8 Emails to Include in a Webinar Email Sequence (Plus Free Templates!)

Congratulations, you have a great webinar planned! Everything is ready to go…

• You have speakers lined up
• You have the technology needs covered
• Your talking points are written down and organized
• Your topic is relevant to your target audience
• People are registered to attend

But the webinar is still a little ways away. How do you make sure that people who register to attend your webinar actually show up?

Today, there are many ways to promote your content and upcoming events:

• Social media
• An SEO blog
• Paid ads
• Print ads

But, one of the most popular options (by far) is email marketing — and for good reason.

The average open rate of a standard email is only about 18%. But a webinar email can see as high as a 72% open rate.

Trust us, we lived it. The webinar emails to promote an ActiveCampaign webinar showed:

• A 72% confirmation email open rate
• A 69% reminder email open rate
• A 58% thank-you email open rate
• 752 sign-ups

Email marketing is a quick and cost-effective way to reach a ton of people, and make a huge impact on your webinar awareness and attendance.

But where do you start? You might have questions like:

• How far in advance do people need information?
• How do I keep people from forgetting about my webinar?
• How do I get people to come to future webinars and events?

The answer is a webinar email sequence. And an automated one at that.

This post will show you 8 webinar email templates you can use in your webinar email sequence – plus the sequence itself (that you can totally steal).

Why are these emails important? What’s the benefit for your contacts, what’s the benefit for you?

An automated webinar email sequence makes sure that people who register for your webinar actually show up. When they attend, they get valuable information from you and they get to connect with your company in a new, more personal way — and automation means no extra work from you to get it done.

But the biggest benefit for your business is...new leads!

The proof is in the numbers. Take a look at the numbers from 3 ActiveCampaign webinars:

• Typeform Webinar Registrants: 974
• What Inspires Consumers to Buy Products Online Webinar Registrants: 210
• Unbounce Webinar Registrants: 1,827

Collectively, that’s over 3,000 opportunities to nurture new leads into future ActiveCampaign customers —– and your webinars can create these chances for your business, too.

Webinars are a great way to find new leads – and an automated webinar email sequence is the best way to nurture them. Once they register, they’ve opted in as contacts and you have a huge opportunity to turn those leads into customers.

As you prepare your webinar email sequence, there are things to think about:

1. What information will attendees need? This includes the basics like who’s speaking about what, when is the webinar, and how to attend it.
2. What resources will they need? Depending on your topic, sending your registrants related content can help them get the most out of your webinar.
3. What time zones are you working with? If your webinar extends to international attendees, think about what the best time is for the largest amount of people to attend.
4. How do you help people who aren’t able to attend? If there are people from other time zones or people who just get busy and can’t attend, think about what you can send them to attend so they can attend later and be inspired to attend in the future. Things like the presentation deck, a recording, a recap blog, and a list of Q&A that happened during the live experience. (this kind of stuff can be included in your webinar follow-up email series.
5. How can you streamline the work to create webinar awareness? Automation!! You can create an automated webinar email sequence that takes care of all reminders and follow-ups for you. And you don’t even have to create it yourself – we did that for you.

Although your business and your webinar dictate the types of emails in your webinar email sequence, there are 8 webinar emails that you should include for best results.

1. Post-registration follow-up confirmation email
2. First reminder: 1 week from webinar
3. Second reminder: 1 day before webinar
4. Third reminder: day of webinar
5. Thank you for attending! (Your recording is on the way!)
6. First follow-up: “Here’s your recording!”
7. Second follow-up: “Additional resources”
8. Third follow-up: “Future events”

(BONUS: Check out our Webinar Free Tool Package – including these templates, and a complete checklist for before, during and after your webinar!)

Here is the complete 8-email webinar email sequence that helps increase webinar attendance:

First things first – you need to confirm that you got their webinar registration.

Imagine if you were invited to a party, you say yes and then got no other information. You’d maybe blink once or twice, look around for the person who invited you, and then ask out loud “Well, wait...when is it? Where is it? What time should I show up?”

The automated post-webinar registration follow-up email takes care of sending all of that information so people can actually...ya know...attend your webinar.

This email gives your registrants:

• A confirmation that their webinar sign-up was successful
• A brief description of what to expect from the webinar
• Details like the date and time
• A link to add a calendar reminder
• A link to join the actual webinar on the day of

Knowledge is power, and people are more likely to attend your webinar if they know how to get to it.

Once someone registers for your webinar, when should you remind them of it?

People have busy lives, and even though they’re excited to attend your webinar, they might have other things top of mind. So it’s important to send a series of webinar reminder emails.

The first one should be sent about 1 week before the webinar. Here you can reiterate the invite information — like the link to add a calendar reminder or related content to enjoy in the meantime.

Here’s what you see in this email:

• The webinar reminder
• Content related to your webinar topic to keep them interested and inspire questions

Sending relevant content adds context, establishes credibility, and keeps your reminder interesting.

Your registrants are more likely to attend the webinar if they don’t have to work to remember when it’s coming.

Keep those reminders coming! Now it’s time to remind people of the most important info: when and where.

Here’s what you see in this webinar email:

• A clear subject line
• A calendar reminder
• The webinar link

It’s the big day! Time to send the final reminder!

This webinar reminder email should go out right before the webinar start time, but with enough time for people to check schedules and ensure they can still attend.

The thing to remember with these webinar reminder emails is that they're exactly what they sound like — reminders. These emails don't need to be flashy or use a lot of extra fluff copy to entice registrants to attend — they already registered, you just have to remind them of that (and make it as easy as possible for them to get to the webinar).

Here’s what you see in this email:

• That ever-trusty link to join the webinar
• A link to set the calendar reminder if they haven’t already

The webinar is over, but your webinar email sequence isn’t. Now it’s time for part 2 – the automated post-webinar follow-up email sequence. Up first, it’s the thank-you email.

Your appreciation in the form of a webinar follow-up thank-you email goes a long way for anyone, especially your new leads. The immediate “thanks for attending!” webinar follow-up email has a high open rate (ours average about 58%), making it a great opportunity to let your contacts know what they can expect from you in the future.

A follow-up email is another chance to keep new leads on the path to customer conversion. This type of email lets you ask for feedback and send more resources to hold their interest – like the promise of a webinar recording. Let them relive the experience again and again!

This thank-you email should immediately follow the end of the webinar.

Here’s what you see in this email:

• Many thanks for their attendance!
• What comes next (AKA the webinar recording)
• A way to follow-up with questions after the webinar

Keep the good times rolling! This webinar follow-up email goes out the day after the webinar, and includes the webinar recording. This is a great resource for people who attended and want to have a reference, and for the people who registered but weren’t able to attend.

This follow-up builds on the momentum from the webinar, and is the best opportunity to share your main CTA. Your main CTA is the “goal” of the webinar — it’s what you want your attendees to do.

The goal could be:

• A free trial
• Access to an online course or an ebook
• Getting an appointment with a sales rep to talk more

This follow-up email goes out the day after your webinar.

Here’s what you see in this email:

• The webinar recording
• Your CTA to keep the momentum
• Another thank-you for attending!

The next follow-up email is designed to educate and engage your webinar attendees. This is an opportunity to give them a deeper understanding of the topics mentioned in the webinar and helps to establish trust in your company.

These resources can be any kind of content, including:

• Blogs
• Whitepapers
• Podcasts
• Original research
• A free tool
• Anything!

We recommend sending this email about 3 days after your webinar.

Here’s what you see in this email:

• A recap of why they are getting this email (“you attended our webinar X”)
• A list of useful content resources
• Copy that tells them you’ll continue to be in touch

Start creating awareness for your future webinars and other events!

Send the third webinar follow-up email about a week after the event to tell your attendees about what upcoming events they won’t want to miss.

The other important part of this email is the CTA. Throughout this email sequence, your webinar registrants are learning more and more about your company, and your offerings. Now it’s time to move them to the next stage.

Include a CTA to offer a free trial (or your equivalent CTA offer) in this email and move these new leads into your sales funnel.

Here’s what you see in this email:

• Awareness of other upcoming webinars and events based on their interest in your last webinar
• A CTA to start a free trial — get those new leads!

Fast tips for crafting your webinar confirmation, reminder, and follow-up emails

These webinar email templates should give you a solid place to start crafting your webinar messages! But as you write each one, here are some fast tips to keep in mind:

1. Subject line: Always clarity over cleverness, and not too long. A trailing subject line can cause people to lose interest in trying to read the rest.
2. CTA: Make it easy to spot, and make it specific. If you’re offering a free trial, say that, instead of “Click Here.” Don’t make them think!
3. Branding: Use your company branding to create a professional polished look and to help people remember on sight who’s reaching out to them.
4. Copywriting: The copy in these emails should be concise, they should create urgency (don’t miss this webinar!), and deliver something valuable – gratitude, excitement, or helpful content.

Take a look at these webinar email examples from Sprout Social for more inspiration:

Sprout Social: Post-Registration Follow-Up Confirmation

This email subject line and CTA are clear and prominent, making it easy for a contact to take action.

Sprout Social: Webinar Follow-Up with Recording

Never underestimate the power of good email copy.

A webinar is a great way to generate and nurture new leads. It’s an experience, and creating a good customer experience should always be a top priority.

For best results when you send a webinar email sequence, remember these 3 key takeaways:

1. Start early
2. Be thorough
3. ALWAYS follow-up