E-mail Draws Webinar Attendees

Personnel Decisions International, a human resources consulting firm, sought an innovative way to market a new Web-based product that measures change on the job. The firm decided a free Webinar was the ideal vehicle — and e-mail seemed the best channel to attract Webinar viewers.

“The goal was to get 100 registrations and we blew that away very quickly,” said Marian Masica, global marketing director, from PDI's Minneapolis headquarters. Delivering a response rate of 3.9%, an e-mail promotion won PDI 367 registrants.

Even better, 193 people logged on to watch the May 7 Webinar.

“I was told to expect a 50% drop-off [from the initial registrants] and we only had a 47% drop-off,” Masica said. “I was ecstatic. That was a great number of attendees.”

The product, Time2Change, is a system that “measures whether or not people have changed as a result of a training session or a coaching program,” Masica said.

Change is measured six or eight months after employees receive the training or coaching. Employees take a survey that's tailored to their particular experience on a Web site. Then their boss and co-workers take the survey, rating the individual's level of change. Firms also can purchase PDI's Development Pipeline, which uncovers whether a company has helped or hindered employees in their change process.

The Webinar, “Accountability, Measurability and Profitability in HR Development,” focused not on the product, but on what a corporation can do to ensure that change actually occurs. Time2Change was mentioned briefly at the end, and a link to a microsite about it was included, Masica said.

Maynard, MA-based agency Passaic Parc had sold PDI on e-mail last fall during the first level of marketing for Time2Change. A broadcast to customers scored a 16% response rate, and two e-mailings to subscribers of HR publications netted 5.3% and 2.7%. In contrast, three direct mail drops interspersed with the e-mail pulled dismal results — less than 1% each. The agency also handled list brokerage for PDI.

The Webinar promotion went to 9,402 e-mail addresses. Nearly 8,000 of these were subscriber records rented from Training magazine. Another 790 e-mails came from another publication, Human Capital Strategies and News.

The remaining 832 were subscribers to a free PDI e-newsletter who opted in to receive promotions. Some of these had received the fall promo.

The broadcast went out in two waves on April 17 and 22. A reminder popped into registrants' inboxes two days before the Webinar.

Recipients hold HR management positions, mostly at Fortune 1000 companies, Masica said.

The creative featured a tough-looking executive in suspenders and tie. A plaque with the words “Prove it” literally carved in stone sat on the desk in front of him.

The copy beneath read: “Now, you finally can.”

This resonates with businesspeople, said Robert Rosenthal, president of Passaic Parc in Maynard, MA. “Even the biggest companies can't measure whether people have changed as a result of HR developments.”

Follow-up calls by the PDI sales staff seek to convert Webinar attendees to clients. The buying cycle runs about six months.

As for those who signed up but didn't sit in, salespeople have called to let them know the Webinar has been archived and is still available for viewing. A link in the Webinar leads to a microsite about Time2Change, which prospects can investigate.

The campaign's approximate $20,000 price tag included media, photography, creative and e-mail transmission, Rosenthal said.

If enough sales occur from the May Webinar, PDI plans to produce the same e-mail promotion for each of its European offices — with the Webinar delivered by PDI consultants in their native tongues.

• CAMPAIGN TITLE PDI Webinar
• OBJECTIVE To register 100 for Webinar response. Exceeded that by 267.
• BUDGET About $20,000
• AGENCY Passaic Parc, Maynard, MA