Learn how to create Zoom Webinar Campaigns in Act-On. This guide covers all that is required to launch a Webinar Campaign from Act-On.

Essentials to get started

• Active connection to Zoom
• Zoom Video Webinar license

Instructions

To create your Webinar Campaign, the following tasks must be completed. Read on for step-by-step instructions.

1. Create a Webinar in Zoom
2. Import the Webinar to Act-On to create a new Webinar Campaign
3. Create a Registration Form
4. Add Panelists (optional)
5. Create and Customize your Messages
6. Schedule and Send your Messages

Step 1: Create a Zoom Webinar

Before you start in Act-On, create your webinar event in Zoom. Some notes on this step:

• Only Single-session events are supported
• Configure all Questions and Custom Questions for your Registration.
  • Note: Making changes to Zoom Registration Questions after creating the Form in Act-On may lead to registration problems. More info here.
• Make sure to turn off automated emails from Zoom for every message you send via Act-On:
  • No Confirmation Email to Registrants
  • No reminder email to Attendees and Panelists
  • No follow-up email to Attendees
  • No follow-up email to Absentees

Step 2: Import from Zoom and Create a Webinar Campaign

Next, log in to Act-On. Go to Automation > Webinars and locate your webinar. Click on the webinar title to import and start creating your campaign.

Step 3: Create a Registration Form

To create a webinar registration Form, you can either start with a new Form by clicking +Generate Form or you can use an existing one by clicking +Copy Existing Form.

Generate Form

Clicking on this button will generate a default Registration Form. Act-On will import all of the Required fields in your Zoom webinar. Recommended best practice.

Copy Existing Form

Clicking here will take you to a list of Forms existing in your account. Click on the Form to see a preview. Click Copy next to the Form name to create a copy of this Form for the webinar campaign. The new Form will automatically have a name matching the webinar title.

When copying, you will need to review the registration fields for your Zoom webinar and manually add all required fields to the Form. Act-On will notify you when these fields are missing. For more information, see Handling Required Fields for Zoom Webinar Registration Forms.

When you create your Form, an associated Landing Page and Form Signup List are also created. If you intend to embed your Form into a different location, you will need to update your sign-up Form link to match the URL for the page you wish to direct traffic to.

Step 4: Add Panelists

Here, you can add the name and email address of any Panelists you wish to invite. Click Add Panelist, enter their information, and click Add.

Once their information has been entered, you can click Send Invite to send them a webinar invitation, or you can click Delete to remove them.

Important Notes:

• The Panelist Invite is sent by Zoom, not by Act-On.
• If your webinar has the Panelist setting for Send invitation to all newly added panelists immediately then Zoom will auto-send an invitation but it will not reflect in Act-On as sent.
• Panelists added in Zoom will import into Act-On when you click on the Sync button at the top right.

Step 5: Create and Customize your Messages

Default registration responses are automatically created, regardless of the option you choose when you create your Form. For all other messages, you have the option to use a Blank message or to start with an existing design.

Click for available webinar message designs

Message Content for Webinars

For all message types except Follow-Up Messages: When you select Blank Message, you will start with a default message that contains basic information.

When you design a message from scratch, you will need to include your webinar details. Content to include depends on which message you are designing.

Click for default content for each message type

Add a Meeting Link or Join URL

You may need to add this if you are using a message other than the default Blank Message.

To add a Join URL to your messages, you will need to include the Join URL personalization, {{Join URL}}, as a hyperlink so the registrant can click on it.

Example: If you create a button you can insert {{Join URL}} in the button’s URL field:

Follow-Up Message Content

Follow-up messages are typically sent to segments based on registration and attendance history, so you may wish to make more than one follow-up. For example, you may wish to send a Thank You note to those registrants who did attend or to send a copy of the recording to those who missed out.

Currently, Act-On cannot automate the following content for a Follow-Up Message:

• Post-event survey
• Link to the Event recording 

If you do wish to include a recording link for your attendees, you can wait until after the event and manually enter the recording URL from Zoom. 

Create Follow Up Segments

Before scheduling your Follow-up Message, you may want to create the appropriate segments in your Webinar Contact List. To do this:

1. Click on Follow-Up Segments 
2. Click on the Create Segments button
3. Check the box for each segment you want to create:
4. Click Create Segments

If you wish to create segments based on more advanced criteria, you may do so by going to Contacts > Other Lists > Webinar Lists.

Step 6: Schedule and Send your Messages

When your messages are ready, you will want to launch them. Saving a message with a selected schedule does not send the message. Once you have selected the schedule for your message, you will need to click Submit Launch Request. It’s important to do this for all of the messages for your campaign.

See FAQs here