as they go along the free training. Offer an [00:15:00] exclusive incentive or bonus to attendees who show up live. Make sure you make it clear to them they are having a live Q and A or having the opportunity to pick your brain and then leverage that social proof.
If you've done it before, show them what people thought of it and that they thought they got genuine value from it. Okay. I really hope that this has helped. If you have any other cool ideas that have really helped you get people to show up live, I would love to hear them. Please come and find me on Instagram at Teresa Heath wearing and drop me a DM.
I'd love to hear what strategies you're using as well. I will see you next week with an interview.
