Is GoToWebinar the best bet for driving demand in BI software companies?

Webinars and virtual events stand out as significant tools Business Intelligence (BI) software companies to generate demand globally. The companies now prioritize solutions and platforms that offer flexibility, scalability, adaptability, compatibility, and robust support. 

These characteristics of a webinar platform empower companies to reach a broader audience and effectively boost demand. Unfortunately, GoToWebinar falls short of meeting Business Intelligence (BI) software companies expectations: 

Several key factors contribute to a less-than-ideal webinar experience. Here are a few examples

Limited Customizable Properties:

Restricted customization choices can impede the capacity to personalize webinars according to specific audience needs and branding prerequisites. The dearth of features poses a significant challenge for BI software companies. 

These constraints additionally confine the ability to customize reports and insights into attendee preferences and behavior, hindering companies from comprehending which content resonates most and optimizing future webinars.

Here are some experiences shared by the users:

• “You cannot have a filtered background.”

• “The registration page lacks robust customization.”

• “Landing pages are poorly designed.”

• “Emails aren’t customizable enough.”

• “I wish we could brand/customize the registration page a bit more. It’s fine, but quite bland. Also, I’d like to customize the reminder emails that go out.” 

The absence of flexibility and customization options in GoToWebinar to tailor the event to meet specific requirements, including the company’s identity and audience interests, deprives the opportunity to actively involve and engage the audience. 

How Airmeet users leverage customization options:

Airmeet provides users with the ability to customize the entire event according to their needs. The platform offers comprehensive branding and customization options, allowing users to personalize aspects such as 

• Virtual backgrounds or Live stage backdrops
• Email Templates
• Landing Pages, and more.

These features enable users to tailor the event experience to suit their audience. To explore more about the branding and customization options available on Airmeet, click here.

Outdated User-Interface:

A dated interface can result in a subpar user experience, potentially dissuading users from participating in or hosting webinars. GoToWebinar’s antiquated interface introduces numerous complexities for users. 

The control panel requires more than a little bit of effort to understand and consistently requires users to seek assistance while navigating it. The intricate interface poses significant challenges for organizers to manage and for participants to adapt to the outdated features.

Here are some experiences shared by users:

• “The UI is outdated, and all the buttons are vertically stacked on each other, which can make the live event difficult if we need to constantly switch between screen sharing and webcam.”

• “The control panel sometimes is tricky to work with.”

• “Their UI felt a bit dated and clunky at times.”

• “Very complex interface and setup requires support staff to manage the technical side while presenters focus on leading the webinar.”

The outmoded and convoluted user interface creates difficulty for participants in understanding the platform during event entry and attendance, leading to disengagement or drop-offs. This ultimately has a detrimental impact on demand generation for BI software companies.

How Airmeet does this differently:

Airmeet’s user interface (UI) stands out for its high intuitiveness and user-friendly design. The platform boasts a clean interface with easily navigable menus, providing users with straightforward access to a variety of tools and functionalities. 

Users frequently commend the platform for its smooth outlook and seamless features, reflecting a thoughtful design that aligns with the evolving trends and needs of virtual event platform users.

Unfriendly Features and Restricted Engagement:

BI software companies rely on webinars/virtual events as a key avenue to showcase their products, educate potential customers, and demonstrate the value of their solutions globally. 

The platform’s absence of advanced features, user-unfriendly interfaces, and a lack of real-time results create engagement restrictions. It often leads to challenges for organizers seeking to interact and engage effectively with attendees during these events.

Let’s see what GoToWebinar users have to say: 

• “The current polling and survey capabilities are too simple.” 

• “More advanced features, such as branching logic and real-time results, would make engagement more dynamic and insightful.”

• “The attendees cannot participate in the chat.”

• “The question module is terrible. It’s hard to scroll through and difficult to mark what needs to be responded to.”

The unfriendly features and restricted engagement options of GoToWebinar hinder the effective delivery of webinars for BI software companies, leading to reduced demand generation and negatively impacting their ability to showcase their products and services to a wider audience.

Engagement and Networking with Airmeet

Airmeet streamlines two-way engagement, allowing hosts/speakers and attendees to interact with each other effortlessly. Participants can engage in real-time one-to-one discussions, Q&A sessions, chat messages, and polls, creating a dynamic and immersive environment. 

Additionally, the platform provides virtual tables for networking, enabling participants to connect through video and audio, mimicking the in-person networking experience. 

Explore and Experience the dynamic 360 degrees of engagement with Airmeet. 

API Integration Difficulties:

Seamless integration with various tools and systems is crucial for BI software companies to streamline processes, gather valuable insights, and engage with their target audience effectively. 

GoToWebinar experiences obstacles in API integration disrupting the smooth flow of data and information between the webinar platform and the BI software, hindering the company’s ability to leverage the full potential of its analytics and business intelligence solutions. 

Some bottlenecks, as shared by users:

• “Lack of integration with LinkedIn Live.”

• “Would be nice if this had an easy integration with our marketing automation solution (Eloqua/Oracle) to share data.”

• “While the sync with Marketo works, in order to update a member’s status from “invited” or “registered” to attended, you have to re-sync the connection. It will update on its own eventually, but if you want to send a follow-up or thank you email based on attendees within 24 hours, you have to request the sync.”

This integration bottleneck can impede the company’s capacity to conduct data-driven marketing campaigns, personalized customer interactions, and tailored presentations, ultimately diminishing the overall effectiveness of demand generation efforts for BI software companies.

Integration capabilities of Airmeet: 

Airmeet boasts versatile integration capabilities, seamlessly connecting with various tools and platforms to enhance the user experience and event management. The platform provides flexibility to users with a custom integration option. To learn more about Airmeet’s integration capabilities, click here.

Frequent Technical Errors:

The frequent technical errors of GoToWebinar have a detrimental impact on demand generation. Persistent technical glitches in GoToWebinar undermine the reliability of webinars and virtual events, leading to disruptions in presentations, Q&A sessions, and interactive elements. 

Unreliable webinar experiences not only compromise the company’s ability to convey the sophistication of its software but also hinder the establishment of trust and credibility with the audience. 

Some frequent issues shared by users:

• “The recording tools didn’t really work for us… too buggy”

• “Audio quality could be better overall, Cut offs and stable audio connections arent as good as you would want it to be.”

• “Its meetings automatically disconnects, sound sometimes not recorded, sometimes attendees get issue they can’t hear the speaker, chat box is not good at all, and last is the control banner which always stays a side of screen that displays as a black spot in the side of the screen.”

• “Many times our service will drop audio, video, screen recording, etc. It seems to be after the 1-hour mark. Internet remains for all hosts and panelists, but it just seems to struggle”

• “We have found that sound issues are common when running a webinar with panelists off-site and sometimes even on-site. While that’s not completely unexpected, it has been noticeable to the point of being completely unable to hear a designated speaker/presenter.”

• “During one experience, the audio cutting out for a portion of the attending audience at different locations nationally, including the organizer, while the remaining attendees still had audio. In another experience, the polling feature froze the webinar, and we were unable to switch sharing back to the slides. In another experience, the webinar abruptly crashed completely. In our most common, recurring experience, PowerPoint would consistently crash if the host was a MAC user. This issue was verified to not be an issue with the MAC itself and Microsoft products would only crash while GoToWebinar was open.”

Such errors compromise the professional image of BI software companies, creating frustration among attendees and diminishing the overall effectiveness of demand generation efforts. 

How Airmeet does this differently:

Instances of recording issues, audio disruptions, or crashes on Airmeet are rare, and when they do occur, they are swiftly addressed, minimizing any potential disruptions. 

The platform’s 24/7 technical support is readily available to ensure quick resolutions to any technical glitches that may arise during events. Users can certainly rely on timely assistance, contributing to a seamless and uninterrupted virtual event experience.

Lack of Flexibility and Compatibility:

GoToWebinar lacks flexibility in accommodating various formats, devices, scalability, or collaborative tools. It restricts the company’s ability to deliver engaging and tailored presentations to a wider audience. 

Compatibility issues may arise, limiting accessibility for potential clients and hindering the reach of BI software demonstrations. This lack of adaptability undermines the effectiveness of demand generation strategies, as BI software companies rely on webinars to showcase their products globally. 

Some issues shared by users:

• “Apple users have had their cameras blocked.”

• “It is not compatible with different devices and operating systems. I knew it was not compatible for my laptop (I was the organizer), lucky enough, I could find a new one. However, one of the panelists in my webinar, who had a compatible laptop, couldn’t even participate.”

• “It is not usable in the browser; you have to download the software; and it looks from the 2000s, not very user-friendly at all. To set up a different background for your camera, you should download another software, but that’s not all; you should pay $45 to use it! Just for a background.”

• “Lack of live transcription (closed-captions). GoToWebinar suggests using the built-in captions in Google Slides or PowerPoint as you’re sharing those tools, but if you’re not sharing one of those items, you’re out of luck, and even if you are, there’s no way for users to turn them off who do not need them.
• GoToWebinar didn’t have the ability to allow contributors to control other contributor screens.” 

How Airmeet does this differently:

Airmeet places a high emphasis on fostering inclusivity in virtual events, aiming to establish global connections. The platform’s browser-friendly interface ensures compatibility with a wide range of devices, offering flexibility for users. 

Additionally, Airmeet supports closed captions, enhancing accessibility for diverse audiences. For more information on Airmeet’s commitment to accessibility, click here.

Unreliable Customer Support:

Today, where effective communication is paramount, encountering issues during webinars demands prompt and efficient resolution. The customer support at GoToWebinar often fails to provide timely assistance or comprehensive solutions to technical challenges, which creates frustration among BI software companies and their potential clients. 

Few examples of customer support issues as shared by users:

• “Support is not great, no dedicated account manager.”

• “The only way you have to contact support is by calling a number (coincidence, the free toll number didn’t work? just the paid number). The answers I would get were not very solutions driven. Ultimately, they gave me an email address, but I still would get “no-reply” emails back.”

• “First and foremost is the support. truly horrendous. The webinar tools are also dated and clunky and we kept having issues, and the scripted support was no help.”

• “We had many issues, spent 8+ hours with the Support team who constantly assigned new reps who asked the same questions we’d already answered for the previous reps and never received a resolution for the issues we were experiencing. Support even ended up ignoring our emails attempting to follow up for a resolution and no-showing to our scheduled troubleshooting calls. Dealing with that team felt like a second job. The issues we had were major.”

This lack of reliable support disrupts the seamless execution of webinars. In an industry where trust and credibility are pivotal, GoToWebinar’s subpar customer and technical support undermines the overall demand generation efforts. 

This makes it challenging for BI software companies to foster positive relationships, effectively convey their product’s value, and secure the interest of potential clients.

Airmeet’s 24/7 Customer Support:

Our users have often praised the unwavering support and seamless communication facilitated by the CSM. The proficient support team ensures round-the-clock assistance for all queries related to events or the platform. 

Conclusion:

Recognizing the dynamic requirements of users, it is imperative for virtual event platforms to consistently evolve and meet the diverse needs of their user base. Airmeet, with its commitment to excellence, takes pride in offering robust features that align with and exceed the expectations of its customers for hosting successful events. 

The platform’s dedication to innovation and customer satisfaction underscores its position as a reliable choice in the realm of virtual event hosting. 

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