An honest WebinarJam review from Growth Marketer, Hailey Friedman.

Are you considering a webinar software tool and trying to decide which one is best?

As a growth marketer at a startup, I was in your shoes about three year ago.

I knew that there were lots of reasons to use webinars for business purposes and so I took the time to investigate and test out a bunch of different options. I’m going to share my experience with you so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes I did.

I even put together this perfect webinar script for you so that it’s super easy to get started when you’re ready… and it’s free.

If you’re ready to get started, sign up for a WebinarJam free for 14 days.

How I discovered WebinarJam

When I first set out to use webinars, my instinct was to use a tool called GoToWebinar. They’ve been around for a while and have a well-established brand — it seemed like a no brainer.

But that was a mistake. 

The GoToWebinar software looks like it hasn’t been updated since 1997.

It’s clunky and not fun to use. And it’s more expensive than the alternatives at a steep $2,400 a year.

And it offers fewer bells and whistles than its enterprise webinar software peers: WebinarJam, Zoom, GetResponse, Demio, ClickMeeting, etc.

Plus, get this.

The starter package offers “100 Participants” but allows you to invite 500+ people.

So the first time I ran a webinar using GoToWebinar, I ran out of webinar attendee seats in the first few minutes!

100 people joined us. But there were another 95 people who couldn’t get in. I started getting tons of emails asking why they couldn’t access the webinar.

I was freaking out.

So I called customer support.

They told me I could only have 100 participants inside the webinar. Why on earth then, would they let me invite 500 participants? Didn’t they think that was a shitty experience for our customers who registered and didn’t get in?

I asked if they could make an exception for my first webinar and let these people in, like right now. They wouldn’t.

I told them I’d pay on the spot to get upgraded to the “Pro” account so that I could let the rest of the attendees into the room. They couldn’t do it.

Customer service was completely unhelpful.

That first experience with GoToWebinar was such a disaster (Read my full GoToWebinar review here), I knew there had to be better webinar software out there.

Enter: WebinarJam.

I’ve reviewed every webinar software and WebinarJam is my favorite. Every. Single. One. And if you don’t believe I’ve done my research, read any of my other articles.

• ClickMeeting vs EasyWebinar vs GoToMeeting vs BlueJeans
• Zoom vs WebEx vs GoToWebinar vs WebinarJam

WebinarJam Review

I have used WebinarJam for years and think it is probably the easiest, most affordable and strongest webinar tool, particularly for entrepreneurs who want to use webinars to engage and sell to customers.

WebinarJam Pros

• It’s so easy.
• It’s priced lower than any other software and offers more features at $39/month.
• They have training videos at every step along the way to show you exactly what to do.
• There are also live reps available 24/7 to help.
• You can use pop up buttons, offers & countdowns to encourage webinar attendees to take action.
• They provide landing page templates for your webinar that you can customize.
• You can send both private and public messages to attendees during the webinar.
• If an attendee has a question in the live chat, you can pull them into the live webinar, show their face and allow them to participate!
• Every webinar is automatically recorded and the replay can be sent to attendees.
• You can also use the recorded webinar to create an automated webinar using EverWebinar. To learn more about evergreen automated webinars (that are simulated to feel like they’re live) click here to read my automated webinar guide.
• If there are any technical issues (it can happen with any technology), they have a “Panic Button” that immediately boots up a brand new live room and automatically transfer all presenters and attendees into it. Within 10 to 15 seconds, everybody will be ready to resume the broadcast where you left off. Personally, I have peace of mind that it’s always going to work- but don’t take it from me. Hear from some other WebinarJam fans:

“WebinarJam simplifies all of the set up and running of webinars so we can just focus on the content and delivery. It integrates with all of our tracking and mailing list systems [and] makes it super easy to prepare sales webinars with pre-defined ‘buy buttons’ etc.“

“The quality of the webinars is really good. Being able to pick which platform you wish to replay videos on is a nice feature, and I like how when I select YouTube that it automatically goes over and shows up on YouTube.“

“There are too many pros to list about the software. It’s feature rich and works as described. What is most valuable to me is the support provided. Customer support continues to be a magnificent gift.“

I love WebinarJam. I use it for my bi-monthly virtual panels, and it works like a charm.

WebinarJam Cons

• Some people experience a 10 second delay from live to what appears on the screens of attendees. This is pretty common with most webinar platforms though and doesn’t impact the experience from the perspective of the attendee.
• It used to be a lot more complicated when WebinarJam was hosted on Google Hangouts, but they’ve since updated their software and the entire experience really improved once the Jamcast software was implemented. Now you don’t need to use Google Hangouts to record a live webinar with WebinarJam. The whole process is seamless with the upgrade they made a few months ago. Keep this in mind if you read other reviews before 2017 as they are dated and referring to a very different product experience.

WebinarJam Pricing

With WebinarJam, you have three pricing options:

• Basic: WebinarJam’s Basic Plan costs $499/year. The plan grants you up to 2 presenters per webinar, 500 attendees per webinar, and 2 hours max duration.
• Pro: WebinarJam’s Pro Plan costs $699/year. The plan grants you up to 4 presenters per webinar, 2000 attendees per webinar, and 3 hours max duration.
• Enterprise: WebinarJam’s Enterprise Plan is crafted for larger businesses. At $999/year, it’s certainly not cheap. However, it may be worth it if your business relies heavily on webinars with large audiences as a marketing tactic. The Premium Plan grants you up to 6 presenters per webinar, 5000 attendees per webinar, and 4 hours max duration, plus access to the “always on” live room, the panic button, and the control center so that someone else on your team can manage the backend of your webinar while the speaker speaks.

Link: https://www.webinarjam.com/

While the tool itself is pretty self explanatory (they provide tips & helpful videos along the way), I figured I’d make it even easier by showing you, step-by-step, what it looks like to create a webinar using WebinarJam.

Sometimes it can feel intimidating to get started with something new — and I want to make sure you don’t feel that way about getting started with webinars. It’s really easy and so worth the impact for your business.

So what?

Webinars are the only marketing medium that engages customers for 50+ minutes.

And 90% of viewers stay to watch the entire thing, compared with just 10% of a recorded video.

Plus, webinar marketing is effective. Purportedly, webinars convert 19% of viewers into purchasers.

We convert 6% of the people that sign up for our Growth Marketing Pro Webinar to a $1,000 purchase. Webinars are seriously impactful for getting your message across, engaging attendees or selling a product.

One of the most intimidating parts is getting started. That’s why I put together this perfect webinar script for you. Simply fill in the blanks and you’ll be ready to go in no time!

WebinarJam Alternatives

If you’re not 100% convinced that WebinarJam is the tool for you, here are some alternatives. You can read our full reviews of the best webinar software tools here.

Some other quality alternatives include Demio, and a few other great ones…

1. EverWebinar. Okay, so its not exactly the same as WebinarJam, but it does happen to be another one of my favorite marketing products. We used EverWebinar to build a 6-figure passive income business in 4 days. EverWebinar is a solution for evergreen (automated) webinars. EverWebinar is focused on rebroadcasting, making webinars on-demand for consumers. The platform is ideal for small to medium businesses who are looking to maximize the touch of their webinars by reusing them.
2. Cisco WebEx. Cisco WebEx is a – you guessed it – Cisco product that is meant for enhancing and enabling team collaboration. It does this very well. With Webex, users can meet, call, screen share and collaborate via HD video or voice call. I don’t see Webex as a consumer webinar platform – one meant to communicate with hundreds of customers. It doesn’t have all the fancy features that other webinar platforms have that allow for this.
3. GetResponse. GetResponse is a complete marketing program that is very popular among entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses. This all inclusive platform includes not just webinar services, but also an array of different marketing tools, including auto-responders, custom emails, and list segmentation features. GetResponse is awesome because it allows you to integrate your email and webinar marketing.

How to use WebinarJam

Okay, if you’re ready to try it, follow these steps…

Sign up for the 14 day trial.

Download their plugin, which will allow you to seamlessly use the software in your browser.

WebinarJam requires that you do your presentation on a computer, rather than a mobile phone — but honestly, that’s preferable anyway – you want your webinar viewers to have a clear, solid picture. And doing the presentation on a computer allows you to engage with your viewers via chat, answer questions, and overall control the room better than you would be able to on a phone or tablet.

Once you are ready to start your first webinar, you’ll want to locate the “Your Links” button on your webinar’s page. That will lead you to a list of several links. As the host, you will want to click “Presenter Login Links,” copy the link under “Live Room” and paste it into your browser window.

Once you’re there, you’re in the Webinar room! Make sure to check off these last minute items before getting started:

1. Free up as much computer space as possible – don’t run programs that use a lot of energy, like Spotify, Netflix and others.
2. Wear earbuds! It makes all of the difference in your sound quality!
3. Don’t consume your internet connection with things like gaming, downloads, etc. It messes with the quality of the webinar.
4. Avoid distractions. This seems obvious, but remember to mute your phone, silence notifications on your computer, etc., so you can focus on what’s in front of you.

Then, you’ll want to click enter the room, and you’ll be all set to roll! When you’re ready to start, just click “Start Event” (very confusing, I know), and you’re chat will be live.

Download this perfect webinar script. It will help you understand webinars and help you present like a pro.

Meet the team behind WebinarJam

I love the tool so much I decided to reach out to the team behind it (Genesis Digital) and hosted them for an interview. I asked them all about how they built the WebinarJam and EverWebinar Products. Take a look at the video below to meet the minds behind the product.

Some fun facts about the WebinarJam team:

• They’re a 100% remote team of 100 people around the world
• They have 3 products: WebinarJam, EverWebinar, and Kartra
• WebinarJam was started in 2013 and has gone through multiple iterations, constantly improving their product

To conclude my WebinarJam Review

If you want an easy and affordable tool with features that will create urgency for your customers and increase conversion, this is the best webinar software for you.

Do it. You won’t regret it.

Also read: Step-by-Step, How to Run Your First Webinar