Little kids can do big things, and that’s why Spencer Russell created three amazing online courses to help toddlers as young as 18 months learn to read. Of course, convincing parents and caregivers that their kids are capable of reading at such a young age can be an uphill battle! That’s why it was imperative for Toddlers CAN Read to provide a free training session on eWebinar.
Since Toddlers CAN Read began using the platform, the company’s conversion rate has more than tripled, jumping from from 3.5% to 11%. The founder and CEO of Toddlers CAN Read, Spencer Russell, sat down with us to share what he loves about eWebinar.
Hi, Spencer! Thanks for taking the time to speak with me. Can you start by telling me a little bit about yourself and Toddlers CAN Read?
Sure, my name is Spencer Russell. I got the idea for Toddlers CAN Read about a year and a half ago, and started selling it for the first time about a year ago. It’s a course that helps parents and caregivers teach their little ones how to read, with a target age starting at 18 months. I also have families who take my course for first, second, and third graders who are struggling to read. So it can really be used by any age group because the process of learning to read is the same no matter what. I help people understand it in a really simple way and apply it regardless of the child’s age or ability.
What problems were you struggling with before eWebinar?
I don't think I knew it was a problem, but it would have been my conversion rate in terms of the number of people who viewed my free training and who purchased via the offer at the end of that training.
“Before eWebinar, I didn’t have analytics on how many people finished the training or what they liked.”
I didn’t have any analytics on how many people finished the training, or what parts they liked or didn’t like. I didn’t know what was helpful for them or what questions they had while the training was happening. All I knew was that 2.5% to 3% of people who watched the free training ended up buying the product. I didn’t even know how many people showed up because it was just a video on a page.
“I didn’t even know how many people were showing up for my training because it was just a video on a page.”
I think the problem that I knew I had was that I didn’t have much data, so I didn’t know that my conversion rate was really low compared to what it could have been.
How do you use eWebinar at your company today?
I push pretty much all of my traffic from social media to the free training. I give the option of watching the training on demand or scheduling it. The vast majority of my clientele are moms with little kids, so I think they really like the option of scheduling. A lot of people schedule ahead for the training at a time when they know they’re going to be breastfeeding or something like that.
I drive as much traffic as I can from my Instagram or from my TED Talk to the training. It’s 30 minutes of really good content, so if people don’t purchase it, then I’m at least going to give them a ton of value in terms of letting them know how to get started with teaching their kid to read, and letting them know about my background and experience. It’s not just selling the product, it’s providing a ton of information too.
“I track how many people watch the training, make it to the end, and see the offer that I give during the final 10 minutes.”
I’m tracking how many people watch the training, make it to the end, see the offer that I give during the final 10 minutes of the training, ask questions about that offer, etc.
What did you do before eWebinar?
I use Kajabi for my website, so the training was literally a video on a landing page on Kajabi. I didn’t have any webinar software, partly because my former coach had given me advice that the simplest route is often the best. A lot of times in tech, the process gets in the way. People were coming to me from Instagram or other places to give me their email address so they could receive that video, but I didn’t have analytics on what was happening with the video.
What benefits have you seen from using eWebinar?
Sales have significantly increased. I have a viral conversion rate and a non-viral kick-in for conversion rate. If I’m viral on a platform, the conversion rate is down because I think I’m just reaching so many more people and it’s not necessarily like people have been seeing my stuff again and again; they’re seeing it for the first time and they’re checking it out.
“Sales and conversion rates have significantly increased since I began using eWebinar.”
My range for conversion used to be 2.5% to 3.5% of the email addresses that I got. I had to do it based on email addresses because I didn’t know how many people who got it actually watched. So if we're looking at me being viral, 2.5% of people who gave me their email addresses would purchase. So far with eWebinar, that’s up to 5.75%, so that’s more than double!
For my non-viral number, a good conversion would have been about 3.5% and that’s now up to 11.1%, so that’s almost tripled.
How are your prospects and customers responding to the attendee experience that eWebinar is delivering?
They love it. It’s a little bit of an inference in terms of how much more people are watching, but I think qualitatively people are watching a lot more, they’re sticking around.
“People are watching the webinar a lot more now, and for longer amounts of time.”
I’ve gotten several messages from people who are like “this is the best webinar I’ve been on, this is amazing, thank you so much.”
“I get messages telling me that my training is the best webinar they’ve seen.”
I ask viewers to rate the webinar at the end, and when I last checked, it was a 4.8/5 from 113 reviews.
People seem to really like it, and they seem to stay around a lot longer.
Why do you think people are staying around longer?
I think there's a lot of social psychology built into the software. There are some simple things that are generic, like a countdown and other stuff that happens before the webinar starts, which makes it feel like an event. The inability to pause is largely helpful because it makes it feel live.
Prior to creating Toddlers CAN Read, I worked in professional development for teachers. During that time I learned that there’s a lot you can do in-person to engage a room and keep people interested and invested – things like asking where they're from and asking them to take part in polls – which can also be done in these webinars.
“The great thing about eWebinar is that you can still use all the tactics you would use to engage the audience in person, during a live event.”
Once viewers click the first poll and realize that it’s going to pop up, they’re also going to click on those other ones. So when you put those breadcrumbs throughout, the person on the other end is invested; their foot is in the door and I think they're going to be much more likely to keep going.
I watched three eWebinar samples before signing up for my trial and even though they were on topics that I really didn’t care about, I watched a lot more of them than I would have otherwise because I was partly curious about how other people were responding to the polls.
“The live chat and polls help keep people interacting and engaged with the training.”
Then I think part of it was because I had engaged already, and part of it was because it wasn’t going to stop. I think all of that is built in and contributes to why people stay – but obviously the content has to be good! I think my webinar content is really strong, so that’s helping too, and I think the live chat also helps. It’s not a high percentage of people that use the live chat on my training webinar, but I think knowing that it’s there pulls some people through as well.
Did viewers have an opportunity to ask you questions in the past, or do you think that having that engagement and the ability for them to reach out to you also helps that conversion rate?
It’s definitely helping. In the past, it would have been roughly an equal amount of traffic coming from my TED Talk and Instagram. There’s no option of DMing me on TikTok, but there is on Instagram – but even to go through the process to DM is kind of making a calculation as to whether or not you think the person is going to respond to you, based on the number of followers they have, etc. I’m sure a lot of people don't do it because they just look at the followers and think, “he’s not going to answer.”
And to be honest, I’m a young black man who is wearing a hoodie in my profile picture, so I think that’s not everyone’s first stop, to ask questions in that forum when there’s a barrier. And when you’re doing something via Instagram, there is a barrier – there’s something in between that says you have to go to the profile, click “message,” send the message, and hope they get it.
“The live chat feature allows the audience to contact me without barriers. It’s much better than DMing me on Instagram.”
I think eWebinar helps to reduce the barrier and the wait time when they see the chat. And it’s not only that – I’m actually inviting them to chat with me! I’m open and friendly and I’m someone they can trust. So I do get a ton of DMs and a ton of emails, but I think the messages in eWebinar are coming from people who aren’t utilizing those other streams. So it’s kind of like a different demographic of people who feel comfortable messaging me in the training.
“I’m very good at closing, and the live chat allows me to do that.”
I’m also very good at closing, so if someone messages me through the live chat and has questions, I’ve talked with enough families to understand pretty quickly what they need to hear to feel comfortable buying the course.
How have you helped yourself and your business by implementing eWebinar?
That's a good question. I think there’s a direct answer and an indirect answer. The direct answer is the double to triple conversion rate. We’re making a lot more money and that money goes right back into the business. If I’m not making money, it’s very hard to support the people who are taking the course or are invested in this free content. I think that’s a concept that people don’t always understand, is how much money it costs to make good, free content. So that’s benefit #1.
“Our increase in conversion rates means we’re making more money, and that money can go straight back into the business.”
Benefit #2 is the qualitative and quantitative data that I’m using to inform decisions. This past week, I reshot my free training to make the visuals better and make it look nicer, and initially I was thinking of changing it because my conversion rate was low – but now I can see the issue wasn’t the content.
“I use the qualitative and quantitative data provided by eWebinar to inform my decisions.”
So I largely kept the content the same because I can see where people are interacting, what they’re liking. So there’s hard data there in terms of view time and reactions.
Then there’s qualitative data about the questions people are asking at different points. If I see that people tend to ask the same questions at certain spots, I can make sure I work that information into the presentation and address it upfront.
What do you love most about eWebinar?
The chat feature. If I think about what is driving sales the most, I think it’s the live chat.
"The live chat is driving sales the most."
I’m also really drawn to companies that iterate and improve, like eWebinar. I’m never looking for someone who says “we’ve been here the longest” or “we’re the best.” I’m looking for someone who is not satisfied with where they are and is working to get better, because that’s very much how I view my business. I will one day have the #1 reading program online, and I’m still going to want it to be better, and there are still going to be families who aren’t being served or families who could be served better.
“I like that eWebinar is constantly finding ways to improve. That’s the way I run my business too, so it’s a valuable trait that I look for.”
So there’s going to be a constant push to make my company better, and I see that eWebinar is doing the same thing because I’m getting the emails which tell me the positive changes that are being made to the platform.
I feel as though I have a good eye for products that can improve and benefit from certain changes, and to be able to give that feedback and have it not go into the void but actually be considered is important to me.
Who would you recommend eWebinar to?
I’ve recommended eWebinar to people I know who have online courses. That’s my personal space and I think it’s a strong fit for anyone who has a webinar funnel to an online course.
Thank you for your time, Spencer! I’m happy to hear that eWebinar is helping Toddlers CAN Read achieve great things!
Are you a parent or caregiver looking for an easy and affordable way to help your child learn to read? Be sure to check out all of the amazing things that Toddlers CAN Read can offer you!
…And if you’re an entrepreneur looking to offer product demos around the clock – all while offering a personalized interactive experience – click here to get started with eWebinar!