

The Cost of a Webinar Lead Image 1

Webinars are growing increasingly popular in the B2B marketing world. According to Content Marketing Institute, about 62 percent of all B2B marketers are now using webinars as part of their promotional strategy. While this is a strong approach in today’s business world, the cost of producing a single webinar can be rather expensive. However, is it really so much about the total cost of the webinar, or is it more about the total cost of a lead?

First, let’s break down the cost of producing a single webinar:

• Technology Required to Produce a Monthly Webinar: $5,000 a year
• Equipment Necessary to Construct/Host a Webinar: $6,000 a year
• Grand Total: $11,000 a year to produce one webinar a month
o $11,000 / 12 = $915 for a Single Webinar

You might be thinking, “Hey, that’s not too expensive. Let’s give it a try!” But wait, there’s more. Yes there is more. Being able to produce the webinar is a great first step, but people actually need to know about it in order to generate an audience. Promotional costs are a necessity. Remember that not every company uses the same type of promotion, so these numbers are a rough estimate of how much your company will personally spend.

In order to calculate the expense of promoting a single webinar, we included the costs of:

• Banner Ads ($500)
• Google Ad Words ($750)
• Direct Mail ($0)
• Email ($1,000)
• Social Media ($500)
• List Buy ($1,000)
• Partners ($2,500)
o Total Cost = $5,500 per webinar

It is important to note two things. First, these costs are for ONE webinar. Second, not all companies use the same type of promotion. Because of this, we will divide the total in half to generate a number closer to what most companies spend: $2,750 per webinar.

Now, you certainly cannot forget the final expensive of creating a webinar—the staff. Someone has to make/host the webinar and that someone usually would like some compensation for doing it. To finish the cost of creating a webinar, we will estimate that a company will pay about 200 dollars to compensate the staff for all of their rigorous work.

Before we continue, let’s recap the total expense of a single webinar:

• Technology: $417
• Equipment: $583
• Promotional Costs: $2,750
• Staffing Expenses: $200
o The total cost of a webinar = $3,950.

At the moment, you might be thinking more along the lines, “Wow. That is a rather expensive investment especially if webinars only generate about a 38% attendance rate. Is it even worth it?” The answer to that question: It absolutely can be worth it, as long as you wring out the webinar and get the most out of it.
Before we begin deciphering the cost of a webinar lead, let’s look at some average webinar statistics:

• Average Webinar Registration Rate: 260 people
• Average Webinar Attendance Rate: 35-40% (38%)
o Average Webinar Attendance = 98 Attendees
• About 30% of Attendees = Qualified Leads
o Average Number of Qualified Leads = 29 People Per Webinar

In order to determine the cost of a webinar lead, we simply have to divide $3,950 by 29, which equals $136 per lead. If you are still asking yourself whether or not it is worth it, consider this, if you turn your webinar into a recording, you can increase the number of qualified leads from 29 to 69 people per webinar. By increasing the number of qualified leads at NO additional cost, you actually decrease the cost of a webinar lead. Let’s recalculate.

• $3,950/69 = $52 per webinar registrant qualified lead

By making your webinar a recording, you can actually cut the cost of a lead in half! That is an investment worth making. Don’t let the price of producing and promoting a webinar deter you from the idea of creating one because in reality it is the cost per webinar lead that is more important. Learn to take advantage of all the features that a webinar offers, such as a recording, and get the most out of both your money and your content.

To learn more about the cost of a webinar lead check out our webinar clip: “The Cost of Using a Webinar to Generate Leads.

For the full webinar, check out our slide deck: “The 84% You’re Missing: Rethinking Your On-Demand Webinar Strategy

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