Your webinar just ended. The chat was active. Questions were great. Attendees stayed until the end. Then comes the part where most B2B marketers drop the ball.

Too many B2B marketers send a generic "thanks for attending" email the next day, add attendees to a nurture sequence, and only get the sales team involved around a week later. After a few more weeks, only two of those 150 engaged attendees booked a demo.

The problem? You treated the webinar like the finish line when it's actually the starting gun.

According to research, some 73% of event leads go cold within 72 hours if they don't receive timely follow-up. Three days—that's your window to convert them.

After 72 hours, the momentum dies. The context fades. Your competitors swoop in. And that attendee who was nodding along to every slide? They move on.

But if you move fast, those three days can become your highest ROI segments of the quarter.

Here's exactly what to do, hour by hour.

Hours 0 to 2: While Attendees Are Still Logged In

Your follow up shouldn't start when your webinar ends. It should start during the event.

Set the next step before anyone leaves.

In your closing remarks, don't just thank attendees for coming; give them something to do immediately. Give them a link to download your framework, book a strategy call, or join your community.

People are most motivated to act while they're still experiencing the value you've offered. In a few hours, they'll already be in other meetings and your event will feel too distant to act on.

Segment your attendees in real-time.

Not all attendees are equal. Before the event ends, identify these segments of your attendees.

• Who asked questions (showing high intent)
• Who stayed for the full session (showing high interest)
• Who downloaded resources (showing who's ready to engage)
• Who left early (showing who's low priority)

This segmentation determines your entire follow-up strategy.

Hours 2 to 6: The Immediate Follow-Up

Send your first follow-up email within two hours.

Not the day after the event. Not first thing Monday morning. Send the first email within two hours of your event ending.

This email should reference specific questions asked during the event, mention poll results, and link to exact timestamps in the recording.

Here's a brief example.

"Hey, Sarah. Great question during today's session about integrating with Salesforce. I wanted to follow up with the specific setup guide I mentioned (link to guide). Also, here's the recording starting right at your question (timestamp link). Would love to chat more about your use case—any time this week work?"

This isn't automated; this is personal. And it only goes to your high-intent attendees who asked questions, stayed engaged, or matched your ideal client profile (ICP).

Get sales on new leads immediately.

Your sales team shouldn't get a lead list the week after the event. They should get warm intros within hours of your event ending.

Create a Slack channel or shared document during the webinar with notes like: "John from Acme Corp asked about enterprise pricing—ready for a call" or "Sarah from Beta Inc stayed until the end and downloaded everything—hot lead."

Your best sales reps should be reaching out before end of business that same day, continuing the conversation with outreach that addresses the lead's engagement during the event and prompts a call as soon as possible.

Post the best moments on social media ASAP.

Pull the best 90-second clip from the session and post it to LinkedIn before anyone leaves the office. Caption it with: "We just wrapped our session on [topic]. Here's the moment that got the most questions..."

Tag speakers, create FOMO for people who missed it, and drive on-demand registrations.

Hours 6 to 24: The Segmented Outreach

By now, you've handled the high-intent attendees. It's time to nurture everyone else based on their behavior during the event.

For highly engaged attendees (stayed for 45 or more minutes and asked questions): Send personalized follow-up with a specific offer.

• CTA: Book time this week
• Email subject line: That question you asked about [specific thing]

For moderately engaged attendees (stayed for 20 or more minutes but didn't interact): Send key takeaways and the recording link.

• CTA: Download resources
• Email subject line: The [framework/data/insight] from today's session

For low engagement attendees (stayed for less than 20 minutes): Send a quick recap and highlight what they missed.

• CTA: Watch on demand
• Email subject line: Missed the second half? Here's what happened.

For no-shows (registered but didn't attend): Send a brief, friendly message with the recording link.

• CTA: Watch when convenient
• Email subject line: Still want to catch this?

Each segment gets a different message, different timing, and different next steps. Trying to follow up with one-size-fits-all messaging is the reason most webinar leads go nowhere.

Hours 24 to 48: The Value-Add

Don't just send attendees the recording and then disappear from their inboxes. Keep the momentum going by providing additional value.

Send the resources they actually need.

On day two, send the slide deck, transcript, tools/templates mentioned, related content, and answers to unanswered questions. This isn't about promoting your product—it's about being helpful.

Create urgency with time-sensitive offers.

If you're making an offer, do it now. Limited-time discounts, exclusive consultations, or early access work best within 48 hours of your event when context is fresh. Make it valuable and specific, and include an expiration date.

Hours 48 to 72: The Last Touch

By day three, you're at the edge of the 72-hour window. This is your last opportunity to reach attendees before people move on.

Make one final check-in.

Send a short, direct message that:

• Acknowledges their attendance
• References their engagement (or lack of)
• Gives one clear next step
• Makes it easy to say yes

For high-intent attendees, that's something like: "Hey, noticed you grabbed the template and asked about [topic]. Want to jump on a quick call Friday to walk through how this applies to your situation?"

For everyone else, that might look like: "This is my last follow-up. I didn't want you to miss the recording and resources. If you want to chat about [topic], I'm here."

You're not laying on pressure or guilt; you're providing a clear path forward for those who are ready.

Report back to your team.

By hour 72, you should know how many demos were booked, which content performed best, and which segments are most responsive. This data shapes your next event strategy.

Most teams fail the 72-hour test. But it's not because they don't care; it's because they don't have a system. They're manually pulling attendance lists from Zoom, waiting for recordings to process, coordinating marketing and sales, and building email templates from scratch.

By the time everything's ready, it's been five days. The window's closed.

The teams who win the 72-hour window have infrastructure.

• Automatic attendee segmentation based on engagement
• Pre-built email templates for each segment
• Real-time lead alerts to sales
• Instant recording and clip generation
• Integrated CRM data for personalized outreach

Your follow-up isn't a separate project; it needs to be built into your event workflows.

Prepare Your Next Event for 72-Hour Success

You don't need to build the perfect system overnight. Start with one change for your next webinar. Send personalized emails to your 10 most engaged attendees within two hours, loop your sales team in during the event instead of after, or segment your attendees by engagement levels for specific follow-up email sequences.

Because here's the reality: your competitors are hosting webinars, too. They're promoting the same topics, targeting the same audience, and maybe even delivering great content. But if they're waiting a week to follow up while you're following up in the first two hours? You win every time.

See how strategic follow-up emails with embedded video clips can boost your conversion rates. Get the complete playbook here.