How many buyers will your webinar make?
Project the full webinar funnel: registrations through attendees, stay-to-pitch, and close. Pulls in benchmarks for live vs replay show-up rates so the assumptions are realistic.
Five stages, four drop-off points.
A webinar is the most cascaded funnel in marketing: every stage compounds the next. A 10-point swing in show-up rate becomes a 30% swing in revenue. Knowing what each stage typically loses lets you spot which one is leaking when projections do not match reality.
1 Registered
Anyone who signs up. Cost per registrant (CPR) is set here, and email reminder cadence determines how many actually return for stage 2. A three-touch reminder sequence (24h / 1h / 5min) typically lifts show-up 10-15 points versus a single reminder.
2 Attended
Showed up at all. Live webinars typically convert 35-50% of registrants; evergreen replays land at 70-90% because viewers self-select the time slot. The biggest live-attendance killer is registering more than 7 days before the event; commitment decays quickly.
3 Stayed to pitch
Still watching when you make the offer (usually minute 40-60). Drop-off from attendee to stay-to-pitch is typically 50-70% on a 60-minute webinar, 30-50% on a 45-minute webinar. Most close-rate benchmarks are reported as percent of stayed, not attendees, so be explicit.
4 Bought
Closed on the offer. Healthy close rates: 3-5% of attendees on cold traffic, 5-10% on warm list, 10-20% on application or strategy-call funnels. Russell Brunson's Perfect Webinar formula consistently hits around 10% of attendees across niches.
Webinar benchmarks by traffic source
| Scenario | Show-up rate | Close rate (of attendees) | RPR target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live · cold paid traffic | 35-45% | 3-5% | $2-$5 |
| Live · warm email list | 45-55% | 5-10% | $8-$20 |
| Live · partner / JV | 50-65% | 5-12% | $10-$25 |
| Evergreen · cold | 70-85% | 2-5% | $3-$8 |
| Evergreen · warm | 80-92% | 4-8% | $10-$25 |
| High-ticket strategy call | 40-60% | 15-25% of calls booked | $30-$100+ |
Sources: Demio Webinar Statistics 2023, GoToWebinar Big Book of Webinar Stats 2023, EverWebinar evergreen benchmark report. RPR (revenue per registrant) targets assume offer prices in the $297-$1,997 range.
Honest answers.
For live webinars, 35-50% of registrants showing up is the typical benchmark across industries (Demio, EasyWebinar, and GoToWebinar all report figures in this range for 2022-2024). For evergreen or just-in-time replays, show-up rates are higher: 70-90% because viewers self-select the time. The single biggest lever on live show-up is the email sequence: a three-email reminder sequence (24h, 1h, 5min before) typically lifts show-up by 10-15 points versus a single reminder.
Webinar close rate is usually reported as percent of attendees who buy. Healthy benchmarks: 3-5% on a cold audience, 5-10% on warm audience (existing email list), 10-20% on a high-intent application or strategy-call funnel. Russell Brunson's "Perfect Webinar" formula targets ~10% across a wide range of niches. Numbers above 15% on cold traffic are unusual; double-check that you're measuring percent of attendees, not percent who stayed to the offer.
Attendees are everyone who shows up. Stay-to-pitch are those still watching when you make the offer, typically 40-60 minutes in. Drop-off from attendees to stay-to-pitch is usually 50-70% on a 60-minute webinar; longer webinars (90+ min) typically drop off more steeply. The stay-to-pitch number matters because most close-rate benchmarks are reported as percent of stayed, while ad-funnel reporting tools usually report close rate as percent of attendees. Be explicit which denominator you're using.
Revenue per registrant (RPR) is the cleanest single metric for webinar ROI. Typical ranges: $2-$5 RPR for a $297-$497 offer on cold paid traffic, $5-$15 RPR for the same offer on a warm list, and $20+ RPR for high-ticket offers ($1,997+) with a strong application step. RPR matters more than show-up rate because it lets you compare across show-up assumptions. If cost per registrant is $5-$10 and RPR is below that cost, the funnel is not profitable on the front end and needs a back-end offer to break even.
Live webinars typically convert higher per attendee (8-12% vs 4-8% for evergreen) because of urgency, real-time Q&A, and scarcity around the offer window. Evergreen webinars compensate with volume: registrants can sign up any time, show-up rates are higher (70-90%), and you can run paid traffic 24/7. The right answer for most creators is to start with live to test the script, then convert the highest-converting version into an evergreen that runs while you work on other things. systeme.io's evergreen webinar funnels can mirror a live offer countdown.
Cost per registrant (CPR) is a useful diagnostic but a dangerous optimization target. Lowering CPR by broadening targeting often lowers attendee quality, which lowers close rate, which lowers profit. The right metric to optimize is cost per buyer (CPR ÷ overall buyer rate), which combines registrant cost with funnel efficiency. Typical CPR in 2024 paid social: $3-$10 for self-help and creator niches, $10-$25 for business and finance niches with high competition. Compare against revenue per registrant; if CPR is above RPR, the funnel only works with strong back-end follow-up.
Webinar funnels, free to build.
Registration page, reminder emails, attendance gates, replay funnels, and order forms. The whole stack runs inside one tool, on the free plan, up to 2,000 contacts.
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