When I ran a webinar in 2019, 1,047 people registered and 567 attended live. I do not use that figure today as a universal benchmark. It reminds me of something more important: a webinar is not a broadcast room. It is the entire chain from the promise on the registration page, through reminders, to the next step after it ends.
Over the years, I have both moved away from WebinarJam and deployed it again. I have run brief twenty-minute broadcasts and events lasting several hours, sometimes alone and sometimes with other presenters. The interface changes in the meantime, so there is little point in producing another guide that says to click the third blue button. It makes sense to set up a system that still works after the next administration redesign.
First decide what the webinar is meant to do
One event can educate, qualify demand, introduce a service, or nurture existing clients. It should not try to do everything at once. Write one sentence: what should the right participant do after it ends? Book a consultation, request an audit, download materials, or simply understand the problem?
Derive the topic, duration, form, and follow-up communication from that answer. If you cannot offer a specific next step, the platform will not rescue it. Conversely, if you only need a ten-minute product video without live questions, an ordinary page with a video may be both cheaper and clearer.
Setup in seven steps
- Format and date: define the live broadcast, number of presenters, time for questions, and realistic duration. Do not write one hour in the invitation if you normally finish after two.
- Registration: ask only for information you will genuinely use. For a standard webinar, a name and email address are usually enough. For every additional field, ask whether it is worth the lower form-completion rate.
- Confirmation and reminders: the participant should immediately know that registration succeeded, when the broadcast takes place, where to find the link, and how to add the date to their calendar. Plan reminders around the broadcast time and time zone, not intuition.
- Room: prepare the presenters, permissions, cameras, microphones, presentation, polls, and call to action. Every element must have a reason. A poll without a follow-up is just digital hand-waving.
- Integrations: send at least the registration, attendance, and relevant follow-up action to your CRM or email tool. WebinarJam describes its current integration options through Zapier in its documentation. Test the transfer once using a real test contact.
- Replay: decide in advance whether it will be available, for how long, and what the viewer should do after watching. The official procedure describes the recording link, download, and chat and poll export.
- Measurement: tag registration sources using UTM parameters and monitor the entire path from the visit to the business outcome. The registration count alone is nice, but accounting will not be thrilled by it.
A technical test is not a presentation dress rehearsal
A technical test should reveal places where the system can break. Official documentation recommends checking registration, notifications, the room, presenter roles, the participant view, and replay; it offers a quick test and a broadcast clone for a full rehearsal. Use WebinarJam's checklist, but add your own scenario.
- One person registers from a mobile phone and another from a computer.
- Both check the confirmation, time, calendar, and joining link.
- Every presenter joins from their actual device and network.
- Test screen sharing, video, audio, switching presenters, and emergency recovery.
- Afterward, verify the replay, export, and data transfer to downstream tools.
The most frequent problem is usually not the picture but the audio. Use a separate microphone or headphones, disable notifications, and have a backup connection and a copy of the presentation. With several presenters, designate one person to watch the chat and resolve technical issues while the speaker talks.
Email delivery
A custom sender domain without proper authentication is an unnecessary risk. WebinarJam has a separate procedure for SPF, DKIM and DMARC. DNS should be configured by someone who understands the impact on the domain's other sending services. Do not blindly overwrite an existing SPF record.
Reminder copy should be usefully boring: topic, date, time, link, duration, and a contact for problems. Do not overwhelm people with further offers before they have even reached the room. I cover the broader context in the article on email marketing and deliverability.
The commercial part begins after the broadcast
Separate at least three groups: those who attended live, those who registered but did not attend, and those who watched the replay. Send each a message that matches reality. Do not thank someone for attending live when they were not in the room. Add a brief summary, time markers, and one next step to the recording.
Evaluate the registration source, live-attendance rate, engagement with the recording, questions, and above all the resulting enquiries or deals. If you have 800 registrations and no relevant conversation, the problem may not be the button. It is often the topic, audience, or offer.
When not to use WebinarJam
- You only need an internal meeting or a small workshop that a standard video call can handle.
- You do not have capacity for reminders, a test, and follow-up communication.
- Sensitive data or contractual requirements do not fit your supplier assessment.
- The webinar has no owner or clear business or educational goal.
Start with one well-prepared event. Write a scenario, go through the entire flow as a participant, and fix the three biggest weaknesses after the event. If you want to connect the webinar with measurement or an enquiry process, we can review it in a consultation.