This session with Jean Merlain tackled a question many marketers quietly wrestle with: if webinars are meant to drive results, why do we still judge them by sign-ups and attendance alone? This writeup was written with the help of our AI friend, so please excuse any errors 🙂
Table of Contents
- 1. Are webinars still worth it in 2026?
- 2. Why registrations and attendance are vanity metrics
- 3. What “real engagement” actually looks like
- 4. Turning engagement into intent and results
- 5. Designing webinars for on-demand, not just live
- 6. Timing, length and format: what the data shows
- 7. Promotion as a system, not a one-off push
- 8. Live, pre-recorded or hybrid?
- 9. How often should you run webinars?
- 10. Where to start
1. Are webinars still worth it in 2026?
Jean’s answer was clear: yes — more than ever.
For B2B marketers in particular, webinars remain a high-ROI channel because they:
- Generate high-quality leads
- Engage existing customers in real time
- Support education across complex buying journeys
What has changed is how audiences consume them. Live webinars still matter, but on-demand viewing now plays an equally important role. A single webinar can live on for months through recordings, clips, and follow-up content — if it’s designed with that in mind.
2. Why registrations and attendance are vanity metrics
It’s tempting to judge a webinar’s success by how many people signed up or showed up. Jean explained why that’s a shallow view.
Registrations tell you whether promotion worked.
Attendance tells you who turned up.
Neither tells you whether the webinar did anything.
To understand real impact, marketers need to look beyond surface numbers and focus on what happens during and after the session.
3. What “real engagement” actually looks like
Engagement isn’t passive listening. It’s observable behaviour.
Jean highlighted signals that matter far more than headcount:
- Chat participation
- Poll responses
- Questions asked
- CTA clicks during the session
These behaviours indicate curiosity, relevance, and intent — and they give marketers far richer insight than a simple “attended / didn’t attend” split.
4. Turning engagement into intent and results
One of the biggest unlocks in the session was how engagement data can shape follow-up.
Instead of sending the same recording to everyone, marketers can:
- Personalise follow-up based on poll responses
- Flag high-intent attendees to sales based on interaction
- Tailor messaging to questions asked during the session
Someone who actively engages is telling you something. The job is to listen — and respond accordingly.
5. Designing webinars for on-demand, not just live
A webinar doesn’t live or die in its 40 minutes.
Jean encouraged marketers to think of webinars as content engines:
- Recordings become on-demand assets
- Long sessions can be clipped into bite-sized videos
- Content can be reused across blogs, social and email for months
This shift changes how you plan webinars — favouring clarity, structure, and moments worth revisiting over “one perfect live performance”.
6. Timing, length and format: what the data shows
From Wistia’s data and wider industry benchmarks:
- Best days: Wednesday and Thursday
- Best times: 11am–2pm (local time)
- Ideal length: 30–40 minutes, plus Q&A
Shorter sessions are easier to rewatch on demand, while live Q&A preserves the sense of community and interaction that makes webinars valuable in the first place.
7. Promotion as a system, not a one-off push
Successful webinar promotion isn’t about one big announcement.
Jean outlined a rhythm that works:
- Start promoting around two weeks out
- Use email, social and reminders in combination
- Lean on platform reminders close to the event
- Keep marketing right up to the day itself
The goal isn’t just awareness — it’s staying top of mind when people realise they can attend.
8. Live, pre-recorded or hybrid?
Webinars don’t have to be fully live.
Jean shared three viable models:
- Live: best for interaction and community
- Pre-recorded: useful for global audiences and scalability
- Hybrid: pre-recorded segments with live Q&A
Hybrid formats, in particular, allow for higher production quality without losing the energy of real-time engagement.
9. How often should you run webinars?
There’s no universal number.
At Wistia, multiple webinars run each month — but each serves a different purpose:
- Thought leadership
- Customer education
- Product adoption
- Founder-led sessions
The key isn’t frequency for its own sake, but alignment with objectives and audience needs.
10. Where to start
Jean’s advice for marketers rethinking webinars:
- Define your objective first — pipeline, adoption, education, or revenue
- Measure behaviour, not just attendance
- Use engagement to guide follow-up
- Design webinars to live on beyond the event
- Treat webinars as part of a wider system, not a standalone tactic
The core shift is simple:
Stop asking “how many people came?”
Start asking “what did they do — and what happened next?”
That’s where webinars start to drive real results.