Virtual Event Success

In a previous blog post, I shared the reason why you may be disappointed by the number of people who sign up for your virtual event through your emails.

One of the ways to increase email open rates from the industry standard of 17% is to create subject lines that prompt the person to take interest in reading your email.

So, I went into my shopping cart and looked at every broadcast email that has been sent to my list since 2007. I pulled the subject lines from emails that had an open rate of 17% or more. Here’s what I found:

Instructions

• How to Write an Earthshattering Episode Title (Part 1) (27% open rate)
• The 4 Quickest Ways to Lose Friends Online (27% open rate)
• My Mother’s Stress-Free Christmas Tree (There’s a Biz Lesson, I Promise) (18% open rate)
• Why Mistakes Happen, Reason #2 (this is a biggie) (17% open rate)
• Why Mistakes Happen, Reason #1 (vid enclosed) (17% open rate)
• Why you’re making mistakes in your virtual support business (19% open rate)
• Read This If You’re a VA, OBM, VES, MP or PM (18% open rate)

Numbers

• 3 Pitfalls of Social Media Traffic (20% open rate)
• 5 Ways to Attract Leads Using Social Media (19% open rate)
• The 7 Common Social Media Mistakes (22% open rate)
• 5 Ways to Market Your Virtual Event So It Sells-Out (18% open rate)
• 7 Quick Online Content Ideas (18% open rate)

Questions

• Can You Boost Your Business Hosting Virtual Events? (18% open rate)
• Are You In? (21% open rate)

Absolutes

• Why You Should Never Outsource Your Social Media Tasks (22% open rate)
• Why You Should Always Record Everything You Do or Say (27% open rate)

Checklists

• Your Social Media Outsourcing Checklist (20% open rate)

Miscellaneous

• I was hoping to meet you… (19% open rate)

Feel free to model the subject lines above for the emails that you’ll send out to your list regarding your upcoming virtual event, telesummit or video summit. I also recommend that you get on the lists of the following people so you can see good email subject lines in action – Callan Rush, Milana Leshinsky, Lisa Sasevich, Sean D’Souza.

I'm not a huge fan of hosting free virtual events. I actually discourage this because if you put in the energy to market a virtual event, you might as well get paid for your efforts.

However, free virtual events do have their place and I've used them to introduce a new product or raise awareness of another virtual event that I'm hosting.

When I first started to host teleclasses, I made the mistake of using them solely to build my list. It wasn't until a successful businesswoman, who attended one of my teleclasses in 2005, grilled me about why I didn't do an upsell after the call was over. That's when the lightbulb went on.

You should always have a specific purpose for monetizing your free virtual events. List building isn't a monetization strategy. Instead, you can use clever and untapped methods to turn a free virtual event into a financial windfall. Here are some ways to do so:

1. Sell the recording for a fee.

You can offer the live virtual event at no charge, then upsell to the recording after it's over. I recommend that you do this upsell by email a couple days after the end of your free virtual event. You can even offer 2 packages - a cheaper price for those who want the MP3 recording and a higher price for those who want the recording shipped to them on CD.

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