How to sell an online course with a webinar: 60-minute plan
How to sell a video course with a free webinar: a minute-by-minute outline, promotion, replays, the offer and ON24's latest attendance benchmarks.
A webinar (or masterclass, or free live session) is a live lesson, free to attend, that ends with an invitation to join your course. For creators it's one of the strongest launch tools: people watch you teach, ask questions and decide based on real information.
This guide is for creators who sell video courses and want to use a webinar to open enrolment. The data we cite comes from ON24, a platform for business webinars. We use it as a reference, knowing a creator's audience is different.
Why does a webinar help sell a course?
Because it lets people try the course before buying. In an hour, attendees see how you explain things, whether your method suits them and what kind of person you are. Live questions clear up doubts that a sales page leaves unanswered.
A webinar also creates an appointment: a set date and time that makes people stop and listen. That's why it works well in the warm-up phase of a launch, a few days before the cart opens, as we explain in how to launch an online course.
How do you structure a 60-minute webinar?
In four parts: welcome, lesson, offer, questions. The lesson takes more than half the time and must stand on its own: anyone who leaves before the offer should still have learned something.
Our editorial framework.
See the data as a table
| Section | Minutes |
|---|---|
| Welcome and promise | 5 min |
| Lesson | 35 min |
| Course presentation | 10 min |
| Q&A | 10 min |
Welcome (5 minutes)
Greet people as they arrive, say what they'll learn if they stay to the end and mention that you'll talk about the course at the end. Saying it up front is more honest and makes the final part feel less like a trap.
Lesson (35 minutes)
Pick three ideas at most, each with a concrete example. A good webinar lesson solves a small but real problem and shows that behind it sits a bigger one, which the course solves. Don't empty the course, but don't hold back your best material either: people who learn something real trust you.
Offer (10 minutes)
Connect the course to what you just taught: "today we saw how to set up your first light; in the course we cover every situation at a wedding, with exercises and feedback." Then curriculum, price, what's included and when enrolment closes. Show the link and repeat it in the chat.
Q&A (10 minutes or more)
Answer questions on the topic and the course. Live questions are valuable: note them down, they become your sales page FAQ and your launch emails.
What does the data say about webinar attendance?
The most recent data we read comes from ON24, which analyses webinars hosted on its platform, mainly B2B. In 2025, 60% of registrants attended (up from 57% in 2024), with an average of 239 attendees per webinar and average engagement of 49 minutes. 67% of attendees joined live and 43% on demand (the shares overlap: some did both).
- % of registrants who attended
- 60
- Minutes of average engagement
- 49
- % of attendees who watched on demand
- 43
This is vendor data about business events: a creator's free webinar, which takes one click to register for, probably sees lower attendance. We found no independent data on creator webinars, so use these figures as an order of magnitude and measure your own.
An example forecast
Let's use these numbers as an order of magnitude. Suppose 400 people register for your free webinar. If 60% attended, as in ON24's data, you would have 240 attendees; however, for a creator's free event it's safer to assume a lower share, for example half of that, or about 120 people across live and replay. Of those, only some will stay until the offer and only some will buy. That's why it pays to decide in advance how many sales you need and work backwards: if the course costs $149 and you need 15 sales, with 120 attendees you have to convince 12.5% of viewers, an ambitious target. In other words, a webinar alone rarely does the job: the emails in the following days do the rest, and the replay reaches people who missed it. The rates in this example are assumptions, not forecasts.
How do you promote a webinar?
With a simple registration page, a date announced at least a week ahead and three reminders. The page says what people will learn, when, how long it lasts and that there will be a replay for a limited time. Registration adds people to your list, so say clearly that they'll also receive your emails, as we explain in lead magnet ideas for creators.
Typical reminders: the day before, an hour before and at the start ("we're live"). On social, a same-day story with the link beats ten posts in the days before. To plan the content around it, start from the content calendar template for creators.
What happens after the webinar?
Send the replay to all registrants within a few hours, with the course link and the deadline. Over the following days the launch sequence continues: FAQ, student stories, last day. You'll find it email by email in the email sequence to sell an online course.
Keep the replay available until the cart closes, not forever: a replay with no deadline gets postponed indefinitely. After the launch you can turn the recording into a permanent lead magnet or a series of social clips.
Which webinar mistakes should you avoid?
- An hour-long ad. If the lesson is empty, people leave before the offer.
- A surprise pitch. Announce it at the start so those who stay know what's coming.
- Too much content. Three clear ideas beat ten half-explained ones.
- Untested tech. Audio, lighting, screen sharing: test everything the day before.
- Fake deadlines. "Live attendees only" has to be true, or nobody believes it next time.
- No follow-up. Without a replay and emails, you lose most of your registrants.
Key terms. A webinar is a live online presentation or lesson. The replay is the recording sent to registrants. Attendance rate is the share of registrants who watch, live or on demand.
How we checked. We read the summary of ON24's 2026 webinar benchmarks report (2025 platform data, mostly B2B) and present it as a vendor source. The outline is our editorial framework. We found no independent data on creator webinars, and we say so. Contact: hi@heytea.app. Editorial note: we check every figure against the sources listed below and correct mistakes openly.
Frequently asked questions
Does a free webinar really help sell a course?
It can, if it genuinely teaches something and the offer comes at the end, after the value. A webinar shows your teaching live, answers questions in real time and creates an appointment. It fails when it's an hour-long ad: attendees notice and leave.
How long should a sales webinar be?
45 to 60 minutes is the most manageable: about 35-40 minutes of content, 10 minutes presenting the course and the rest for questions. ON24 reports an average engagement of 49 minutes for webinars on its platform in 2025, but those are B2B business webinars; for a creator audience, shorter is safer.
How many registrants actually attend a webinar?
Fewer than sign up. In ON24's 2025 platform data, mostly B2B, 60% of registrants attended, live or on demand. A creator's free webinar may see a lower share: send reminders the day before, an hour before and at start time, and prepare the replay.
Should I send the recording to people who missed it?
Usually yes: the replay reaches people who couldn't attend. In ON24's 2025 data, 43% of attendees watched on demand. Keep the replay available for a limited time, tied to the cart close, so there's a reason to watch it now.
Which platform should I use for a webinar?
One your audience already knows and that can handle the number of attendees you expect: a YouTube or Instagram live is simple; a video-conferencing tool allows more interaction. Check your plan's attendee limit on the official pricing page and test everything the day before with a friend.
Sources
- ON24, "Key Takeaways from the 2026 Webinar Benchmarks Report", 19 June 2026. Platform data for 2025, mostly B2B webinars. Vendor source. Accessed 18 October 2026. on24.com