Webinar Registrations: Simplifying Overcomplicated Automations

Back in May, I shared with you how I decided to roll my own webinar registration software that allows me to “easily” integrate with ConvertKit, use Zoom Meetings, and more.

Something else you should know about me: automating too much is my toxic trait.

I think that it’s fun to see what I can automate in order to leverage the tools I already use, instead of adding another tool to my toolkit.

But there’s a reason most webinar software is so expensive; there’s a lot to think about.

As such, I’ve done a 180 on trying to roll my own webinar software. It’s too complicated and introduces a poor user experience for webinar registrants, many of whom are interacting with me for the first time.

That’s why I’ve decided to use Luma.

First, I want to give a shoutout to my friend Ren, who told me about Luma.

I was skeptical at first — why add another tool — but then I saw it in action.

It’s super simple, and has a very generous free plan.

You sign up, connect your Zoom account, and create your event…that’s it!

When you create the event, you have the option to associate it with an existing event, or create a new one.

People who sign up will be automatically invited to the Zoom meeting.

Amazing.

You get your own page, as well as an embeddable form. Each page is just customizable enough.

You can also set an attendee limit, which is cool…especially depending on your Zoom plan.

One original blocker for me was that there’s no direct integration with ConvertKit, and the Zapier/API integration is part of the $60/mo plan.

But then I realized…this is actually a gift.

One of my biggest issues with my current webinar setup is making sure I consistently exclude webinar registrants from all other emails. If they weren’t on my list already, I want this webinar to be how they learn to know, like, and trust me.

But I’d somehow mess that up…either they’d get too many emails, or I’d exclude too many people from a broadcast.

It may be that they signed up for multiple forms and confused the automations/sequences.

That problem doesn’t exist if they aren’t in my ESP. So now, after the webinar, I can import them (or have my VA import them) and add them to a custom sequence.

And I’ll know that I’ll always have the option to automate this if I think Luma is worth paying for in the future.

The other problem is that I’d have to remember to send reminder and follow-up emails.

Luma handles that, and they are easy to copy from one event to another. Check one more thing off my list.

I think this solution is probably the best in an evolution that saw my webinar registration process move from “I’ll just do it on YouTube” to “Zoom is the way to go.”

I also want to make clear that it’s not about cheaping out on proper webinar software.

But this is one of the areas where I can hold off and make sure the investment is worth it.

So far, my webinars haven’t consistently been money generators for me. So I’m tweaking and experimenting without having to pay $50-100/mo.

One of the big places I’m experiment is with my offer. I don’t think Podcast Mastery was the best play for my webinars (or even my main offering). But I think my podcast audits are a great candidate for webinar upsell.

In other words, I think the experimenting is going to pay off very soon…I’ll keep you posted on that.