Webcasts for marketers
November 14, 2017
Webcasts for marketers
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with ON24
We use ON24 for webcasts, both our ongoing monthly webcast and spotlight webcasts at various times. We also do rebroadcasts for different time zones and provide on-demand archives of our webcast. It enables us to consistently demonstrate the depth of our expertise and the complexity of the challenges we address to hundreds of prospects globally.
- Lead generation
- Access from mobile devices is unparalleled--it "just works".
- Though it does not interface directly with our CRM (Dynamics) the ON24 team has put significant effort into ensuring that we have integration using middleware.
- "Post-production" editing tools for fixing archived webcasts make cleaning up after problems much simpler than having to re-record sections, etc.
- Second level support is almost universally extremely helpful.
- The transition to HTML5 for desktop has not been entirely smooth, with browser compatibility issues still cropping up every once in a while.
- The PowerPoint conversion system is extremely opaque when it comes to errors or other issues. More clarity when uploads fail, etc., would be valuable.
- Browser-based nature of the system means that someone is going to have problems all the time--the immediate support options are not immediately clear to users, apparently (based on the questions they ask during events).
ON24 is integrated with our Dynamics CRM database via Scribe Online. This enables us to get data from webcast registrations directly into our system without going through manual processes, and most importantly speeds up the process of prospect handoff to sales post-webinar. That speed is of utmost importance to the success of our post-webinar followup processes. The visibility of who is attending our events is also of value to our salespeople.
- The efficiency of the ON24 system, especially in regards to the CRM integration, means that we are able to hold more events than we would otherwise. More events means more prospects, which means a real ROI the the use of the tool.
- The increased reliability of the ON24 system, especially compared to Webex, has improved user perception of our webcasts, with the technical quality now matching the quality of the content.
I have been using Webex off and on since 2004. It has pretty much always been an unpleasant experience. ON24 is a purpose-built marketing tool, rather than a broadly built "events platform," and it is a marketing company rather than a networking company. Thus, the features of ON24 far outstrip Webex in terms of value, with the only advantage the latter having is the superior network infrastructure. ON24 support is light-years beyond Webex support, which was essentially nonexistent.
GoToMeeting is a fine product, but again is not purpose-built for marketing and also requires users to install a program, which we wanted to avoid.
GoToMeeting is a fine product, but again is not purpose-built for marketing and also requires users to install a program, which we wanted to avoid.