How to turn a webinar into an email list you own

The webinar is going well. Two hundred people are on, the chat is lively, and someone asks if you'll share the slides. You say they'll get an email afterward. Then the session ends, and what you have is the platform's attendee export, a replay link, and no idea which of those two hundred cared enough to want more. If you want to turn a webinar into an email list, the moment to ask is while people are still watching.

Textiful lets viewers join your list from the phone sitting next to their keyboard. They scan a QR code on your slide or text a keyword you've said out loud and pasted in the chat. A short text conversation asks for their email, sends your playbook as a download link, and adds them to Mailchimp, Kit, or ActiveCampaign, tagged with the webinar.

The problem with webinar registration lists

Registration happens days before the session, and plenty of people register for webinars they never attend. The list you export afterward mixes the viewers who stayed for the whole hour with the ones who forgot it was on. Both get the same follow-up, and your best prospects can't be told apart from the rest.

The list also sits in the webinar platform. Getting it into your email tool means an export, a cleanup, and an import, usually a day or two later. By then the session is a vague memory for the people who watched it.

Why the usual fixes fall short

• A link in the chat only reaches the people looking at the chat when you post it, and it scrolls away within a minute.
• The platform's built-in poll or survey keeps the answers inside the platform, next to the registration list you already have.
• "Check your email for the slides" sends the same file to everyone who registered, including the people who never showed up.
• A QR code that opens a web form asks viewers to fill in fields on a small screen while you keep talking.

How to set it up in Textiful

1. Pick the "Give away a download" template, or "Send my slide deck" if the deck is the offer.
2. Upload the file to Handouts. A playbook, checklist, or the slides work well. Upload it once and reuse it in any flow. Files can be up to 1 GB (100 MB on a new account).
3. Set two triggers. Give the flow a free QR code for the slide, with a pre-filled message such as "Send me the webinar playbook." Then add a keyword like PLAYBOOK on 33777 or 55444 that starts a copy of the same flow. One keyword is included on your plan, and more are $10/month each. Each trigger reports separately, so you'll see how many viewers scanned and how many texted.
4. Keep the capture sequence short. Email alone is enough for most webinars. Across Textiful flows over 90 days in 2026, one-question flows were completed 89.5% of the time and two-question flows 83.1%. Add a first name if your welcome email uses it.
5. Add actions. "Email a handout" or "Text a handout" sends the file as a tracked download link the moment they reply. Then add the contact to your email tool and tag it with the webinar's name. Other tools connect through Zapier.

What to put on the slide and in the chat

Make the offer the headline of the slide: "Scan for the 12-page playbook." Put the QR code large and central, not in a corner, and under it write the keyword line: "Or text PLAYBOOK to 33777." Leave the slide up for a full minute while you talk through what's in the playbook.

Then say it out loud, for the viewers with your slides minimized, and paste the same line in the chat. People watching on their phone can't scan the screen they're watching, so the keyword is their way in.

Ask twice. Once early, so viewers know something is coming and stay, and once at the end with the slide up. How many people respond depends most on what you offer, so pick something worth stopping for. What to offer for texting in has ideas.

What about the recording?

The replay usually isn't ready until after the session, so the flow can't send it live. Send the slides or playbook now, while viewers are watching. When the recording is processed, send it from your email tool to everyone with that webinar's tag.

Variations

• Running a series? Give each session its own copy of the flow, each with its own free QR code and its own tag, so each one reports separately.
• Want to engage the room first? Start the flow with a live poll question, screen-share the results page, and ask for the email in the same conversation.
• Selling a program at the end? Add one question such as "What's your biggest challenge with this right now?" The answer lands with the contact and gives your follow-up something to work with.

Before and after

	Registration export	Textiful during the live session
Who's on the list	Everyone who registered	Viewers who were watching and asked
When they join	Before the session	During it, while interest is high
What they get	A generic recap email	Your playbook, the moment they reply
Where the list lives	The webinar platform	Your email tool, tagged by webinar
Viewers on a phone	Same recap as everyone	A keyword they can text

You pay per conversation, one for each viewer who starts the flow, with plans from $19/month. A large session that goes over your plan adds conversations automatically at $15 per 100. See pricing, and for more on running sessions online, see webinars and virtual events.

Try it at your next event → Start a free trial