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Show, Don't Tell

🤫 Show, Don't Tell #48 - 3 words for you "go click yourself"


Read Time: 4.6 minutes

Welcome to our 48th edition of Show, Don't Tell. A newsletter to help you build REMARKABLE interactive demos...3 tips at a time.

This week we:

  1. Show you what your product page hero should look like
  2. Click through your demos without touching the mouse
  3. Give AI the space to show off a little

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

Tip #1 - The Hero On the Product Page, Should Be the Product

Product pages attract people who genuinely want to explore your product. So why do we make them scroll halfway down the page to find the demo?

Smartrecruiters made the right call by placing their demo at the top, taking up at least 85% of the hero.

Here’s why you should try it too:

  • You’re respecting intent: Someone on your product page isn't there by accident
  • You're enticing early bouncers: Putting the demo in the hero removes the risk of bouncing too soon
  • You're making a statement: When your demo is the first thing someone sees, you're saying "our product is good enough that we're leading with it"

I know it sounds so obvious, but If someone's on your product page…they're probably ready to see the product.

→ See their demo, front and center

TIP #2 - Let Your Demo Do the Clicking

Want to know the ugly truth about clickable demos? They require constant participation.

Click here. Read this. Click again. Read more.

But in reality, people get lazy. They click through the first two screens, then bail. Or they half-pay attention while clicking, and they miss the good stuff because they're focused on finding the next button.

Correllium said "what if people could just... watch?"

They added auto-play to their demo so it flows from one screen to the next without you lifting a finger. You just sit back and watch it do its thing.

Here’s why we like it:

  • First, it adds motion to your page: Moving things are hard to ignore. When someone's scrolling through your site and suddenly something starts playing, their brain goes "wait, what's that?" and they stop.
  • Second, it reduces friction: Instead of click-read-click-read, people can just absorb. Their brain isn't split between "where's the next button?" and "what am I supposed to be learning here?"
  • Third, it controls the pace: You decide how long people spend on each screen. No more speed-clickers who zip through and miss everything.

Sometimes the best way to get someone to convert is by asking them to do nothing at all.

→ Watch Correllium's demo play itself

Tip #3 - Let Your AI Move A Little

Everyone's got AI features now. It's in your product description, it's in your marketing, but is it in your demos?

And more importantly…are you leaving them as static screens?

The magic of AI isn't the final output. It's watching it appear. That moment when words start flowing feels like actual intelligence. When you skip that, you're just showing text on a page.

Dremio chose not to skip this magic moment. They use the AI-text animation feature, just like it happens in their product.

Here's why we love it:

  • The "wow" moment is in the reveal: When text appears on its own, your brain goes "oh shit, this thing is actually working." A static result doesn't create that reaction.
  • It holds attention: Moving text is harder to ignore than another static screen. When someone's clicking through and text starts appearing, they stop and watch.
  • It matches reality. If your AI types out responses in the real product, show that in the demo. Otherwise there's a disconnect between what people see and what they get.

Companies are spending millions building AI features and then showing them like static PDFs. Use the animation. Show the magic or Krampus will come find you.

→ Watch Dremio's AI actually type


Build Better Demos With Copilot ✨

If you’re reading this email, chances are you care about interactive demo best practices. Well, let me introduce you to Copilot — your AI sidekick trained on Navattic best practices.


Here are three of our favorite Copilot features:

  1. Demo Suggestions - When editing your demos, look for the orange dot and gear icon at the top of your screen. You’ll get alerted when you do things in your demo that go against best practices, like missing a CTA or copy that’s too long. Small things matter!
  2. Copilot Review - After publishing your demo, receive an overall score based on best practices, plus suggestions you can apply automatically to optimize your demo.
  3. Copilot-Generated Demos - Customize your Copilot for various demo use cases and watch it build demos that align with your specific goals.

It’s almost 2026 — you don’t need to be building everything from scratch. Let Copilot help you build and optimize demos that make your product shine 🤩

​→ Learn more about Navattic Copilot

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

So that’s it. Our 48th 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.

P.S.

If you know anyone else who would love these tips, please consider sending them this edition so they can subscribe 🙏

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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