What is ON24?
ON24, which began as Newsource in 1998, highlights itself as a creative webcasting provider for any industry. It provides a video presentation suite that inspires viewer interaction. Businesses can create playlists and generate full-on-demand content centers. ON24 also provides live services, which are becoming important as more offices turn remote.
In the following sections, we can look at the various products ON24 offers.
ON24 Products
- ON24 Platform – The ON24 Platform helps create engagement, deliver data, find demand, and drive revenue. It does so by enabling live, always-on, and personalized experiences.
- ON24 Webcast – This platform creates webinar experiences that captivate your audience and help your business grow.
- ON24 Target – It creates personalized content experiences that stimulate your best content. As a result, it speeds up the purchasing journey.
- ON24 Intelligence – This platform helps you understand your audience’s qualitative behavior.
- ON24 Engagement – It allows you to incorporate data into your operations to notify and trigger actions.
ON24 Features
Audience Engagement Tools
ON24 presents a set of tools for webinars to increase audience engagement and get people to interact with your content. Its engagement tools include live polls, Q&As and gamification. But, ON24, like other webinar platforms, lacks a feature for your audience to upload videos, text, and like or comment on them. Networking and community-building features are lacking as a result of this.
This is what a user had to say on G2:
- “ON24 helps us deliver webinars, and there are some benefits like a lot of engagement tools built to engage the customer.” – User in Information Technology and Services
Live Content
The following are some of the standard live content features by ON24 that you can use:
- A live broadcast to your audience.
- Showcasing your work.
- Organizing breakout sessions.
- Using video players from third parties.
- Holding group discussions during a webinar.
Still, ON24 lacks whiteboarding and two-way group discussion tools, which can boost your engagement. Your audience cannot see the profiles of other attendees.
Real-time Insights
Analytics allows for more intelligent use of event data. According to ON24 reviews, users can turn their event data into useful information, which can help them improve their ROI and marketing tactics. The ON24 software allows its users to gain real-time insights into the behavior of both prospects and clients. ON24 Live Webcast recognizes the value of human interaction. It offers a solution to businesses that only interact with potential investors and customers via the internet. However, users feel that reporting is complex and needs to be more transparent and comprehensive.
According to a G2 review:
“ON24 is great, and as a whole we don’t have issues, but we do struggle with some of the reporting features.” – Sydney S – Content Developer
Personalized Tools
Personalization is an essential feature of virtual meetings. You might want to use a platform that meets your requirements and allows you to customize it. According to ON24 reviews, the software enables you to customize your target experience through the styling tab. For example, you can select the backgrounds, logos, and color themes for different locations.
Still, virtual events are different from in-person events, and they need to mimic the audience’s live experience. Hence, users feel that there are few customization options with ON24.
According to a G2 review:
- “It does not give enough flexibility to customize and sometimes goes down.” – Aditya C – Customer Success Manager
ON24 Reviews
Pros
- In-platform outgoing emails can easily be customized to look like your in-house emails and deliverability on them seems to be very high
- They have a semi-live feature where you can pre-record the webinar and push out as a live event
Cons
- “Sometimes it is not compatible with a browser and we need to clear the cache or switch to an alternate browser.”
- The main issue that we have is that the platform can be buggy for attendees at times. Polls don’t always pop up, and the audio/video feed will cut out.
- The platform UI is not as intuitive.
- Limited video conferencing ability and the UI looks dated
- Well, the customer service levels can be confusing and seem disjointed (call center vs chat vs account manager) and sometimes not everyone is on the same page.
*All reviews are taken from G2 and Capterra
With this, it is evident that the ON24 cons outweigh the pros. There are limitations like the lack of a mobile app that restricts the audience from accessing the software while on the go.
Many users prefer vFairs because it offers complete customization. There are more powerful features such as an auto matchmaking tool and excellent customer service. You can also tailor vFairs’ event solutions to meet the needs of any organization. vFairs allows you to select your features in a personalized package instead of fixed payment plans with limited features.
vFairs – A Better Alternative to ON24
vFairs is an excellent alternative to ON24 as it is a platform that benefits both attendees and hosts. Your attendees will never know they’re in a virtual environment with vFairs. The vFairs platform features dynamic lobbies, custom avatars, and 3D designs to simulate a real-world venue. When compared to ON24, vFairs offers a unique experience.
With their team’s help, it’s effortless to navigate. Each client gets a Project Manager and a team from vFairs to ensure that they receive all the help they need. vFairs has years of experience in successfully implementing hundreds of events. Hence, it is clear that it is a better choice than ON24.
5 Reasons to Choose vFairs
Excellent User Experience
Several factors could influence your decision to use vFairs to host a virtual event. The platform offers a multitude of personalizations, features, and integrations to make your experience stand out.
You can access an engaging 3D virtual environment through vFairs. It might imitate the interior of your workplace or the scene of a particular event. Participants are free to move about as they would in a real-world setting. vFairs provide additional virtual venues such as exhibit halls with exhibitor booths and a separate auditorium. When hosting a conference, networking event, career fair, or job fair, vFairs ensures the best outcomes.
Unlimited Features
Since 2016, vFairs has put on virtual events and is always ready to meet the needs of its clients. When a client asks for a new feature, vFairs doesn’t hesitate to add integrations that make the experience great.
vFairs offers new ways to get people involved and completely put them in the virtual environment. There are leaderboards, a scavenger hunt, trivia, and other fun things to do. vFairs has a lot of options for different kinds of events, such as auto match-making of attendees, language translation, and resume sharing.
Gamification
A vFairs event is unlike any other in digital gaming. Through leaderboards, scavenger hunts, and Q&A sessions, attendees can engage with the presenters. Attendees can also receive certificates if they meet certain objectives. When events have fun elements, such as online games, attendance participation also increases. Additionally, attendees are attracted to sessions that they might not have otherwise attended.
Networking
A key feature of vFairs is to provide participants with access to various networking resources. The platform makes it easier to talk, see, and hear each other through text, video, and voice chat. People can also go to the sponsor booths to look at the things they are selling.
You can match people who are going to an event based on their skills and interests using vFairs. Users can fill out their profiles to help find the right people. In the search filters, they will notice a “Recommended/Matched Profiles” option. With this option, they can get a list of the best matches!
Customer Service
We know how hard it is to put together virtual events. But you don’t have to worry because vFairs offers great support for events. The support team is there from the planning stage to the event itself and the reporting that comes after. The staff works nonstop to make sure you can have the perfect event.
They also help with technical issues on the day of the live event to make sure everything goes well. The vFairs support team will be there for you no matter how big or small your event is.
vFairs vs. ON24
Verdict
To sum it up, ON24 is a popular webinar platform available. ON24’s users appear to enjoy their services, but there are a few areas where they fall short. The most significant ones are the lack of a mobile app and limited networking and community-building features.
Compared to ON24, vFairs has a more favorable rating for ease of use, support, and design. vFairs provide technical support and a dedicated project management team. If you’re looking for an alternative to ON24, you can get a demo from the team at vFairs to see if it fits your needs.
*As of 22nd June, 2022
