Item: ON24
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use ON24 to manage our webinar broadcasts and the following on-demand versions. It is used by the business primarily for educational marketing content but has also been used for pure audio podcast-style content and live-broadcasting internal global announcements to the entire company (with a handy recording available on demand for those not in the right timezones to view live).

Webinar Use Case

Internal communications
Lead generation

Pros and Cons

Manages the registration process (pre and post event) simply and effectively with enough customisation to keep most people covered
The ability to show video and slides together allows context to be added to webinars
The integration into other platforms, such as marketing automation systems is fantastic and the On24 Integration specialist we had was knowledgeable and on hand to explain and walk us through the process. It felt like they knew our marketing automation systems capabilities better than the marketing automation systems own support staff!

It is quite costly.
Improvements need to be made to handle different desktop sizes and mobile devices.
The maximum video upload size (bitrate and resolution) is quite small, if we were doing pure video work (and not using slides + video) we'd probably use a live-streaming platform that does 1080p for those with the bandwidth as it produces a better quality on-demand video where concurrent bandwidth constraints are less of an issue.

Integration to CRM & Marketing Automation

We have integrated ON24 with our marketing automation platform. We currently do the front-end marketing via the marketing automation system and then handle registration confirmation and reminders through ON24. We then take our webinars as events into the marketing automation system and pull through the registrant/attendee data. This allows us to tailor future content, generate reports, apply lead scoring, etc., as if it were part of an action undertaken via the marketing automation platform.

Reliability and Availability

Other than the quite aggressive inactivity timeout that boots you to the login screen, I've never had an issue with ON24 being down when I've tried to use it or any complaints about viewers being unable to access the system. In the registration confirmation/reminder emails there is the ability to add a system test link and that is really handy and helping people work out any browser/connection/system issues before the webinar begins.

Return on Investment

On24 is a key lead generation tool for our business

Alternatives Considered

GoToWebinar

GoToWebinar is decent at what it does. It's easy to use at a basic level and intuitive enough for attendees to know what's going on. ON24 however is in a different league. It takes longer to set up a webinar but the functionality and capability that come with it blow most other tools away (and you'd hope so for the cost). On24 has templates, cloning and other methods to ease setup for repetitive tasks but really the whole experience is just more professional as an attendee due to the customisation of emails, landing pages, etc. afforded via ON24.

Likelihood to Recommend

It's fine for most webinar-styled applications, excellent if you need to combine video, slides and live Q&A. The dial-in audio element is slightly clunky and has an iffy quality at times (we haven't used it ourselves but I have seen other broadcasts on the platform where sound/technical quality on the phone lines was problematic). The live polling is also great for a live Q&A with the audience.

If you were streaming pure video, such as a gaming session or a webcam/single camera-only piece then there are better platforms. On24 shines when you need multiple elements working together (video, slides, live audience interaction, etc).

On24 is our webinar platform of choice

Overall Satisfaction with ON24