It used to be known as LogMeIn, but GoTo, as it is now known, has several packages that are designed to improve your remote meeting needs.
We are in a world that now prioritizes online classes, meetings, and conferences. It makes sense. Because it is not just cost-effective and time-saving, it helps many entrepreneurs to break barriers in hitherto impossible ways.
One of the products that have been of great help to many online meeting organizers is GoToMeeting. It is one of many programs we have reviewed, so we’ll give our verdict at the end of the review. But here’s a spoiler alert: we think it’s a great product!
We’ll exhaustively look at the features of GoToMeeting and what makes it tick.
As a virtual meeting platform, GoToMeeting provides many features that make businesses and meetings effective through several collaboration tools. Although we observe it may not be as sophisticated as many other platforms we have reviewed, we still think it is an excellent option for those with business needs.
We’ll also consider its pricing in comparison to what other platforms offer. It’s a very competitive world, so platforms provide more and more for less and less. Where does GoToMeeting rank among the best in terms of pricing? And lest we forget, we’ll look at the customer service too.
So if you’re ready, let’s begin with an overview of GoToMeeting, a Videoconferencing app designed to give you options and conveniences.
GoToMeeting overview
GoToMeeting is a video conferencing, online meeting, and desktop sharing software that enables users to connect via the internet.
Being one of the major products on the GoTo stable, GoToMeeting provides crystal clear audio and HD video with background noise suppression. The platform contains various tools and features to make your meetings run smoothly.
GoTo is one of the global leaders in the online video conferencing industry and is designed to offer solutions for those desiring a platform that enables them to connect with people from around the world with great features.
GoToMeeting offers not just convenience with its in-meeting chats, real-time screen-sharing abilities, and conference calling and integrated audio features; it also provides lots of integrations with several programs improving productivity.
Some of the programs GoToMeeting integrates include Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Plugin, Slack Meeting Launcher, Google Calendar Plugin, Google Chrome Extension, Microsoft Outlook Plugin, Salesforce Integration, and Voice Commands with Siri.
GoToMeeting is a very secure platform that allows sessions to be encrypted, ensuring that only participants can access the content of the meetings. GoToMeeting also gives the hosts a lot of control over the sessions such that attendees can be dismissed and is also set in such a way that only approved attendees can find their way in.
Also, GoToMeeting allows for the use of virtual backgrounds to enhance engagement and improve the quality of the presentation. The Operating Systems compatible with GoToMeeting are Windows, Linux, and Mac, while it is operable on Apple, iOS, and Android mobile applications.
Let’s look briefly at some of the pros and cons of GoToMeeting.
Pros
- It works on multiple platforms and mobile devices
- You have access to unlimited cloud recording
- Excellent audio and video quality
- It makes screen-sharing convenient
- It has a smart meeting assistant that can transcribe meetings as it goes on.
- Access to the unlimited cloud recording storage
- It is very affordable
- It has an easy-to-use and interactive interface
- Great security features like encryption of sessions
- Records meetings easily
Cons
- The free version is only available for two weeks
- No whiteboard functionality
- It doesn’t have a webinar feature (the webinar feature is available on GoToWebinar)
- The gallery contains only a maximum of 25 people
- Requires software installation to join meetings
- File-sharing is very limited in functionality
Features
Let’s look at some of the features available. We’ll be considering three of the most exciting features: conference calls, screen sharing, and transcriptions and recordings.
Conference call
GoToMeeting allows hosts to schedule conference calls with participants worldwide by calling using VoIP and/or telephone. A conference call or teleconference is a group call initiated by the host. It is not as interactive as a video event, but GoToMeeting allows you to host conference calls in a way that is as interactive as possible.
With an excellent audio quality backbone enhanced by GoToMeeting’s very own Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC), participants will indeed be carried along with steady audio.
The conference calling feature allows all attendees from more than 50 countries to call without charges to be part of the meeting. All their calls on GoToMeeting come with unlimited calling.
Conference calls also feature background noise suppression; attendees can request a call from the meeting to join without needing any PIN. GoToMeeting can also call attendees to join the meeting as a reminder. However, participants in conference calls should avoid using mobile phones or speaker phones as they may cause some interference with the network.
The conference call is also recorded on the platform and easy to set up and hold.
Choose the type of audio under “Audio.” The options are: “Provide VoIP only,” “Provide a Conference Call Number Only,” “Provide Both,” and “Provide Your Own Conference Call Information.” Once you select an option, click “Schedule” to send invitation emails to selected contacts.
Remember to tell your participants to mute their phones to limit static noise.
Screen sharing
GoToMeeting also allows you to share your screen with attendees in real-time to improve your communication with the audience. Screen-sharing is the ability to bring your participants into a closer interaction allowing you to make presentations with greater ease.
Screen-sharing allows you the flexibility to choose which part of your screen to share and doesn’t require downloading the software for attendees.
Another great feature is that screen sharing is applicable on mobile devices. Anyone who want to host free webinars can explore this feature to improve engagement and achieve more from the presentation.
Transcriptions and Recordings
Virtual meetings are difficult to document, but GoToMeeting allows for transcriptions and recordings. You can record all the meetings by clicking on the record button to store the entire meeting.
The meetings are also transcribed and are accessible via the Smart Meeting Assistant, which serves as the secretary of the meeting. You don’t have to do any writing as GoToMeeting has you covered from start to finish.
You can rewatch the meetings anytime you like, and you can share with your attendees to re-watch anytime they want.
Pricing
GoToMeeting offers a free 14-day trial as well as other paid plans like
- The professional plan costs $14 per month per organizer and supports a maximum of 150 participants
- A business plan which costs $19 per organizer per month and supports a maximum of 250 participants
- An enterprise plan is a custom plan that can support up to 3,000 participants but is priced depending on the needs.
Features like smart transcription, drawing tools, note-taking, unlimited cloud recording, and more advanced options are not available with the free or Pro plan.
Customer service
One of this platform’s pros is how its response team reaches out to solve customer complaints. Users worldwide can contact the GoToMeeting support team and expect a speedy response to issues.
GoToMeeting has contact options at the bottom of every one of their articles or videos. Moreover, you can join the GoToMeeting community, where questions are quickly and easily answered for more options.
Verdict
We believe that GoToMeeting is a great tool but ideal for entrepreneurs and small or medium-sized businesses. This is because it has all the features to help you use videoconferencing to great advantage, especially for the price it offers.
If you need more advanced features, you may not find the capacity of GoToMeeting strong enough.
Conclusion
GoTo Meeting provides several business communication tools for those who need a fairly priced platform to promote their businesses and market their skills before clients.
Our review showed that its paid plans begin from $12 per user, which is ideal for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
While it may not have some features that big organizations may want, it still has enough to support most of your online video engagements.
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