‘Do-it-yourself’ webinars and audio conferencing
4.4/5 (547 avis)Avantages
There is one thing that really sets GoToWebinar apart from the competition in my opinion. First, if you subscribe to GoToWebinar Pro, you can pre-record and fully automate your webinars. If you run webinars in a timezone that's 12 hours behind or ahead of you, it's a HUGE lifesaver to be able to record a webinar a month in advance and have a fully-automated version of it run during the middle of the night when you're sleeping warm and happy at home. There's zero manual input required to run a recorded webinar which is amazing. Simply schedule the webinar, invite people to attend, and it's all done for you! Do see my note below regarding the one downside to recorded webinars with Goto.
In general, GoToWebinar seems to have the largest number of native integrations (integrations that don't require you to cobble something together with a third-party API connector).
From every other standpoint, I'd say GoToWebinar is on par with most solutions out there.
Inconvénients
There are some quirks related to the setup of webinars that can be a bit frustrating and the customization of the webinar landing pages and emails is so minimal that it might as well be non-existent. Basically you slap your logo on the email and that's where the customization ends.
For recorded webinars, there's one big downside. You need to have the recording of the webinar done at the time that you schedule the webinar. This means that if you are planning to record a webinar in a month, you'll have to schedule the recorded version at a later date. We get around this now by hosting the recorded webinars one month after the original, however it would be much better if you could simply create a standard webinar, and change it to a recorded one after it's already been created.
A little pricey compared to some of the competition, but a LOT more affordable than others.
Avantages
- We can invite more people to join a live webinar before start the meeting.
- It is vet easy to connect to webinar meeting. With a few simple clicks from an email we can connect to meeting without any interference and hurdles in between.
- With the good speed of internet connection you can have a video with good call quality and clear vision.
- You can record the session too for future use and train more people with the same recording without repeating those things twice.
- Good software to conduct remote meetings with geographically distant colleagues.
- We can share screen too, so that other people will get more idea about what we want them to understand.
- You can transfer the rights of sharing of the screen too.
- you can submit the feedback after end of meeting for better improvements.
Inconvénients
- This platform stuck and freeze more often compare to other remote meeting tools.
- If you do not have an accurate internet connection, then there is no use of this tool.
- The incident had happened to us that we were around 10 people in a meeting and not a single person was able to hear another person’s voice. Even after login and logout several times in tool. At last we had to switch that meets on another tool.
- We have to wait outside the main meeting page if the organizer is late.
Avantages
GoToWebinar was useful for conducting training webinars for large groups because of the ability to easily invite participants prior to the event, with the option to remind invitees of the event from an internal feature of the program. Following the webinar it was valuable to be able to access the roster of those who attended, along with their contact information. This was aided me in providing incentives to attendees and to follow up on the event. While conducting the webinar, the features within GoToWebinar allowed me to track who had their GoToWebinar window at the forefront of their screen (who was perhaps fully paying attention!), monitor and answer questions that came in through the question window, administer survey questions, and provide participants with downloads of PDF and Word documents.
Inconvénients
As opposed to GoToMeeting, I did not like that (although it was easy to invite participants) each attendee had to register for the webinar rather than simply click on a link to access it. Many people did not receive a confirmation for this as the email was sent to their spam rather than to their inbox, causing a breakdown in communication.
Avantages
GoToWebinar is a fantastic service if you're looking to present to a large group of people. You have the ability for your clients to interact with the seminar in the event that you want to make sure your employees attend the meeting. I have never had a GoToWebinar disconnect from the internet, even very poor connections can handle GoToWebinar. I have setup and hosted many different seminars and GoToWebinar has to be at the top of my list.
Inconvénients
My cons come from troubleshooting GoToWebinars inside a restricted network. More than likely you'll have to make sure all your users can run GoToWebinar on their computers/laptops. This can raise questions if you're monitoring what sites are whitelisted on your network. There was also a big limitation on users accessing GoToWebinar with Group Policy restrictions. The launcher will more than likely trigger your policy if you limit the programs your employees are allowed to run. This only applies to users who run the software while on the domain. Otherwise GoToWebinar is a fantastic service.
GoToWebinar helped us edit the content of our presentations, pertaining to the feedback we gained from our attendees. It was fairly easy to use and our clients were all familiar with the software so we never had issues with them not knowing what to do when logging in.
Avantages
What I liked most about GoToWebinar's software is that when we were putting together a presentation, it allowed us to invite hundreds of people. We were presenting to various sister hotels and knew we would have a large group that would exceed that of GoToMeeting's capacity, and I believe GoToWebinar had a limit of 1000 attendees at the time, which was more than we needed, but great to know we had the flexibility to invite more. It was also super helpful that attendees had to register to attend, allowing us to see exactly how many people were actually opening their invitations and interested in attending. Once we saw a general estimate of how many people would attend, we could tailor our presentation to make it more generic vs specific in order to address a larger group. The reporting functionality is by far the best feature for us as a sales team. We could see who came, who did the polls, how interested the attendees were, and poll results. It was eye opening for us to see that although we had a large turnout, the interest wasn't as great as we had expected. From that experience, we were able to analyze and re-evaluate the content of our next presentation based off of feedback we received.
Inconvénients
I was a sales manager using the software so this didn't apply to me, but I do know that the GM did not like how expensive it was. He would often complain about the cost, but it wasn't enough for us to get rid of the software because we valued the information we gathered while using it.
Our goal with GotoWebinar is to connect with a massive audience (100-1000) and essentially sell them something. And a interrupt can be costly. The time and resources to get the leads to attend a live call is expensive. And if there's lag or breakdown in the connection, leads drop off and they won't buy. GoToWebinar's connection is consistent and once more, with 3-4 webinars a week - we don't see any downtime. It works!
Avantages
From a business perspective, GoToWebinar works - with about 3-4 webinars per week, we rarely had a problem. It's a solid platform, and it just works. I also like that people can call into the webinar.
Inconvénients
It's pretty ugly. It's one of those platforms where I have to spend a few days training a client how to use it. There's so many buttons and features tucked away. Competitors
It's also pretty expensive for most users, especially with alternatives like Facebook Live, Google Hangouts, etc.
Main benefit is still ability to conduct stable connection during my webinars and ability to interact with clients in effective way (including surveys)
Avantages
We moved to GoToWebinar from GoToMeeting to save on costs. Though we've lost some features such as ability to draw on whiteboards, remaining set of features was sufficient for us. A pleasant surprise for me was ability to make surveys during the webinar as well as useful statistics available at the end (such as number of participants and survey results).
Inconvénients
I had a few cases when the app hanged at the end of webinar so I was unable to save the recording. Also sometimes we needed to make some other attendees as presenter so he/she can share files and that was impossible.
- GoToWebinar has solved multiple issues related to:
1. Audience engagement - by using polls and active attendees
2. Capturing the number of registrants and actually attending
3. System requirements are minimal. So even low end devices can join as well.
4. No dropped connections or chopped audio
Avantages
- Easy to create events and inviting people
- Options for muting everyone to reduce background noise and only presenters can speak
- option for users to provide individual feedback after the session
- Webinar recording quality is commendable
- Desktop and phone app are pretty stable
Inconvénients
- Need to run desktop version instead of web to get full experience otherwise user is limited with options
- Sometimes i have experienced sharing and audio issues
GoToWebinar allows us to connect with customers in a way we would not otherwise be able to reach them, saving us thousands of dollars each year in training and support costs. Although coming with a somewhat sizable annual licensing cost, it's been a very cost-effective method for us to expand our reach to both current customers and prospects.
Avantages
We conduct about 2-3 webinars per month, soliciting both customers and prospects to our online events. We've run into some issues and difficulties, specifically around capturing, encoding, and accessing video but have enjoyed a positive experience overall. I love the fact we can capture registrations through our marketing automation platform and pass the registration details on to GoToWebinar via a simple application connector. The ease of use around integration makes for very easy setup, execution, and follow-up. The reporting features have gotten much better over the years, with the ability to glean helpful insights regarding things like attendee engagement much easier than they used to be.
Inconvénients
The ability to brand your webinars is somewhat limited, with only a single template and limited information that can be provided for items like the opening screen attendees see while on hold. Similarly, the branding associated with reminder and follow-up emails is very limited, forcing us to use our our platform for promotion and follow-up.
Avantages
Go To Webinar is my go to platform for webinars. I think that they make it easy to schedule, and to enter details for registration, panelists, etc. I also think that the interface is easy for the audience to understand, especially enjoy the question box.
Inconvénients
I think that there is really no flexibility in customizing the back end of your webinars. I would love to be able to ask people what country they come from, without forcing them to also pick a US state they're from (yes, this is a thing and a major problem when you have an international audience). It would be great if they customized the state dropdown menu for each country, or simply made it grey out when someone chooses a country that is not the US. I also think there are few options for logo or branding, and I really wish I could include hyperlinks in the description.
I am able to do a complete webinar (never having done so in my life) in less than 24 hours. Feature rich with a well thought through design I do not think you can find better.
Avantages
All the controls such as send out invitations, ending the webinar, managing the microphones, and video, running the screen presentation, switching screens when necessary etc and compatibility with Mac versus PC. Best technical support I have experienced, ever. Tech Support's team with whom I interacted exhibited knowledge, courtesy and spoke in easily understandable English. And I was on a freebie! I mastered the app with their help and concluded my webinar successfully. I have another on Tuesday next week.
Inconvénients
Cost is high if you can only use it once or twice a year. Otherwise, the cost is competitive with the other similar apps I tried. I am thinking of ways to increase webinar marketing to spread the cost over multiple webinars. The basic cost of per month for a small company is OK if you use the tool every week. Medium and larger sized companies have other pricing options that appear reasonable considering the features and number of users.
Being able to engage others virtually in a presentation, webinar, or training session. You can reach multiple people at once and with video option you can see people who are presenting as if you were in the same room.
Avantages
It's easy to set up, attend, and invite others to a webinar. The reminder is automatically sent out to those who are registered to attend/participate. You have the option of listening via the computer on mute or calling in on the telephone. The webinar navigation bar for chatting and asking questions is simple. Uploading the PowerPoint is simple and accessible to those who attend the webinar.
Inconvénients
The cost for this software/program is expensive for the smaller company. Because of the cost, it forces the smaller company to go with the free programs that are available that aren't as efficient.
Starting to create and run webinars for my company took a lot of learning and a lot of effort. Thanks to gotowebinar it was not a difficult process. It helped a ton with everything from content, registrations, attendance, reporting, Pardot connector and increasing success over time. Overall we are happy with the service that we get from gotowebinar.
Avantages
I like the landing pages they provide. They tend to get better registrations than the ones I create on my own. The reports are very informative too. They help the sales team a lot. It pretty much takes care of all the little things like emails, surveys, recordings and it is very easy to use.
Inconvénients
Not a ton of direction when we started. I think that a little bit more training would have been helpful. It could be more interactive.
Avantages
As a User who would set up meetings or attend "webinars" presented by other industry professionals, GoToWebinar is the next generation of telecommuting. Directed to use this as an employee, this was an incredible tool to learn more from industry insiders and successful companies to be able to ask questions in real-time chat, participate in polls, and be able to revisit the "show" at later times. As the employer using this, GoTo was an immensely helpful tool in presenting our findings and creating the overall conversation locale for business meetings. Whether through live camera feed or screen share, this tool was incredibly helpful.
Inconvénients
Without too many complaints, sometimes there were occasional hiccups in the start/beginning stages of a call. Once issues were discovered and "fixed" the show would go on without a hitch, but we could have run into a number of issues. That may be browser hang-ups, lack of video but with accompanying audio or vice versa, and seldom, lag. Overall, very efficient.
Avantages
Go to Webinar, is a nice forum for multiple people to gather and share classroom information. It is visually pleasing.
I like that more than one person can present at the same time.
Easy to share screen for presentations.
Inconvénients
In the Q&A capabilities I find it difficult for presenters to keep track of questions as they come in, and they have difficulty in answering all the questions asked during a webinar.
Most people don't stay after, if their question is not answered right away, and may miss the information they are looking for.
If there is a transcript option for emailing to attendees after a webinar, I have yet to receive one.
If this is an option, it should be set so that an attendee can ask for that at the beginning of a webinar.
I have used GoToWebinar both as a webinar participant and as a presenter, and it's a great interface from either direction. As a participant, the sign in experience is easy and it's easy to tell how to do things like answer a poll question, chat, mute and unmet yourself, etc. As a presenter, it's easy to understand how to share your screen, see who's in the webinar, ask questions, and do everything you need to. I do recommend making sure you do a test run before your first live presentation, just to give yourself a chance to walk through things, and I've seen glitches when transferring between different presenters who are at remote locations from each other, so practicing transitions is a good plan.
Avantages
Easy to use for both presenters/hosts and participants. Chat & polling ability allows for interactivity without cross talk. Easy to screenshare.
Inconvénients
It's not as pretty as some other online meeting interfaces, and I feel it sometimes gets a bad rap because it's been around a little longer. You might not seem as "cool" using GoToWebinar as if you use Zoom, but these are fairly minor points because mostly people just want something that works, and GoToMeeting does.
Avantages
I like the ease and usability of this program. It has always been a pleasant experience when using webinar. I receive an email, accept the invite and the appointment automatically loads into my calendar. This helps me organize my day so I can devote the appropriate time to the webinar appointments. This program has always ran smoothly for me once I have been able to login.
Inconvénients
My one concern is logging in via my mobile phone. This has always been a struggle for me. No matter how I try, I cannot log in as instructed. The only way k have been able to log in had been via calling in. This isn't particularly convenient when I am on the road. Besides this, webinar had been quite efficient for me.
Hosting monthly webinars with customer with an easy sharing and connection method.
Avantages
Attendees connect in muted mode. Attendees can join before the meeting has started.
Presenters can share screen and record. Recorded webinars can be converted to movies and shared on websites.
The system reports on the users attentiveness so you can see how effective the presentation was.
Simple to start up and connect to meeting for attendees.
Easy method to unmute a participant so they can speak and ask a question.
Question system has handy option to just reply to that one customer or you can reply to all.
Inconvénients
You can't disable features like raising hand, which has no real purpose that I can see.
If something goes wrong it can be difficult to know. E.g. how can you know if the audio stops or if you forgot to share your screen. (some of this is user error).
As you often share your screen the window is a bit cluttered. Ideally you need two computers. One to connect share screen the other to administer the webinar.
I get an easy experience that encourages me to join a meeting or a learning opportunity via the internet.
Avantages
It costs the invitee nothing and I rarely have trouble getting connected. This keeps me from having to drive to the city to be in a meeting. We can join learning sessions from the comfort or home or office. It is a good way for my clients to have me join their "events" so I can support them better.
Inconvénients
Some webinars are easier to participate in than others and being only the user and not the driver, that might be a function of how they have set up the session. I don't deliver them myself so I'm not sure how everything works behind the curtain. Sometimes we can see each others and other times we cannot.
Our team is glad to have purchased GoToWebinar because our on-campus open houses are now offered virtually for our online students. It has been helpful in gathering prospective student interest.
Avantages
GoToWebinar is very user-friendly. It was easy to log-in for my first webinar and get set up. It sends out reminder emails to your registrants in a sequence that works best for you. From that email it allows your registrants to add the event to their Outlook or Google Calendar. You have the ability to record the webinar so you can use it in the future. After my first event, GoToWebinar sent me an analytics dashboard that showed our team insights such as list of attendees, attentiveness, interest rating, etc. I was also able to pull into an excel file the list of questions that were asked during the session along with my answers. I used that information to send in my thank you email as a recap.
Inconvénients
We had trouble with the chat box feature. As an organizer for the webinar, I could see the chat box and type/send messages in it. However, my registrants could not see the chat box (my colleague logged in as a registrant to make sure everything was showing properly). I'm not sure if this feature is just for organizers to speak to one another during the event, or if it is actually used for all attendees. It is something I need to reach out to GoToWebinar about.
Gotowebinar helps me increase my affiliate earnings. Helps me educate potential customers on my products and services.
Avantages
Gotowebinar is by far the best webinar software for me in the past two years now! As an internet marketer, I constantly host webinars to educate new and existing customers.
Gotowebinar has enabled me increase my affiliate earnings, It enables me to educate potential customers on my products and services.
These days, written words are not enough to make the desired sales, customers need to have a personal touch with you before they make that buying decision, and this is where Gotowebinar comes in handy.
Inconvénients
This tool is great for the money, however, new marketers struggle to pay the price. I had to struggle so hard in order to afford this tool.
Overall, GoToWebinar has increased our ability to reach out ot our sales teams in the most efficient way possible. Using GoToWebinar is the closest thing you can get to being in the same room with all of the participants. I really don't feel that anything is left out in the overall experience.
Avantages
I like that we can train our entire sales force all at once, while allowing them to submit questions in real time. It makes training sessions feel more personal and as a result, our sales teams are able to learn new materials and features of our business more easily. We are able to share not only live video, but desktop streaming as well which allows us to share charts and analytic info with the participants. Another great feature is that there can be multiple streamers running the webinar from different locations, joining in together to do the presentation while the guests can all view and hear, while at the same time have the ability to submit questions and comments via the chatroom.
Inconvénients
Zero complaints about GoToWebinar. It provides everything we need to demo our latest products and marketing materials to our sales teams.
We get lots of benefits from this software, the main one being its a lead generation tool for us; by helping us deliver webinars we are able to educate our prospect base and build a solid sales pipeline for the future.
Avantages
There are so many things I like but highlights for me are the great control panel that lets me see the attendees behaviour, the reporting feature that shows who was interested, the recording function that lets me share and finally the stability and reliability that I can count on. I think its really well thought-out and easy to use.
Inconvénients
Maybe a few more local dialling codes for more countries could be useful.
I use GoToWebinar to present to customers across the world. It is easy to use & setup a meeting, configure how & what you present & makes presentations online easy.
Avantages
I like that you can easily switch between multiple screens, programs, etc. You can configure whether you're viewing and/or listening on your phone or computer.
Inconvénients
If you're running a more than one piece of software during your demo or webinar, GoToWebinar slows your computer down. You have to slow down how you present. However, I haven't really found a competing solution that doesn't do this. It's no better or worse in this aspect that its competitors.
This has been our workhorse webinar software for a couple of years. While other platforms have been hit-or-miss in terms of consistent connectivity, GoToWebinar never gives us trouble. Our customers and sponsors alike use the platform, and it's easy enough to use that someone unfamiliar with web conferencing can jump right in. There might be a couple software packages with more robust features, but for our money GoToWebinar delivers reliably.
Avantages
We have never had a connectivity issue with GoToWebinar, and its interface is easy to understand and utilize.
Inconvénients
Not the most features I've seen in webinar software, but there's something to be said for simplicity.
Great webinar tool that's supported by a huge number of other apps as well. The app performs reliably and has the added benefit that most people have used it so you rarely have to worry about people not being able to connect.