We take care to design and create amazing webinar content for our audience. It's what we do. But what use is premium content if there's nobody to watch?
Creating a perfect webinar invitation is the first step to growing your audience but it's hard to know where to start. Follow our step-by-step instructions and your webinar invitation email will work wonders. We promise. Or just grab your free webinar invite template.
What is a webinar invitation email?
First, let's cover a few basics. What should a webinar invitation email do? Answer: show people the value in what you're offering and make it easy for them to sign up for your webinar.
Simple, right? In theory, yes, but keep in mind that email boxes are often flooded every hour of every day with companies competing for an individual's attention. Having a solid webinar email will help your invite get seen, opened and clicked.
So how do you create the perfect email invite...
Step 1 - Pick your subject line
Webinar invite subject lines follow similar rules to all good email communication. A few things to keep in mind are:
- Length - your subject line should be no more than 50 characters, with data from Marketo suggesting optimal subject lines have an average of 41 characters. This is for two main reasons.
- The receiver is more likely to read the entire subject line if it is shorter instead of skimming it.
- The full subject line will be displayed, regardless of the device it is being viewed on.
- Copy - hint at the content of the email so people know what they're getting. The key here is to draft. Never just write one subject line. Try to write one hundred and see what happens. You'll be pleasantly surprised how good you get.
- Emojis - emojis can be a great way to engage and connect with your recipients. If you want to up that open rate, consider using an emoji or two. Just make sure to test your subject line before sending to avoid looking like a ☐.
- Add personalization - adding the recipient's name to a subject line has been shown to increase engagement, especially when used in conjunction with a specific event.
Step 2 - Write your preview text
Preview text is the copy that appears after the subject line in an inbox. It’s your opportunity to expand your subject line and to summarize what people can expect if they open your email.
Email preview text can be anywhere from 40 to 130 characters in length so make sure to use the space wisely. It’s also good to keep in mind that preview text can vary in appearance across email clients so always test your preview text before sending.
Step 3 - Select your banner image
Header banners deliver the first impression of your webinar invite and have a big impact on whether people register for your webinar or not.
Your email header should reflect your webinar branding. After the subject headline and preview text, they help to set the tone for what people can expect from you.
Creating effective email header images can be tough, especially if you don’t have a graphic designer in-house. If you can’t afford to pay a contractor then there are plenty of free (and paid) design tools available such as Canva, Figma, Vectr and Pablo.
Top tip: Make sure to include an email design (and other promotion collateral) in the graphic design brief for your webinar.
Step 4 - Header text
Header text can be integrated into your banner design and can include important information like the title, date, and time of your webinar, or something more inspirational.
Header text can be a useful way to highlight a problem that your webinar may solve, or engage people with a bold statement or question.
Step 5 - Webinar Invite greeting
Personalization is the key to successful emails. There are lots of ways you can personalize your email campaigns, but for webinar invitation emails, using the recipient’s name in the greeting is a good place to start.
Depending on what system you are using to send your webinar invitations, there should be the functionality to include the recipient’s first name in the email.
If you don’t have the names for all of your contacts, you may be able to set a default replacement for this information depending on what platform you use. For example, for a contact with a missing first name it would then read, Hello there.
Step 6 - Overview of your webinar content
Once you’ve said hello, give the reader more information about your webinar.
If you provided a lot of the information in the header banner, you may wish to keep this section short and sweet.
If your webinar has different sections with multiple content topics, you may wish to dedicate more email real estate to this section. Your overview should include:
- Why you are hosting the webinar
- Who the webinar is for and who the guest speakers (if any) will be
- What value people will gain from attending
It’s important to note that this section does not need to be long. A couple of sentences will do the trick.
Step 9 - Call-To-Action (CTA)
Add a CTA that will take recipients to the landing page where they can register for your webinar.
If you can, try to add a graphic element to your CTA to make it look like a button instead of just linking some text.
Keep your CTA text clear and to-the-point so recipients know exactly what to expect. Solid CTA text includes: Register Now, Sign Up, Save Your Seat.
Never include more than one CTA in your webinar invitation email. The goal is to have a clear CTA that is easy for people to find and understand.
Step 10 - Add a sign-off
Now you’re ready to add a friendly sign off to your invitation. Depending on what the send address will be, you can sign your email off from yourself, your team, or your company. For example, you could say See you there! The WorkCast Team.
Step 11 - Proofread and test
The final and perhaps the most important step - proofreading and testing your webinar invitation email. You should check:
- Your copy - lookout for spelling or grammatical errors. Remove any unnecessary filler words.
- Links - check to make sure you have no broken links and that they all lead to the correct place.
- Configuration - do the elements in your email look as they should when it is viewed in your inbox? Email clients can render emails differently, so best to check. There's no bigger email turnoff than an email that doesn't configure correctly.
Wrap Up
And there you have it, your step by step guide to creating your webinar invitation email. Obviously, we’ve only covered a small part of webinar promotion. Here are some other articles you might find helpful:
Download your free webinar invitation template here.
