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Show, Don't Tell

🤫 Show, Don't Tell #45 - Can't ignore this demo if you tried.


Read Time: 3.9 minutes

Welcome to our 45th edition of Show, Don't Tell. A newsletter to help you build REMARKABLE interactive demos...3 tips at a time.

This week we:

  1. Won’t let you ignore this CTA
  2. Show you how lead-in copy can help conversions
  3. Stop making the choice between desktop or mobile demos

Let's get after it...

Supported By:

We are Navattic fanatics.

We had the idea for this newsletter after hundreds of hours spent building Navattic demos for our past companies and current clients. We love making remarkable interactive demos, and want to share helpful tips and examples so you can too.

A huge thanks to Navattic for helping make this a reality. If you want to create a better experience for your buyers, go check them out.

They have a free plan you can start using today!

​→ Try Navattic​

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Tip #1 - Make Your CTA Impossible to Ignore

We’ve talked about adding demos to your blogs, but this one’s special.

ThoughtSpot added this sticky CTA in the sidebar that follows you down every blog you read. It's so well-designed and intentional that even when you're trying to focus on the article, your eyes keep drifting to it.

That's exactly the point:

  • The design is clean enough that it doesn't fight with the content
  • It catches you at multiple points during one article, or several

If you’ve been following for awhile, you might remember Guru's sticky bar from Edition #7. These marketing teams understand that if your content is doing its job and warming people up, why hide the product somewhere else?

​→ Try to ignore ThoughtSpot's sticky CTA (you can't)​

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Tip #2 - Hook Them Before They Click

iPrescribe is a good reminder that most of us love to write hooks for our LinkedIn posts. But how many of us are doing that with our demo pages?

Right before you start their demo, they hit you with: "In the time it takes for you to interact with this demo, you could write and submit a patient's prescription."

Punchy. Clear. Immediately tells you what you can do with their product. And suddenly…you find yourself clicking that button.

So if you’re struggling to get people to click your demos, try hitting them with the right copy:

  • It sets expectations (this is fast)
  • It creates urgency (you could be doing this right now)
  • It makes the demo feel worth your time before you've even started

No more "Take a Tour" buttons and hoping for the best. Write a hook, then give your prospects a reason to click.

​→ Try to resist their demo…we dare you​

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Tip #3 - Give Desktop and Mobile Users Different Paths

We've got plenty of editions where we talk about mobile demos. Edition #44 from last week with Riva's mobile-first, and all the way back to Edition #8 with Family, or Repsly's from Edition #7.

But QT.io has solved a problem we haven’t thought of yet: what if you have traffic from both desktop and mobile hitting the same page?

They embedded a demo for desktop users, then added a separate CTA right below it specifically for mobile users to click. Two audiences, two optimized experiences, all from the same page.

This is brilliant and we’ll be sharing this idea to 2 of our clients because:

  • Desktop users get the full page demo they expect
  • Mobile users get a demo that actually works on their device
  • You're not using one experience on everyone and hoping it works

Sometimes the smartest move isn't picking desktop or mobile…it's accommodating both.

​→ Check out QT.io's dual-path to a great demo​

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Make Magic With HTML Captures 🪄

Have you heard the term, "HTML Capture?"

It's when you capture the underlying code of a page in your app to create a life-like snapshot. Compared to static screenshots, HTML Captures let you build a demo that feels like the real thing!

But that's only the start of it, because HTML captures also unlock a number of powerful AI features in Navattic, like:

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  1. Text Animation - have text animate on screen like it's being typed or generated in real time. This is perfect for demoing AI chat tools and agents.
  2. Chart AI - turn unimpressive charts and dashboards into polished demo environments that tell the exact story you want.
  3. Table AI - transform messy data tables into anonymized examples for every use case.

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These features make it easy to build polished demos and tell an engaging story around your product.

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​​→ Learn more about editing HTML Captures in Navattic​

Don’t have time to build remarkable Navattic demos? We do.

​DemoDash is an agency 100% focused on making interactive demos your top product marketing asset. We’ll map your story, build your tours, and help you measure the impact.

​→ Learn more at demodash.agency​

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So that’s it. Our 45th edition of Show, Don’t Tell.

3 useful tips to help you build remarkable interactive demos.

Tune in next Tuesday for more advice from DemoDash.

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P.S.

If you know anyone else who would love these tips, please consider sending them this edition so they can subscribe 🙏
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​Jason and Eric​
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Show, Don't Tell

Learn how to create remarkable interactive demos that make your SaaS product easy to understand and buy. 3 practical tips and examples every Tuesday.

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