The technology behind your event can make or break it. No one wants to stick around for a webinar with poor sound quality or a blank screen. That’s why the webinar software you choose has to align with your overall webinar strategy and goals.
Webinar software requirements
Webinar hosting software is the backbone of your webinar. When researching software, the main features to look for are:
- Registration — What is the maximum number of live attendees per webinar?
- Ease of use for attendees — Can people join from their desktop computers and phones? Do they need to download software?
- Ease of use for speakers — How easy is it for guest speakers to join? Can everyone control their own slides?
- Webinar room features — Can you turn on/off Q&A, chat, surveys, and polls? Can you set Q&A to private?
- Broadcasting features — Is there built-in live streaming? Can you share a video or recording for part or all of the webinar?
- Content sharing — Can you upload slides, videos, and share screens? Can attendees download slides?
- Post-webinar — Will there be a recording you can download? Will the recording be emailed to registrants? Can you download your registrant list?
6 Webinar software options
Take a look at some popular webinar software tools below.
Livestorm
Livestorm is a browser-based webinar tool with a great UI and easy registration page setup. This is the software I chose for Discoverr, as it allowed for thousands of live attendees with unlimited registrants. I’ve used them for hundreds of eCommerce webinars thanks to how easy it is for speakers and attendees to join. Note: The only time I’ve ever had an issue was when we first started using it and a webinar room became so full it kicked out one of the speakers.
Demio
Demio is a hassle-free webinar tool that allows you to host multi-session events, on-demand webinars, customize email notifications, brand your registration pages, and more. It comes with easy onboarding and features built on the foresight of their marketing-focused founders.
I’ve used Demio and Livestorm previously and found them easy to use. Both are browser-based with robust features, so I recommend either of them if you’re looking to incorporate webinars into your overall growth strategy and make it easy for registrants to attend. Note: Demio is a client of mine.
Zoom
This webinar tool has become a household name over the past few months, but its capabilities extend beyond the virtual family quiz night. Zoom Video Webinar provides HD webinars with on-demand viewing, analytics, host controls, interactivity features, and event assistance. However, be aware that it requires a strong bandwidth to perform adequately.
If you’re just starting out, Zoom has a fairly generous free plan that includes up to 100 participants and a 40-minute limit (as of this writing).
GoToWebinar
GoToWebinar is an all-in-one webinar tool with features like invitations, videos, polls, sharing, data, and automatic invites and follow-up emails. Note that GoToWebinar is not as customizable as other platforms, which may make it unsuitable for larger brands. Tip: If you track your leads and deal stages in HubSpot, GoToWebinar has an excellent HubSpot integration.
ClickMeeting
ClickMeeting is an easy-to-use webinar platform that comes with tools for organizing, running, and analyzing events. Its three plans are customizable to different needs. However, it lacks phone support and allows only a limited number of presenters.
WebinarNinja
WebinarNinja is useful because you can hold multi-session webinars. They’re an excellent option if you’d like to put on a series of webinars with different speakers, but only require one registration from attendees. They’ll send out a welcome email with unique links to each webinar in that series upon registration, which attendees can click on to access each session.
Bonus: Community management tools
If you want to take your webinar even further, incorporate it into an overall community-building strategy. This is a great way to repurpose your content in a way that continues to generate value and leads for your company.
Bevy
Bevy is powerful for powering multi-day virtual summits with different tracks. Attendees can join whichever sessions they’re most interested in, connect with other attendees, view an overall agenda, organize events by different stages (tracks), and meet with various brands in virtual “booths.”
Luma
Luma is a community-building platform that integrates with Zoom. This is useful if you want to use webinars to supplement an overarching community strategy. They support email newsletters, ticket sales, discount codes, and allow members to connect with each other.
Wrapping up – Top webinar software solutions
Your webinar software is the enabler of your events. Getting the right technology in place and selecting the best fit for your goals is key to putting on a successful event. Choose wisely, and don’t be afraid to test out different options.