Tag Archives: user engagement

Ultimate Guide To Grow An Engaged Audience

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Live content is booming in popularity. Video-sharing services, generative AI, and high-speed networks make it easier than ever to share live content.

Also known as live streaming, live content is a powerful way to increase engagement and achieve your revenue goals. 

This guide covers everything you need about live content, including best practices to get up and running fast.

Live Content By The Numbers

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The following stats should exactly how popular live content and online video are booming in popularity.

  • Nearly half (44%) of live-streaming video viewers watch less live TV as a result (source)
  • The top 3 most popular types of live content are: live news, live content on social media, and live awards shows (source)
  • More than 75% of US households subscribe to a streaming service (source)
  • There are over 25,000 full-time YouTube content creators active today (source)
  • Twitch, a streaming content platform focused on gaming, has more than two million regular viewers (source)

Live content is much more than entertainment, by the way. A growing number of companies are leveraging live streaming to sell products. Known as live commerce or live shopping, this type of business video is a powerful way to present products and generate leads at scale.

What is Live Content?

Live content means sharing a live video broadcast to your followers online. Content creators and companies often share videos on social platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch. After the video broadcast, the video content may be available online in some cases. 

Three Reasons Audiences Love Live Content

Participating in a live content experience appeals to people for a few reasons. 

Live content is a powerful way to deepen your brand’s connection with your audience. For example, a publisher can offer participants to interact with their best-known personalities and columnists. 

Interacting with a celebrity is fun, but that’s just part of the value of live content. Your audience also has the chance to meet other people who share their interests.

A live content experience is a one-time experience. You can leverage FOMO (“fear of missing out”) when promoting your live content. For example, you might feature a special VIP guest to make your event stand out.

Attending a live content event from your mobile device or computer is easy. There’s no travel time to worry about. Even if you charge admission, the ability to participate in a live content experience from anywhere makes it easier to maximize 

Interacting directly with your favorite influencers and companies isn’t the only reason people love live content. Joining a live content experience also means connecting with people who share your interests. Sending chat messages to new friends is one of the biggest attractions to live content.

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Live Content Process With AI

Live content marketing is easier to create with generative AI tools like chatGPT. The Arena approach to AI and live content is based on three principles: human collaboration, brand alignment, and speed. Let’s unpack each of those principles so that you can create a modern live content process.

Human Collaboration

When you first saw the potential of generative AI technology, you might have wondered what this technology meant for journalists, marketers, and other content creators. Fundamentally, generative AI enables and accelerates human creativity. This generation of AI tools will make staff more productive.

Brand Alignment

Left unguided, generative AI is unlikely to create relevant, engaging live content for your goals. That’s why it is vital to align your use of your AI to your brand’s style and voice. Implementing this principle requires both technical and management direction. 

Speed

In live content, it’s crucial to keep providing new insights and perspectives to keep your audience engaged. Fortunately, AI is one of the best ways to improve the speed of your live content marketing campaigns and editorial content. You can use generative AI to generate outlines, draft simpler coverage, and more. 

To use generative AI best, include all these principles in your live content. For more ideas on implementing AI in your business, see our post: 5 Use Cases for Generative AI in Publishing Right Now.

Live Content Success Story: Critical Role

Another approach to live content is to stream a performance. This approach is trendy in online communities dedicated to gaming. For example, the Dungeons & Dragons online show “Critical Role” was performed live for several hours. 

Critical Rolel is notable because each live stream episode typically lasts several hours. Critical Role has developed a passionate fanbase that regularly submits its fan art. In addition, and provided over $11 million to support the team’s TV show launch via Kickstarter. The group’s success – including product sales – can be traced back to live content.

Live Content Success Story: Author Brandon Sanderson

There are multiple ways to create a live content experience for your audience. Some content creators use a simple question-and-answer format to engage with their audience. For example, best-selling author Brandon Sanderson has run multiple popular Q&A sessions with his fans.  Sanderson’s commitment to live content is one reason his company launched the most successful publishing Kickstarter ever, generating $41 million in revenue.

The Evolution of Live Content

The current boom in live content builds on past technologies and experiences. Understanding the history of live content is helpful because it illustrates what audiences value. Before the digital era, broadcasters on TV and radio brought together audiences to share important news. In 1969, it was estimated that more than 600 million people watched the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. That shared experience helped to set the stage for today’s live content experiences.

Fast forward to the digital era. Almost anybody can create a live content experience and find a new audience online with a mobile app and a good idea. High-speed Internet connections and content distribution platforms like YouTube make sharing live stream video content easier. The boom in streaming services like YouTube, Ustream, and other platforms makes it even easier to distribute your content to your audience.

Streaming video services achieved a significant milestone in the summer of 2022. Nielsen reported that streaming services are now more popular than cable TV in the US for the first time. By May 2023, streaming accounted for 36% of all TV viewing compared to 31% for cable, according to Nielsen. While major platforms like Netflix and Disney+ have the greatest market share, the ongoing growth of accessible services like YouTube shows that other brands can still grow.

As traditional TV declines in popularity, why should brands invest more time and resources into producing live content? There are several reasons why live content deserves a prominent place in your content strategy.

The Top Benefits of Live Content For Brands and Publishers

Investing resources into live content is worthwhile because it can give an exceptional return.

  • 69% of viewers are likely to buy a ticket even after watching a live event.
  • 54% of people want to see more videos from their favorite brands.
  • Consumers view live video 10 times longer than non-live video.
  • 63% of Millennials watch live streaming content regularly.

Appealing to Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) is a critically important demographic for many brands. Millennials comprise 21.75% of the US population (roughly on par with Baby Boomers) and have an average household income of $71,000. For organizations keen to appeal to Millennials and Gen-Z audiences, live streaming and video needs to become a key priority.

Video on its own is not enough, however. It’s also vital to offer dynamic content, including audience chats where people can easily ask real-time questions. Keep reading to discover your options to bring live content to life and grow your audience faster.

What Type of Live Content Is Right For You?

Instead of starting with specific consumer platforms for streaming, it’s better to look at the landscape from a strategic standpoint. This section introduces the different categories, including each option’s pros and cons, so you can decide which option is best suited for your needs.

1. Self-Streaming

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Some entrepreneurs, gamers, and celebrities love turning on their cameras and streaming their thoughts. Whether you use a smartphone or a laptop webcam, consumer hardware is all you need to get started with streaming. 

Earlier, we shared a few examples of live streaming, like author Brandon Sanderson and the Critical Roll web series. Entertainment in various formats continues to be the most popular type of self-streaming. The popularity of services like YouTube, Facebook Live, and Twitch makes this streaming approach easier.

Pros and Cons of Self-Streaming

Pros

Standard webcams and microphones available on most computers and smartphones are all you need to start. Spending more on lights, audio equipment, or a green screen can help you stand out. Aside from a laptop, you can start this live content process for less than $100.  

  • Low-Cost Content Distribution

Consumer platforms like YouTube are low-cost and have a large user base. Some of these platforms also include support for online chats. 

Cons

Traditionally, self-streaming live content focuses on one or a few performers. You must find someone in your company capable of performing this role to use this option.

  • Pulls Users From Your Website

Self-streaming video content relies on third-party platforms, especially if seeking to minimize costs. If your live streaming goal is to generate leads, sell products, or grow your audience, having viewers on your website is preferable. 

Unfortunately, self-streaming viewers do not always convert to website visitors. The most popular self-streaming platforms, like YouTube, are focused on keeping users on their websites rather than sending them to your website.

  • High Competition For Attention

Online distractions are omnipresent with the traditional approach to self-streaming. Video sharing platforms will constantly suggest other videos, channels, and notifications for your audience to pay attention to. As a result, it may take more work to reach your goals.

Who Should Consider Self-Streaming?

Using self-streaming video is valuable in a few circumstances. First, the low cost of this option makes it attractive when you are first getting started in video streaming. Second, your brand may already have many followers on Facebook or YouTube. In that case, it makes sense to stream directly to those followers.

2. Social Media Live Stream

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Leveraging a social media platform to grow your business is an established strategy. In the past few years, these platforms have introduced more video options and engagement options, such as a chat window, the ability to accept donations, and more. In particular, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter have made live video content more popular.

Pros and Cons of Social Media Live Stream 

Pros
  • Large Audiences Available

The leading social media platforms have hundreds of millions of users. According to eMarketer, the top three most popular social platforms in the US in 2023 are Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Participating on these platforms means you have access to a ready-made audience.

The main social media platforms have strong advertising capabilities, making getting more viewers easier. AdRoll says the average cost per click on Facebook is approximately $0.44 (or $14.40 per thousand views). 

  • Viral Organic Growth Potential

While organic reach has been declining for years on social media, it is still possible for your content to go viral. The most reliable way to attain organic growth is to produce exceptional content. In addition, encouraging your audience to actively engage with your content (e.g., “like this video” or “comment below with your thoughts about what our next video should be about”) can help as well.

Cons
  • Platform Specific Requirements

Live content performance varies depending on the platform. What works on Facebook Live will sometimes work on YouTube and vice versa. Therefore, there is a learning curve associated with each platform you use.

  • Pulls Users From Your Website

If your goal is to grow traffic on your website, giving users a clear reason to regularly visit your website (e.g., time-limited sales or special content) is critical, rather than simply sitting back and watching the live content.  

  • Your Content Is Competing With Friends and Family 

Reflect on how you use social media for a moment. You have connections with plenty of friends and family. Seeing updates from someone you know will be more interesting than a live stream. This is the competitive reality of growing a following in social media. Your live stream content is competing against not only other companies but against updates from the end user’s family and friends!

Who Should Consider Social Media Streaming?

Given the scale of social media platforms, including these platforms in your strategy makes sense. For companies with a significant social media presence, using these platforms for live streaming makes a lot of sense. 

Remember that social media companies are focused on maximizing user engagement on their platform. At the same time, your goals may differ (e.g., growing the audience on your website)—experiment with streaming video through social media and other platforms to see which approach yields the best results.

3. Direct Live Content Experience

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The direct live content experience is the high effort, high reward approach to live content. Instead of relying on third-party platforms filled with distractions, the live content is on your website. To maximize your live content experience, include online chats in your strategy so your audience can easily interact with you.

Pros and Cons of Direct Live Content Experience 

Pros
  • Significantly Reduce Digital Distractions

A University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor found that 19% of class time was spent using a digital device for non-class purposes in 2019. It’s not just students either – one recent estimate found that adults pick up their phones over 50 times per day! In this context, it is important to help your audience to stay focused on your content.

There are no distracting notifications or messages when your live content is only offered through your website. Fewer distractions mean a greater chance of staying engaged with your content, connecting, and experiencing enjoyable moments with your brand.

  • Increased Conversion Opportunities

Running a live content experience directly on your website means you control the environment. You can decide to offer time-limited promotions, incentives to contact sales, and more.

  • Increased Audience Loyalty

Achieving success online isn’t just about the number of followers you have. Engagement and loyalty are also critically important. When your audience starts viewing your website as an interesting destination online, they are more likely to return.

Cons

Adding live video experiences to your website will take some work. Yet, many companies and organizations have made it happen using technology like Vimeo. Recently, we highlighted 10 Vimeo-powered live streaming websites. In the guide, you’ll see fitness companies, museums, classic TV, and religious organizations use live videos directly on their websites.

  • Creating Compelling Content Takes Work

Coming up with content streaming ideas takes some work. You need to come up with the idea, and you may also want to script and rehearse the event. 

The work effort needed to create engaging content is also an advantage. Companies need to be more motivated to create virtual events and content experiences. Therefore, you will have an advantage over other companies if you invest in growing your audience more quickly.

To save time developing content ideas and planning live content, see the following resource: Highly Engaging Scripts for Live Coverage and Virtual Events.

Who Should Consider Direct Live Content Experiences?

While running a direct live content experience from your website is open to many organizations, it is a great fit for a few organizations. 

Media companies like broadcasters and news sites are an obvious fit – their goal is to keep their audience engaged directly on their website. In addition, educational institutions are in the business of transferring knowledge to students, and live content can support that goal. Finally, entertainment and eCommerce companies benefit from live content experiences.

Six Best Practices To Improve Your Live Content Results

Achieving excellence with live content takes time and practice. That said, there are some best practices you can use to speed up your results.

1. Start With Your Live Content Strategy 

Choosing the right concept for your live event makes a big difference. Your greatest asset is your knowledge of what your audience has responded to in the past. 

Review your analytics data, webinars, and social media accounts to determine the type of content your audience engages with the most. For additional insight, consider surveying your audience to ask them more about their interests.

2. Promote Your Live Content Experience Like A Product

You might want to run a live content experience to pursue your marketing goals. To achieve your end goal – more leads, more sales, or a larger audience – allocate the necessary to dedicate resources to promote the live content experience. 

For example, you might offer exclusive benefits (e.g., discount codes or the opportunity to ask questions to a VIP in your industry) to people who join your event.

3. Run Your Live Content On Your Website 

While running a live stream experience on a social media platform may appear easier, disadvantages exist. You need more of your ideal audience to visit your website to achieve your goals. Therefore, it is best to stream your live content directly on your website and make it interactive by including Arena Live Chat.

4. Prepare Your Team For Live Content

A successful live content experience is similar to putting on a conference event. You need talented people on stage and support staff working behind the scenes. At a minimum, a live stream event should only be run with two people: an “on-air” event host who will appear on camera and a support person keeping an eye on the live chat and other logistical details.

What if your team is brand new to running a live stream? In that case, running a practice event and only events with other employees is helpful. A practice event is a great opportunity to identify technical problems, get used to reading and responding to user content (e.g., likes and comments about your remarks), and overall improve your confidence.

5. Measure Your Live Content Results

Producing a compelling live content experience takes significant time and resources. It is a best practice to review the live stream metrics each time. Start with simple metrics like the number of attendees. Next, measure the effectiveness of your calls to action – this is where using special discount codes created for the live stream makes a big difference. 

Try to improve your attendance and engagement metrics each time you run a live stream event. Use the next best practice to ensure your live stream performance keeps improving.

6. Test And Learn From Each Event Experience

It’s essential to go into running live content experiences with reasonable expectations. Your first event may have low attendance, low engagement, or both. Don’t let those results discourage you from offering live content, though! Instead, meet with your event team after the event and think through specific ways you can make your next event more successful.

For example, poor audio quality turns off many people. If this problem impacts your live content, buying a better-quality headset or microphone could immediately improve your events.

The One App Every Live Content Experience Needs

The whole point of running a live content experience is to engage your audience. That means you need to give your audience a way to interact with you. That’s where a live chat solution comes in. Learn more about Arena Live Chat.

Get More Customers With A Retarget Customer Data Platform

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A customer data platform needs the right fuel to achieve growth—data from sales systems, customer loyalty data, insights from programmatic advertising, and advanced analytics all help. Ultimately, the way to lift conversion rates requires significant first-party data. 

Why First Party Data Should Be The Core Of Your Marketing Strategy

If you ask most marketing teams, they’ll say they are drowning in data from analytics tools. The burden gets even more significant when you factor in customer insights from third-party data. That’s why your customer data platforms need to emphasize direct interactions with customers (i.e., first-party data).

To make the most out of your marketing activities and get better retargeting results, you need the proper foundation in place first. With the right marketing technology, it is far easier to focus your advertising campaigns to achieve better click-through rates and increase conversion rates.

Gathering Your First-Party Data For Retargeting

Fulfilling your business strategy is easier when you can make Facebook ads, email marketing, and overall digital marketing deliver more results. Effectively gathering first-party data into a centralized database makes it easier to provide personalized experiences.

To build accurate customer profiles, look at the data you already have, like purchase history, insights from your legacy systems, and other data points available in your marketing automation platform. These data points are vital to building a company’s first-party data foundation. However, there is much more high-quality customer data you can gather.

4 Marketing Opportunities To Gather And Use First Party Data 

Online events and community experiences give you an unusual way to transform anonymous visitors into potential customers. To achieve this feat, your tech stack needs to be equipped with marketing automation tools like Arena Personas and live chat. Once your email systems and preferred marketing solution are ready, it’s time to engage your target audiences. 

1) Offer Online Experiences To Potential Customers

Using marketing campaigns to gather today from various customer segments is easier when there is a value exchange. Every single customer should get something out of interacting with your company like a community experience, pricing (e.g. discounts), early access to products or useful insights.

For example, you can use Arena live chat to deepen your customer relationships by running engaging online events. As you add more engaging experiences, customer acquisition cost may go up for a period of time. In the long term, providing customers live event experiences can raise customer retention.

Instead of attempting to understand the desires of anonymous segments, tracking user engagement in different types of online activity (e.g. chat and website use) leads to more actionable insights. Let’s break down how gathering first-party data with an online experience can help.

E-Commerce Business Use Case

For example, B2C customers may react with excitement in a chat session during a livestream event. To see how this information could be used, consider e-commerce brands. They may be considering launching 10 products over the next quarter but  can use this insight to improve the results of product launches. By observing the chat and related behavior patterns like website clicks, you can estimate demand for products (e.g. “Hey, we noticed over a hundred people wanted the new blue shirt!”). 

With this insight in mind, there are at least two ways you can get more business. First, you can run a targeted campaign to your current customers and reference your chat experience (e.g. “We saw that many of you are excited about our new linen blue shirts! Order by Friday and you’ll get 10% off!”). Second, you can then make changes on your advertising platform to emphasize the new shirt. 

2) Create Campaigns For Your Current Customers 

Marketing campaigns often focus on bringing in net new customers and prospects. In addition to that objective, it’s important to engage your current customers. In many respects, it’s easier to  execute data-driven personalization is to focus on customers. Unlike anonymous website visitors, customers have signaled what they value with their buying behavior including offline purchases. Let’s illustrate this use case for enterprise-level companies in the software industry. 

B2B Enterprise Use Case

Selling complex business software often feels like a Herculean task. Achieving business success often requires a full team of sales professionals like account executives, sales development representatives and others. Further, the marketing team is constantly working hard to collect customer stories, optimizing online advertising campaigns and more.

In this context, it’s vital to make the most of your customer base. For example, you might have a significant percentage of customers on a mid tier plan while your goal is to emphasize the top tier enterprise plan. In that case, you might offer online experiences showcasing the success of users in the top tier plan and encourage them to share their success stories. For instance, enterprises users might rave about the analytics capabilities and native integrations available in your top tier plan. Running a live event where customers have the opportunity to share their experiences with each other is powerful!

There are some downsides to this type of campaign. It requires significant insight into customer behavior. It’s vital to know your customer satisfaction levels so that you shine a spotlight on your most delighted customers. This type of campaign also requires significant collaboration between sales and marketing. Fortunately, solutions like Arena Personas make such marketing efforts easier to arrange. 

3) Get Better Lookalike Audiences

In Facebook advertising, it has been a common practice to create a lookalike audience by uploading your customer list. Facebook then uses its customer match capabilities to find more people who are similar to your current customers. This approach to Facebook advertising isn’t your only option. What if your target audience isn’t on Facebook or Facebook campaigns aren’t producing satisfactory results? The first party data you gather can help you to market more effectively.

The downside to relying entirely on an advertising platform for lookalike audiences is that you are dependent on their database. If some or many of your customers are not active users on Facebook, retargeting via the Facebook pixel may not work well.

The alternative is to build your own lookalike audiences. With a large enough audience, you may be able to pursue granular segmentation in a custom audience as shown in the following example.

Individual Audience Factors

Every purchase is ultimately made by an individual, whether they are buying as a consumer or at a company. Therefore, it is usually wise to start with these factors.

  • Age: understanding the typical age profile of your ideal audience helps you to decide which channels, creative and offers to use.
  • Gender: it is helpful to know if gender differences are relevant to your market.
  • Geography: contrast the geography of your website visitors to your ideal customer profile.
  • Interests: find out the topics, publications and media your audience likes. If you offer online event experiences like virtual conferences, look at registration records to see 

B2B Audience Factors

If you are focused on appealing to B2B audiences, the following customer attributes are important. 

  • Industry: to minimize confusion, use a standard industry classification like the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
  • Company Size: use number of employees or revenue as a filter. 
  • Technology Stack: If you offer technology products or services, knowing the customer’s tech stack is helpful. For example, does it matter if the customer uses Salesforce?

Is Your Audience Segment Too Large?

Audience segmentation can become less useful when the audience becomes too large. IF you end up with an audience segment with millions of individual customers, it may need to be narrowed down. Leverage feedback from the sales team and customer service to narrow the list. They may be able to help you identify the customer attributes associated with the most valuable customers (e.g. people who tend to move through the customer journey quickly).

4) Lapsed Customer Engagement

When a customer cancels their account or stops buying for a long period of time, all hope is not lost. In many cases, you have a good chance to reengaging lapsed customers with a retargeting campaign. To build this type of audience segment, it’s important to choose who to include and who to exclude.

Start by defining a lapsed customer. For simplicity, let’s define a lapsed customer as a prior customer whose last purchase was six to twelve months ago. Once you have that list, it’s vital to filter it further using your customer relationship management data. Specifically, you want to exclude customers who complained or experienced significant problems. Reengaging such former customers is much more challenging and may require more guidance from the sales team.

Now that you have your audience segment prepared, prepare a custom advertising campaign. B2C companies often find that a simple “we’ve missed you!” style message with an incentive (e.g. 10% off coupon) is an effective way to bring back customers. For B2B campaigns, communicating new features or capabilities can help. Even better, reengage lapsed customers by inviting them to an online event.

The Final Ingredient To Successful Retargeting: Leverage Market Awareness

Once you choose one of the ideas from above to execute, there is one more critical point to consider: market awareness. The three part market funnel – top of funnel, middle of the funnel and bottom of funnel – gives us a good framework. Let’s pair the market funnel concept with the audience segmentation we covered earlier.

1) Top of Funnel

In the top of the marketing funnel, most prospects have little to no understanding of your product and how it might help them. This is the marketing equivalent of cold calling. The advantage of top funnel marketing is that you have the greatest opportunity because this segment is always the biggest. The disadvantage is that you usually need to be more patient.

With a top of funnel focus, leveraging the “Offer Online Experiences To Potential Customers” strategy makes sense. In this case, your primary marketing campaign would focus on inviting prospects to an online event. After the event, you would follow up with retargeting campaigns to offer an event recording or other assets to give people a reason to opt in to your marketing.

If you use events, use our how to promote your virtual event guide to get more attendees.

2) Middle of Funnel

Also known as the evaluation stage, the middle of the funnel is an intermediate step in the customer journey. In this stage, the potential customer has some awareness of what you offer. It’s now up to you to nurture the prospect further. In contrast to top of funnel, you likely already have some prospect or customer data in place so you can start off with a retargeting campaign.

Consider adapting the “Create Campaigns For Your Current Customers” concept to middle of the funnel campaigns. Highlighting your current customers via an event, case study or interview is a powerful way to prove your credibility. Using your customer data platform, identify prospects who have interacted with your brand in the past 3 months (e.g. attended a webinar, participated in a live chat etc). Once you have identified this audience segment, create a marketing campaign to emphasize your case studies.

3) Bottom of Funnel

Converting leads at the bottom of the marketing funnel depends on your business model. If customers make an online purchase, a campaign offering a deadline and incentive is often a good bet. For B2B or enterprise sales, running marketing campaigns may not be your best best. Instead, it may be more effective to collaborate with the sales team to find out what type of campaigns they want. For example, highly customized and targeted direct mail campaigns may be the best way forward.

Use Arena Personas To Get More of The Right Data

Data driven personalization campaigns and advanced audience segmentation all depend on having high quality data. To help companies get more of the data they need to grow, use Arena Personas. It’s the fastest way to collect and import first-party data into your customer data platform. Then you’ll find it far easier to run retargeting campaigns across the marketing funnel.

Virtual Conference: Top 10 Platforms (Ranked)

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There are several virtual conference platforms you can use to host your online event. The best conference platforms let organizers host live stream events, accommodate large audiences, market their events, collect insightful data, broadcast on multiple platforms and devices, and encourage attendee engagement. 

To select a virtual event platform for your online conferences and virtual meetings, use the insights provided in this guide to make an informed decision. While our focus is on the best virtual conference platforms for large events, these tools can often be used to run a smaller online meetings as well. 

This guide reveals the top 10 virtual conference platforms, including features and pricing information for each so you can make a good decision as the event organizer.

Top 10 Virtual Conference Platforms

We have selected some of the best virtual conference platforms, according to user rankings on Capterra. Please note that these rankings change over time as more users review the apps and other solutions.

1. Grip (Capterra Average Rating: 5 stars out of 5)

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Grip offers virtual conference tools suitable for virtual and hybrid event experiences. As the event host, you can stream your online experience to other major streaming solutions like Zoom, YouTube, and Twitch. The software enhances networking, a key part of the attendee experience, through its AI-powered event matchmaking tool. Organizers can add a live stream to Grip’s main stage, and it automatically shows content on the users’ feeds. 

The platform’s Event Matchmaking tool creates a networking experience through speed networking, roundtables, instant video calls, multi-person meetings, and hosted buyer meetings. This matchmaking capability makes this platform stand out compared to other virtual meeting platforms. 

In addition to major streaming solutions, Grip also integrates with Arena to enhance audience engagement. Arena Live Chat is a live chat tool that improves engagement through instant messaging, Q&As, polls, surveys, group chat, and more. 

Arena Live Blog is another effective tool for digital agencies and companies looking to share quick updates as their conference unfolds. To capitalize on data collected from customers, companies also use Arena Personas plugged into their Customer Data Platform (CDP) to build customer profiles and better understand their preferences and interests.

2. Demio (Capterra Average Rating: 4.7 stars out of 5)

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Demio is one of our top virtual conference platforms because of its simple event registration capabilities, engagement benefits, and analytics tools. 

Demio offers real-time HD streaming, simulated events, and pre-recorded presentations. Organizers can add their own logo and branding, and attendees can join virtual conferences with just one click. 

Notable, the Demio platform integrates with over 50 third-party software apps like HubSpot, Drip, ConvertKit, and MailChimp. Organizers can view attendees, collect contact details, manage their registration, and export contacts to a CSV file. 

Demio offers a 14-day free trial, so you can evaluate if it is right for your needs. The company offers three paid plans: Starter ($34 per month with 50 attendees), growth ($69 per month with 150 attendees), and premium (request quote for pricing and support for more than 500 attendees).

3. Livestorm (Capterra Average Rating: 4.7 stars out of 5)

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Livestorm is a browser-based platform that offers powerful live streaming features, where events can be hosted on desktop and mobile devices. The webinar software can be used for pre-recorded online events, live events, or on-demand events. 

Organizers can track engagement, answer questions, add polls, chat with attendees, send emails, and use these insights to improve the experience for attendees.

Companies can promote their events through branded registration pages, built-in social sharing, company pages, automated emails, and more. Livestorm has solid features to enable an engaging interactive experience like Q&As for event guests, call-to-actions, live answer notifications, live attendees lists, and screen sharing. 

Like several of the other online community platforms profiled here, Livestorm offers several plans. To take the platform for a test drive and see how it performs with interactive webinars, try the free plan which has a maximum event duration of 20 minutes. To accommodate more event participants, top-tier support, and other features, sign up for the Pro, Business, or Enterprise plan. 

4. Communique Conferencing (Capterra Average Rating: 4.7 stars out of 5)

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Communique Conferencing has effective solutions for audio conferencing, web conferencing, and virtual community events. Its webcasting software lets organizers broadcast video and audio to over 30,000 attendees. This large virtual venue capacity means the platform pairs well with even the largest events.

Its virtual conferencing platform creates an online environment that includes features for networking, keynote presentations, booths, exhibit halls, and conferences. It also has a custom solution for hosting virtual career fairs and hybrid events. To find out more about the platform’s pricing, contact the company.

5. Zoom (Capterra Average Rating: 4.6 stars out of 5)

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Zoom offers several different products for video webinars, meetings, phone systems, events, chat, and more. Zoom Meetings can host up to 1,000 participants with audience chats, and Zoom’s webinar platform can broadcast to 50,000 attendees. Virtual conference hosts can stream HD video, cancel background noise, and add virtual backgrounds with Zoom’s software. 

Zoom’s key features include the capability to create their own post-conference landing page and set up reminder emails. To encourage audience participation, Zoom also offers Q&A sessions and attendee networking via breakout rooms.

Zoom’s Webinars starts at $690 per year (up to 500 attendees) and Zoom Webinar is priced at $890 per year (up to 500 attendees). At higher price points, the virtual event platform can serve over 10,000 live attendees.

6. Cisco Webex (Capterra Average Rating: 4.6 stars out of 5)

Cisco Webex is a virtual event platform that supports up to 10,000 attendees. To keep your attendees engaged, the platform offers breakout rooms (i.e. a virtual networking lounge), polls, chats, and Q&As. 

The platform’s webinars come with post-event reporting, moderator controls, custom presentation options, and personalized registration pages.  Cisco Webex offers several different pricing plans depending on each organizer’s needs.

The free basic plan is limited to 50-minute meetings and 100 attendees. The Business plan is $25 per month with support for 200 attendees. The enterprise plan provides support for up to 1000 attendees (contact sales for pricing).

7. Airmeet (Capterra Average Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5)

Airmeet is a platform that lets organizers host up to 100,000 participants for a hybrid or physical event. Organizers can connect attendees through mobile devices, live stream events on Facebook and YouTube, and use integrations to exchange event data. 

With this hosting platform, organizers can add real-time polling, collect event insights, sell tickets with different tiers, and easily register attendees with registration forms.

The virtual event software has several plans, including social webinars and events. Both plans include interactive features such as the ability to gather audience questions.

Its plans include Social Webinars for results-driven webinars and Events for large-scale conferences. AirMeet has three plans: free, standard and pro. The free plan is limited to 100 attendees per event, while the standard plan (starts at $2400 per year) supports more users. To access all of the platform’s robust features (e.g. virtual booths, email marketing support, and networking features), see the pro plan which starts at $7500 per year.

8. GoToWebinar (Capterra Average Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5)

GoToWebinar is another virtual events platform that checks all the boxes of a top virtual events software. The video conferencing platform comes with powerful integrations, helpful analytics, engagement features, and flexible webinar modes. GoToWebinar comes with advanced security features and can quickly process credit card payments through Stripe. 

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GoToWebinar’s Webcast solution can host 3,000 to 100,000 attendees and its webinars can be pre-recorded which makes it a great pick for virtual community events. Content can be delivered through pre-recorded webinars, webcasting, and interactive live recording. 

The platform has four plans: lite, standard, pro and enterprise. The lite plan starts at $49 per organizer per month and includes support for up to 250 participants. GoToWebinars also offers automated emails in each plan to support your email marketing campaigns

Its four pricing plans categorized by number of participants range from $49 per organizer per month to $399 per organizer per month. 

9. Eventzilla (Capterra Average Rating: 4.4 stars out of 5)

Eventzilla is an all-in-one virtual conference software that also offers event registration for hybrid, virtual, and in-person events. 

Event organizers can use this platform to build event agendas, run marketing campaigns, create mobile-friendly pages, and manage multiple events simultaneously. 

Users can try Eventzilla for free. The Basic plan starts at $1.50 per event attendee up to a maximum of 100 attendees. For additional users, see the company’s higher-tier plans.

10. ClickMeeting (Capterra Average Rating: 4.2 stars out of 5)

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ClickMeeting is a virtual conference platform for hosting product demos, online business meetings, online training courses, and huge online events. Its huge virtual events product lets users host up to 10,000 attendees. Users can stream events live on YouTube or Facebook and add call-to-action buttons to generate conversions. The ability to connect to a wider audience on social media platforms when video streaming makes ClickMeeting appealing.

Some of ClickMeeting’s powerful features include paid webinars, live webinars, on-demand webinars, screen sharing, and webinar recording (i.e., support for event recording). The product comes with a 30-day free trial and three paid subscription plans. 

ClickMeeting if one of the most affordable virtual conference platforms, with plans starting at $25 per month and pricing changing based on the number of attendees, integrations and other features.

How to Choose the Right Virtual Conference Platform

Assess Your Needs

Begin by identifying the specific needs of your event. Consider factors like the expected number of attendees, the type of interactions you want to facilitate (e.g., breakout rooms, Q&A sessions, networking features), and the level of technical support required. Understanding your goals will help you prioritize which features are essential for your virtual meeting platform.

Compare Features and Pricing

Once you have a clear understanding of your needs, compare the features and pricing of different platforms. Look for tools that offer the functionalities you need, such as live streaming, real-time chat, and analytics. Ensure the pricing aligns with your budget, and consider whether the platform offers scalable options to accommodate future growth.

Read User Reviews

User reviews can provide valuable insights into the reliability and user-friendliness of a platform. Look for reviews on trusted sites like Capterra and G2, paying attention to both positive and negative feedback. Reviews can reveal common issues and highlight features that users find particularly beneficial, helping you make an informed decision.

Conclusion

Whether you’re hosting a webinar, conference, or virtual training, consider using one of the top virtual conference platforms mentioned. One of the reasons that Grip is a fantastic option is because it integrates Arena Live Chat in its live event platform. To find out which product is best for you, sign up for a free trial and take each Arena product for a test drive yourself. 

A common theme among many of these tools is the importance of attendee engagement. With software tools provided by Arena, you can enhance user engagement, collect customer data, and build relationships with your audience during video conferences.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFy4Ho4jPnM

To select a virtual event platform for your online conferences and virtual meetings, use this guide fully updated in 2022. While our focus is on larger virtual meetings, these platforms can often be used to run a smaller online meetings as well. 

This guide reveals the top 10 virtual conference platforms, including features and pricing information for each so you can make a good decision as the event organizer.

Best Virtual Conference Platforms

Our rankings are informed by the Capterra average star rating provided to each platform as of August 2022. These rankings change over time as more users review the app.

1. Grip (Capterra Average Rating: 5 stars out of 5)

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Grip offers virtual conference software suitable for virtual and hybrid event experiences. As the event host, you can stream your online experience to other major streaming solutions like Zoom, YouTube, and Twitch. The software enhances networking, a key part of the attendee experience, through its AI-powered event matchmaking tool. Organizers can add a live stream to Grip’s main stage, and it automatically shows content on the users’ feeds. 

The platform’s Event Matchmaking tool creates a networking experience through speed networking, roundtables, instant video calls, multi-person meetings, and hosted buyer meetings.  This matchmaking capability makes this platform stand out compared to other virtual meeting platforms. 

In addition to major streaming solutions, Grip also integrates with Arena to enhance audience engagement. Arena Live Chat is a live chat tool that improves engagement through instant messaging, Q&As, polls, surveys, group chat, and more. 

Arena Live Blog is another effective tool for digital agencies and companies looking to share quick updates as their conference unfolds. To capitalize on data collected from customers, companies also use Arena Personas plugged to their Customer Data Platform (CDP) to build customer profiles and better understand their preferences and interests.

2. Demio (Capterra Average Rating: 4.7 stars out of 5)

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Demio is one of our top virtual conference platforms because of its simple event registration capabilities, engagement benefits, and analytics tools. 

Demio offers real-time HD streaming, simulated events, and pre-recorded presentations. Organizers can add their own logo and branding, and attendees can join virtual conferences with just one click. 

Notable, the Demio platform integrates with over 50 third-party software apps like HubSpot, Drip, ConvertKit, and MailChimp. Organizers can view attendees, collect contact details, manage their registration, and export contacts to a CSV file. 

Demio offers a 14-day free trial, so you can evaluate if it is right for your needs. The company offers three paid plans: Starter ($34 per month with 50 attendees), growth ($69 per month with 150 attendees), and premium (request quote for pricing and support for more than 500 attendees).

3. Livestorm (Capterra Average Rating: 4.7 stars out of 5)

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Livestorm is a browser-based platform that offers powerful live streaming features. Events can be hosted on desktop and mobile devices. The webinar software can be used for pre-recorded online events, live events, or on-demand events. 

Organizers can track engagement, answer questions, add polls, chat with attendees, send emails, and use these insights to improve the experience for attendees.

Companies can promote their events through branded registration pages, built-in social sharing, company pages, automated emails, and more. Livestorm has solid features to enable an engaging interactive experience like Q&As for event guests, call-to-actions, live answer notifications, live attendees lists, and screen sharing. 

Like several of the other video conferencing tools profiled here, Livestorm offers several plans. To take the platform for a test drive and see how it performs with interactive webinars, try the free plan which has a maximum event duration of 20 minutes. To accommodate more event participants, top-tier support, and other features, sign up for the Pro, Business, or Enterprise plan. 

4. Communique Conferencing (Capterra Average Rating: 4.7 stars out of 5)

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Communique Conferencing has effective solutions for audio conferencing, web conferencing, and virtual events. Its webcasting software lets organizers broadcast video and audio to over 30,000 attendees. This large virtual venue capacity means the platform pairs well with even the largest events.

Its virtual conferencing platform creates an online environment that includes features for networking, keynote presentations, booths, exhibit halls, and conferences. It also has a custom solution for hosting virtual career fairs and hybrid events. To find out more about the platform’s pricing, contact the company.

5. Zoom (Capterra Average Rating: 4.6 stars out of 5)

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Zoom offers several different products for video webinars, meetings, phone systems, events, chat, and more. Zoom Meetings can host up to 1,000 participants with audience chats, and Zoom’s webinar platform can broadcast to 50,000 attendees. Virtual conference hosts can stream HD video, cancel background noise, and add virtual backgrounds with Zoom’s software. 

Zoom’s key features include the capability to create their own post-conference landing page and set up reminder emails. To encourage audience participation, Zoom also offers Q&A sessions and attendee networking via breakout rooms.

Zoom’s Webinars starts at $690 per year (up to 500 attendees) and Zoom Webinar is priced at $890 per year (up to 500 attendees). At higher price points, the virtual event platform can serve over 10,000 live attendees.

6. Cisco Webex (Capterra Average Rating: 4.6 stars out of 5)

Cisco Webex is a virtual event platform that supports up to 10,000 attendees. To keep your attendees engaged, the platform offers breakout rooms (i.e. a virtual networking lounge), polls, chats, and Q&As. 

The platform’s webinars come with post-event reporting, moderator controls, custom presentation options, and personalized registration pages.  Cisco Webex offers several different pricing plans depending on each organizer’s needs.

The free basic plan is limited to 50-minute meetings and 100 attendees. The Business plan is $25 per month with support for 200 attendees. The enterprise plan provides support for up to 1000 attendees (contact sales for pricing).

7. Airmeet (Capterra Average Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5)

Airmeet is a platform that lets organizers host up to 100,000 participants for a hybrid or physical event. Organizers can connect attendees through mobile devices, live stream events on Facebook and YouTube, and use integrations to exchange event data. 

With this hosting platform, organizers can add real-time polling, collect event insights, sell tickets with different tiers, and easily register attendees with registration forms.

The virtual meeting software platform has several plans, including social webinars and events. Both plans include interactive features such as the ability to gather audience questions.

Its plans include Social Webinars for results-driven webinars and Events for large-scale conferences. AirMeet has three plans: free, standard and pro. The free plan is limited to 100 attendees per event, while the standard plan (starts at $2400 per ear) supports more users. To access all of the platform’s robust features (e.g. virtual booths, email marketing support, and networking features), see the pro plan which starts at $7500 per year.

8. GoToWebinar (Capterra Average Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5)

GoToWebinar is another virtual events platform that checks all the boxes of a top virtual events software. The video conferencing platform comes with powerful integrations, helpful analytics, engagement features, and flexible webinar modes. GoToWebinar comes with advanced security features and can quickly process credit card payments through Stripe. 

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GoToWebinar’s Webcast solution can host 3,000 to 100,000 attendees and its webinars can be pre-recorded which makes it a great pick for digital events. Content can be delivered through pre-recorded webinars, webcasting, and interactive live recording. 

The platform has four plans: lite, standard, pro and enterprise. The lite plan starts at $49 per organizer per month and includes support for up to 250 participants. GoToWebinars also offers automated emails in each plan to support your email marketing campaigns

Its four pricing plans categorized by number of participants range from $49 per organizer per month to $399 per organizer per month. 

9. Eventzilla (Capterra Average Rating: 4.4 stars out of 5)

Eventzilla is an all-in-one virtual conference software that also offers event registration for hybrid, virtual, and in-person events. 

Event organizers can use this platform to build event agendas, run marketing campaigns, create mobile-friendly pages, and manage multiple events simultaneously. 

Users can try Eventzilla for free. The Basic plan starts at $1.50 per event attendee up to a maximum of 100 attendees. For additional users, see the company’s higher-tier plans.

10. ClickMeeting (Capterra Average Rating: 4.2 stars out of 5)

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ClickMeeting is a virtual conference platform for hosting product demos, online business meetings, online training courses, and huge online events. Its huge virtual events product lets users host up to 10,000 attendees. Users can stream events live on YouTube or Facebook and add call-to-action buttons to generate conversions. The ability to connect to a wider audience on social media platforms when video streaming makes ClickMeeting appealing.

Some of ClickMeeting’s powerful features include paid webinars, live webinars, on-demand webinars, screen sharing, and webinar recording (i.e., support for event recording). The product comes with a 30-day free trial and three paid subscription plans. 

ClickMeeting plans start at $25 per month and pricing changes based on the number of attendees, integrations and other features.

Conclusion

Whether you’re hosting a webinar, conference, or virtual training, consider using one of the top virtual conference platforms mentioned. One of the reasons that Grip is a fantastic option is because it integrates  Arena Live Chat in its live event platform. To find out which product is best for you, sign up for a free trial and take each Arena product for a test drive yourself. 

A common theme among many of these tools is the importance of attendee engagement. With software tools provided by Arena, you can enhance user engagement, collect customer data, and build relationships with your audience during video conferences.

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Top 40 Live Chat Benefits You Need to Know

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Arena Live Chat is one of the most powerful live chat platforms on the market. If you’re undecided on whether to try it, you might not know about the benefits.

Top 40 Live Chat Benefits

1) Increase sales

There’s a saying in sales: the confused mind does not buy. When customers have questions or doubts, they are less likely to buy.  With Arena Live Chat on your website, you can make it easy for customers to get answers about potential purchases. By providing quick answers to interested customers, you can earn more sales.

2) Build a community of fans on your website

Customers are probably talking about your brand and products, but those conversations are not happening on your website. Instead, those conversations are probably already happening on social media sites like your company’s Facebook page. When people talk about your brand away from your website, it is tough for you to provide answers and drive conversions.

By adding Arena Live Chat to your website, you can build a thriving community of users in two ways. First, your customers can make friends with each other during group chat sessions. Second, you can provide a welcoming virtual place for customers to come together as a community. If you want to see some solid events, check out how Nubank leveraged Anita’s community engagement for its IPO live event, or how Vans uses Arena Live Chat to aid live DJ music sets in its website.

3) Keep people on your website longer

According to Crazy Egg, the average person only spends 15 seconds on a website before leaving. Yikes! That’s not much time to make a good impression, let alone earn a sale or generate a lead. What if you could encourage users to spend 10 minutes or even an hour on your website happily?

That’s possible when you organize a virtual event with Arena Live Chat. For example, you could invite a social media influencer to present a live stream video session for an hour. During that session, attendees can ask questions through Arena Live Chat. In addition, you will have the opportunity to drive conversions by using the conversion card feature in Arena.

4) Qualify leads for the sales team

Is your sales team too busy with prospects who are not a fit for your products? That’s a problem you can solve by using Arena Live Chat. Invite customers to answer a few simple questions through chat before booking a call with sales.

For example, consider a B2B company that mainly sells to large companies with more than $100 million in revenue. In that case, the sales team shouldn’t spend their time talking to small businesses. You can use Arena Live Chat to qualify leads before they are sent to the sales team.

5) Reduce customer service delays

Forcing customers to wait in long phone queues to get customer service is no longer good enough. In 2020, more than 10% of customers abandoned their calls before being connected to an agent. When a customer gives up on their call, that disappointment hurts your company in two ways. First, you have lost a potential sale today. Second, the frustrated customer may complain to their friends and family.

Offering customer service through Arena Live Chat can help you to minimize customer service delays. For the best results, equip your customer service agents with a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document and other training to help them answer common questions quickly.

6) Create more engaging live events

Offering a live virtual event to your customers is a great way to build loyalty and drive sales. When planning an event, use the virtual events checklist to plan your event properly. At the same time, you also want to allow for some flexibility to adjust your topics based on what your customers are most interested in.

With Arena Live Chat, you can ask poll questions during an event to gather quick feedback. At the end of the event, you could ask attendees to vote on what your next live event should focus on. Acting on this feedback means you can avoid the frustration of offering live events that nobody is interested in attending. Swoogo has already found out that offering Live Chat is a home-run in live events.

7) Boost conversions in live shopping events

Live shopping events are an exciting way to drive increased sales. According to McKinsey, live shopping events may generate between 10-20% of all ecommerce sales by 2026.

During these events, customers are likely to have questions about product size, color, shipping, and much more. To make the most of your live shopping events, provide fast answers through Arena Live Chat.

8) Gain feedback on new product ideas

Are you debating what product to launch next? You could use market research surveys to gather insight on what people might want. That kind of research will yield some valuable insights. However, there is an even better way – get insight directly from customers using Arena Live Chat.

For instance, let’s say that you run a clothing brand and consider offering a line of blankets for winter. Before investing time in manufacturing and marketing, ask your next 100 live chat users if they are interested in a blanket. If the customers are interested, take note of their contact details and follow up with them later if you launch the product.  

9) Improve your chatbots

Adding a chatbot to your website is an excellent way to provide even faster customer service. However, chatbots are only as good as their input. One of the best ways to make your chatbots more effective is to look through your Arena Live Chat transcripts. You’re bound to find new ideas to make your chatbots more effective.

10) Enable flexible remote work

Survey after survey has shown that flexible remote work is popular with employees. According to Forbes, 74% of professional workers expect remote work to become standard in the coming years.

Give your employees the option to provide customer service, event support, and sales through live chat sessions. Giving your employees flexibility about when and where they work can drive productivity and help you retain more trained workers.

11) Add value to your product’s customization options

Many companies offer many different features, options, and customization choices. For example, think of an online jewelry store that lets customers choose different types of metal or engraving. Many customers like the idea of additional choices, but there is a downside. Your customers might get confused about how to use the options.

Use Arena Live Chat as a solution to this problem – let customers ask questions about custom options. With practice, you may even be able to increase the average order value by selling more upgrades.

12) Provide the most up to date information

Supply chain problems, new product launches, and staff turnover are just some of the changes your company might be managing today. With all of these changes, the information on your website might be out of date. For example, you might only be able to offer a few of your products in the extra-large size category.

With Arena Live Chat, you can invite customers to confirm the details of their order before they buy. This is a great way to prevent buyer’s remorse and disappointment.

13) Offer personalized service

Think about the last time you went to an excellent restaurant or hotel. The way staff greeted you and addressed your concerns was probably a big part of the experience. For example, you might have been asked if you were celebrating an occasion. Taking the time to ask a few good questions makes it much easier to offer a memorable customer service experience.

By engaging each customer through Arena Live Chat, you have the opportunity to build a relationship with the customer. Taking the time to listen to their comments and questions means customers are more likely to come back to your company.

14) Improve the quality of your sales training

Hiring and training a new salesperson is one of the best ways to grow a business. Unfortunately, it often takes a lot of trial and error for a junior salesperson to become effective. With the right approach, it’s possible to get sale people working productively quickly. How? Harness the power of live chat.

To improve the quality of your sale training, keep a log of the most common questions that customers ask during your Arena Live Chat sessions. By developing accurate and persuasive answers to those questions, your salespeople can be prepared to answer common concerns and close more sales. 

15) Enhance the post-sales experience

Making a sale today matters, but the long term is even more critical. If you engage customers thoroughly and pay attention to the details, they are more likely to keep buying from you in the future. 

You can enhance the post-sales customer experience with Arena Live Chat. For example, send customers a message inviting them to ask questions when their new product arrives. Nobody likes to look uninformed but accepting an invitation to a live chat session is different.

16) Grow customer service agent productivity

More sales mean more customer service employees, right? Not necessarily! It all depends on how you plan out your customer service program. For example, a company that only offers telephone customer service might hire more staff to keep up with demand.

By offering Arena Live Chat, you can grow customer service productivity without skyrocketing your costs. Why? A customer service person can easily maintain a few chat sessions at the same time. 

17) Encourage employee service specialization

Specialized employees are often able to provide better customer service and close more sales. Yet, encouraging generalist employees to develop a specialty can be difficult. One way to overcome this reluctance is to start small: encourage specialization through chat.

With Arena Live Chat, employees work with different kinds of customers and sales conversations. After a few weeks, they may better understand what kinds of customers and products they find most interesting. In this manner, live chat helps your employees quickly discover their strengths and build expertise.

18) Enhance the quality of your sales coaching

Sales managers have an essential role to play in helping their employees to improve their sales skills. Unfortunately, it is relatively complex for a sales manager to observe their sales reps in action and provide timely feedback. Asking managers to review live chat sessions can help.

When your sales representatives finish a sales chat session, encourage them to send the transcript to their manager for review. By asking an experienced person to review the interaction, it should be easy to find a few ways to improve. For example, the sales manager might encourage their staff to ask more questions early in the chat session to understand customer needs better.

19) Reduce painful interruptions for customers

In today’s digital world, it is difficult to get focused. Once you get down to work, the last thing you want is an unwanted sales call. At the same time, managers know it is essential to make it easy for customers to reach out. 

Adding Arena Live Chat to your website makes it easy for customers to reach out when they have questions. By focusing your effort on people interested in what you have to offer, you can avoid wasting time on disinterested people. 

20) Never lose another sales lead

In benefit 4, you learned that live chat could be an excellent way to qualify sales leads. That is helpful if your business is overwhelmed with prospects. Your situation might be quite different. If you are struggling to meet your revenue goals, you can use live chat to maximize leads instead.

Use Arena Live Chat to engage every website visitor and ask them questions about their needs. In this way, you can make a personalized pitch to every person who comes through your website.

21) Make your website more inviting to customers

Put yourself in the shoes of a prospect visiting a traditional website. It is a passive window shopping experience. You can look at product photos, view videos, and look up order status information. The lack of interaction means customers may become disengaged before finding the right product.

Adding Arena Live Chat to your website makes your website more like a store where employees greet customers as they come in. By making your website more inviting, customers may be more comfortable asking questions. 

22) Discover your customer’s pain points and solve them

Right now, your potential customers have questions, concerns, and worries about doing business with you. They might be worried that your shipping service or return policy isn’t going to work for them. Every business has different customer concerns to face. Ultimately, you can only solve these problems and get more sales if you know those concerns.

You can discover the worries that hold people back from buying by encouraging customers to ask more questions through Arena Live Chat. Once you have those insights, you can update your website to answer those concerns.   

23) Cross-sell related products and accessories

Cross-selling is one of the best ways to increase revenue. Fast food restaurants mastered this technique years ago by offering customers fries, drinks, and other items when they ordered. You can make similar offers to customers once you start a conversation.

For example, let’s say you have an online sports apparel store. A customer might start by asking about running shoes. By offering an Arena Live Chat session on your product page, you can answer questions about shoes and suggest related products (e.g., running shorts and shirts). 

24) Meet customer expectations for interaction

Keeping up with changing customer expectations is essential. For example, most businesses know that they need a modern website and a social media presence today. Today, many customers expect a live chat experience. More than 40% of customers expect live chat on the websites they use, and that number is likely to rise.

To stay competitive with customer demand, install Arena Live Chat on your website. You can get started for free. 

25) Track customer service performance

Do you know if your customer service is performing well? Traditional ways of measuring performance – like measuring how long it takes to answer a phone call – are limited. It is far better to look at the quality of live chat interactions.

Arena Live Chat includes analytics so that you can better understand how well you are answering customer questions over time.

26) Serve international customers

Did you know that more than one-quarter of revenue earned by S&P 500 companies came from outside the US? Your company might have customers around the world! Serving customers in different time zones and languages doesn’t have to be complicated.

Arena Live Chat can run around the clock on your website. For example, you can staff your live chat function with staff in the US and UK to provide customer service in the US and Europe.

27) Reduce product returns

When unhappy customers return products, your profitability is likely to suffer. Unfortunately, product returns are a significant problem for online companies. CNBC reports the returns cost the retail industry over $1 trillion annually. 

To reduce your product return expenses, engage customers in more conversations before they buy. Taking 5 minutes to answer questions before a customer buys pays off right away in higher satisfaction, lower complaints, and fewer returns.

28) Engage B2B or B2C leads

Consumers and corporate customers have different needs. A corporate employee buying laptops might have questions about contracts, support services, and discounts if they order 500 computers. In contrast, a consumer may ask questions like which computer is best for gaming.

If your company sells to multiple markets, use Arena Live Chat to start the conversation. If a customer says they are buying on behalf of a company, you can route the inquiry to the B2B team to address right away.

29) Troubleshoot live shopping

Live shopping events are taking off in popularity for many ecommerce companies. These events blend entertainment and retail into an appealing package. However, many consumers are still learning how to use this technology. When technical problems occur during these events, providing fast support is critical.

In your next live shopping event, use Arena Live Chat as your support platform. If you fail to offer easy-to-access support, customers experiencing technical problems might give up and leave your event.

30) Build trust in your company

Building trust with customers in the online world can be challenging. Customers may be worried about their privacy and security. Others may wonder if your company can deliver. Facing these concerns directly through a conversation is one of the best approaches.

You can use Arena Live Chat to build trust with your potential customers through multiple interactions. Taking the time to answer questions today through live chat means you can make a positive impression.

31) Improve webinars and virtual classes with feedback

Delivering a webinar or virtual class is a powerful way to equip people with new knowledge. Yet, there are downsides to virtual education and training. It is difficult for the teacher to connect with their audience. Without that connection, students may become disengaged.

With the polls feature of Arena Live Chat, you can make your online learning more engaging. For instance, you can follow up on an assignment with a poll and determine which topics students want to cover in a review. In this way, a teacher can quickly adapt a virtual class to suit student needs.

32) Make asking questions embarrassment free

Asking questions is the key to unlocking sales and connecting with customers. However, some people are reluctant to raise their hands and ask a question. Why? Nobody enjoys looking uninformed, especially in front of an audience, like a live virtual event.

Using the direct message (DM) feature of Arena Live Chat solves this problem. Event attendees can ask questions privately without fear of embarrassment by sending a DM to the event host. 

33) Run engaging family-friendly virtual events

Offering a virtual event suitable for the whole family is challenging. For example, a sports broadcaster might want to encourage a broad audience to view online coverage and participate in online coverage. A public virtual event carries a risk – some people might attempt to disrupt the event with profanity or spam comments. Failing to address this kind of disruption quickly can make the event hosts look incompetent.

Arena Live Chat comes with moderation tools that make it simple to stop profanity automatically. In addition, you can quietly remove disruptive users from the live chat event. These features make it much easier to keep your virtual events engaging and family-friendly.

34) Support advanced marketing campaigns

The changing landscape of digital marketing means companies have to change how they engage with customers. Recent changes by Apple and Google are making traditional digital marketing methods less effective.

One solution to these challenges lies in leveraging the Arena customer data platform and live chat together. For instance, you can identify patterns between customer interests (e.g., sports, business, lifestyle) as expressed in website activity and purchases. Understanding these links can help you to create more relevant marketing campaigns.

35) Quickly improve website engagement

In the online world, high engagement is crucial. Low engagement can cause your conversions to fall. There are also signs that Google and other search engines consider user engagement from a search engine optimization (SEO) perspective. Unfortunately, some ways to increase engagement are brutal, like redesigning an entire website! 

On the other hand, you can install Arena Live Chat on your website in less than 10 minutes. It is one of the fastest ways to make your website more engaging.

36) Improve question & answer (Q&A) sessions

In live shopping events, webinars, and other live events, you might decide to offer a dedicated Q&A session at the end of the event. In larger events with dozens or hundreds of participants, keeping up with the questions is tricky, especially if questions are mixed with other comments in the chat window.

Arena Live Chat makes Q&A sessions easy to manage by organizing all live chat questions in a dedicated Q&A area. Event moderators can then decide which questions to answer.

37) Boost engagement with chat channels

In a conference, participants can go to panels and sessions that specifically relate to their interests. With virtual live events, it can be more challenging to engage each niche interest. Using custom chat channels is one way to solve this engagement challenge.

Arena Live Chat offers dedicated channels for your live chat sessions. For example, you could have one channel for customers, one for technical support, and one for future event suggestions.

38) Keep users engaged with social profiles

Nobody likes to feel like a number in the online world. Unfortunately, some chat tools give users generic usernames and numbers. It doesn’t have to be that way.

When users sign up on Arena Live Chat, they can create custom user profiles with avatars to make them more personal.

39) Avoid live chat reply confusion

With dozens, hundreds, or thousands of live chat participants, it is easy to get confused. One friend might send a question in the chat room to somebody else only to obscure that question by the flood of chat comments.

Arena Live Chat offers reply features so that user replies are kept together with the main message. That’s valuable because user conversations are never lost in the noise as a result.

40) Drive conversions with conversion cards

Organizing a virtual event takes significant time and effort. You might spend hours writing a virtual event script, inviting guest speakers, and promoting the event. Offering interesting content matters, but you also have to watch business results like conversions and purchases. 

Arena Live Chat helps you achieve goals like lead generation and purchases through conversion cards. You can use these cards at several points during your live chat session to draw attention to your offers. By using a few conversion cards at every event, you’ll never have to struggle to prove the ROI of your live chat events.

Get Started Today For Free

Arena Live Chat is simple to install – most customers install it on their websites in less than 10 minutes. Not sure if it is suitable for your company? You can try Arena Live Chat for free.