Ask Questions: Your Complete Guide to Mastering Webinar Automation, Live Classes & Email Marketing

Running an online course platform or membership site comes with countless technical questions.

That's why we host a weekly Live Support Desk where educators, coaches, and course creators get real-time answers to their most pressing platform questions. This week's session covered everything from webinar automation email tagging to live class scheduling, Zoom recording tips, and email broadcast authentication.

Understanding Webinar Automation and Email Tagging

One of the most common questions course creators ask is about email segmentation within webinar automations. When you send emails through interactive webinar automation with specific tags, those emails only go to people registered for that particular webinar—not your entire email list. This is crucial for maintaining targeted communication with your audience.

The automation system works like a contained list. Even if filtering options show "all," it only refers to all participants within that specific webinar, not your complete subscriber base. This prevents accidentally sending webinar-specific content to your entire database.

Organizing Multiple Webinars with the Same Name

If you run recurring webinars with identical names, identifying them during filtering can become confusing. The best practice is to include dates in your webinar titles (e.g., "Marketing Masterclass - October 30"). While this may not look as clean aesthetically, it provides essential clarity when managing multiple events and prevents confusion in your backend systems.

Live Class Scheduling and Management

Setting up live classes within a membership platform requires understanding visibility settings and scheduling options. When adding new dates to existing live class series, you can clone previous sessions rather than creating entirely new ones from scratch.

Visibility Settings Explained

When configuring live classes, you'll encounter three visibility options:

Public: Appears on your calendar and allows anyone to register
Courses: Only visible within specific courses you select
Secret: Hidden from public view, accessible only through direct links

For membership-exclusive content, choose either "Courses" or "Secret" to prevent non-members from accessing your live sessions. The "Secret" setting is particularly useful as it keeps sessions completely private while still allowing enrolled students to book their spots through course curriculum.

Adding Multiple Live Session Dates

To expand your live class schedule:

Clone your existing live class
Update the date and time
Rename it to distinguish from other sessions
Add it to your course curriculum as a new lesson
Students can then book their spots for each individual session

This approach works well for both theory sessions and group coaching calls, allowing you to organize them into separate sections within your course structure.

Charging for Different Event Types

Understanding which event types allow pricing is essential for monetizing your expertise:

Live Classes: Can be charged
Interactive Webinars: Can be charged
One-to-One Bookings: Can be charged
Live Webinars: Currently free only

Live webinars are designed for larger presentations where participants remain anonymous and don't appear on camera. While you cannot directly charge for live webinars, many educators use them as free lead magnets, then offer paid courses or memberships at the end.

A strategic approach is offering free content to your membership base while charging non-members for the same sessions. This creates an incentive for people to join your membership while generating additional revenue from one-time participants.

Email Broadcast Authentication

Email deliverability is critical for course creators. If you're experiencing authentication errors with broadcast emails, the issue often stems from using personal email addresses like Gmail instead of professional domain-based emails.

Why Gmail Authentication Fails

You cannot authenticate Gmail addresses for professional broadcasting because you lack access to Gmail's DNS records. DMARC records and proper email authentication require a professional email address tied to your domain (e.g., yourname@yourdomain.com).

To resolve authentication issues:

Set up a professional email address through your domain host
Add the email to your platform's integration settings
Configure DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) through your domain provider
Wait for verification to complete

Proper email authentication significantly improves deliverability rates and keeps your messages out of spam folders.

Zoom Recording and Video Editing Tips

Recording live Zoom sessions with slides often results in a tiny presenter image in the corner. However, Zoom's cloud recording feature actually produces multiple video files:

Gallery View: Shows all participants
Speaker View: Full-screen view of the active speaker
Screen Share: Separate recording of shared content
Chat Transcript: Text file of all chat messages
Audio Transcript: Text transcription of spoken content

Compositing Professional Videos

Using video editing software like Camtasia, you can layer these separate recordings to create professional-looking course content:

Import all cloud recording files
Stack them on different video tracks
Switch between speaker view and screen share as needed
Edit out Q&A sections or unwanted content
Export as a polished course lesson

Since all files are the same length, editing is straightforward. You can delete sections from all tracks simultaneously, maintaining perfect synchronization. This technique transforms live workshops into high-quality course content without extensive re-recording.

Course and Funnel Management

When creating new courses, you don't need to rebuild entire funnels from scratch. If your original course has no enrolled students, simply update the automation links to point to your new course. Go into your funnel automations and relink everything to the new course content.

This saves significant time compared to recreating entire email sequences, landing pages, and automation workflows.

Building Your Business Strategy

Many course creators wonder whether to build a complete course library before offering coaching. The answer depends on your current situation and audience. If you already have people waiting for coaching sessions, start generating revenue immediately rather than delaying for perfect content creation.

Running live sessions first offers several advantages:

Immediate income reduces financial stress
Live interaction helps refine your content
You collect testimonials for future marketing
Recordings become course content, saving production time
You validate market demand before extensive content creation

Plan your live sessions strategically—keep participant Q&A separate from core content so you can repurpose recordings as standalone course lessons.

Security and Control in Live Sessions

Concerns about security breaches during live webinars are valid, though rare. The key is maintaining tight control over participant permissions.

Locking Down Your Live Sessions

Always configure these settings before going live:

Disable participant screen sharing
Keep microphones muted by default
Turn off automatic video activation
Only enable chat if appropriate
Manually approve who can unmute or share video

These controls prevent disruptive participants from hijacking your session. If someone becomes problematic, you can remove them from the session entirely. For paid events, exercise more caution since participants have purchased access, but for free sessions, you have complete discretion.

Most platform security issues stem from user computers with malware rather than platform vulnerabilities. Proper session controls protect against nearly all potential disruptions.

Community Live Streaming Feature

The upcoming community live streaming feature allows instant broadcasting directly to your community feed without complex setup. Unlike scheduled webinars or classes, community streams require minimal preparation:

Click "Go Live"
Enter a title
Start streaming immediately

While the feature isn't publicly released yet, it will enable spontaneous engagement with your community. Members can watch live or view recordings afterward. To drive attendance, post announcements in your community feed or send email broadcasts alerting members to upcoming streams.

This feature works particularly well for quick tips, impromptu Q&A sessions, or "surprise" bonus content that keeps your community engaged between scheduled events.

Staying Current with Platform Updates

For users who joined platforms years ago, the technology landscape evolves rapidly. Rather than repeating entire onboarding programs, focus on recent feature releases.

Most platform updates are documented through:

YouTube tutorial channels
Feature announcement emails
Release note playlists
Office hours sessions

Prioritize learning about features that directly impact your business model. Essential updates often include:

Abandoned Cart Recovery: Automatically emails people who start but don't complete purchases
Branching Surveys and Quizzes: Route students through different pathways based on responses
Video Analytics: Track which videos get the most views to inform content strategy
Bulk Coupons: Create multiple discount codes simultaneously
Granular Unsubscribe Options: Let users control which emails they receive

Focus on 5-6 key features rather than trying to master everything at once. Many features work automatically in the background, requiring no action from you.

Join Our Weekly Live Support Desk

Every Thursday at 4pm UK time, we host a live support session where you can ask questions, get unstuck, and learn from other users' challenges. Whether you're struggling with webinar automation email tagging, live class scheduling, Zoom recording techniques, or email broadcast authentication, our team provides real-time guidance.

Did you miss a session? Don't worry—they are all recorded and available to watch on YouTube.

Categories: : Live Support Desk