portfolio, accounting, reporting and analytics for institutional investors in over 4,500 ... web-based software-as-a-ser
CASE STUDY
CLEARWATER
ON24 CUSTOMER CASE STUDY CLEARWATER ANALYTICS
CASE STUDY BACKGROUND INDUSTRY Technology/Financial Services ON24 SOLUTION ON24 Webcast Elite SUMMARY Since Clearwater began using Webcast Elite for its thought leadership webinars, they have become the company’s second most effective lead-generating marketing initiative behind face-to-face events. Registrations have also increased, with an above-industry average registration-to-attendee ratio of 70-75%. Based on its program’s success, Clearwater plans to double the number of webinars it runs in 2015.
INTRODUCTION
SITUATION
STAKING A CLAIM AS AN INDUSTRY THOUGHT LEADER
REPLACING AN INCONSISTENT, UNRELIABLE PLATFORM
Clearwater Analytics is the leading provider of investment portfolio, accounting, reporting and analytics for institutional investors in over 4,500 organizations. They leverage a web-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, coupled with a world-class client service model, to help clients automate investment accounting, monitor investment policy compliance, and analyze portfolio performance and risk.
Previously, the company ran a number of events using a web meeting platform, with less than satisfactory results:
The Boise, Idaho-based company uses webinars to: 1. Grow its lead-generation program 2. Establish Clearwater and its key personnel as industry thought leaders 3. Offer continuing professional education (CPE) credits for CPAs The company’s CPE offerings dovetail nicely with its thought leadership goals. Clearwater subject matter experts deliver the technical and educational credit-earning webinar content, elevating Clearwater’s stature.
• Overall inconsistent experiences: Clearwater experienced issues starting the webinars, monitoring questions and high drop-off rates, leading to high stress levels for the producer. • Customer support was subpar by a long stretch, with voice mail and instructions to email technical support in lieu of live assistance being the norm. • A live event complete system fail: During a live product demo with close to 300 audience members, the webinar platform froze up. Clearwater had to abandon the webinar completely and reschedule it.. The marketing team at Clearwater, responsible for producing the company’s webinar program, decided it was time to take a different approach. Based on their experiences, they knew that they didn’t want to continue using a web meeting platform for marketing webinars.
© 2015 ON24, Inc. I www.on24.com, email:
[email protected] or call 1-877-202-9599
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CASE STUDY
CLEARWATER
SOLUTION
RESULTS
A MARKETING PLATFORM OPTIMIZED FOR WEBINARS
CONFIDENTLY REACHING LARGER AUDIENCES WITH IMPROVED PERFORMANCE
The marketing team felt that the Webcast Elite self-service webcasting platform stood out as a much smarter, more sophisticated tool that was actually geared to marketing webinars.
The professional appeal and reliable nature of the Webcast Elite platform gives Clearwater confidence that its audiences will have a great experience — and the results prove it. Since implementing Webcast Elite, its webinars are:
In choosing the intuitive and easy-to-use ON24 webinarbased marketing platform, Clearwater also enjoys:
• The number 2 lead-generating marketing tool, second only to face-to-face events.
• Comfort in cloud-based delivery. As a fellow SAAS-based technology provider, there was an inherent comfort level uploading webinar files to the ON24 web-based servers, with their crash-proof redundancy.
• Producing an above-industry average 70-75% registrationto-attendee ratio.
• Certification widget offering bonus functionality. Clearwater was pleasantly surprised to learn Webcast Elite could automate its CPE certification process. The platform tracks all the requirements for earning credits. • User-defined roles that simplify webinar delivery. Using Presentation Manager XD to assign producer, presenter and Q&A screener roles makes it easier for remote client presenters to interface with the platform and provide a more streamlined and effective Q&A session. • Simpler pricing model. With another potential vendor’s per-event and per-attendee pricing, there was no clear way to predict an event’s cost. This is not an issue with the ON24 subscription-pricing model.
• Consistently drawing greater numbers, so much so that the company plans to double the number of webinars in 2015. Clearwater rates its current webinars a success based on: • The number of new leads generated and new entries in the sales funnel. • Exit surveys that show consistently high satisfaction ratings on both the content and the presenters. • Smooth day-of webinar execution with no technical issues preventing starting on time, login or exit survey completion.
“When we were looking for a new webinar platform, we knew that we didn’t want a screen-share based web-meeting platform for our marketing demand generation events.” — ANGIE O’HARA DIRECTOR OF MARKETING CLEARWATER ANALYTICS, LLC
HOW CLEARWATER ANALYTICS MEASURES WEBINAR EFFECTIVENESS OBJECTIVE: Clearwater Analytics offers thought leadership, demand generation and CPE webinars for its target audiences of accountants, financial professionals, treasurers, and those involved in investment accounting and reporting.
STRATEGY: A string of inconsistent webinar performances was capped off when a Clearwater customer webinar froze mid-presentation, forcing the company to cancel the remainder of the event. Clearwater set out to find a reliable webcasting platform more geared towards marketing-type events versus online meetings.
RESULTS: Clearwater credits the professional appeal and reliable nature of the Webcast Elite platform with helping it draw consistently greater registration/attendee numbers and results across the board. Webinars have since become the company’s number two lead-generating marketing channel behind face-to-face events, and Clearwater plans to increase the number of webinars it runs.
© 2015 ON24, Inc. I www.on24.com, email:
[email protected] or call 1-877-202-9599
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