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Show, Don't Tell

🤫 Show, Don't Tell #52 - We broke the #1 rule of homepages


Read Time: 4.1 minutes

Welcome to our 52nd edition of Show, Don't Tell. A newsletter to help you build REMARKABLE interactive demos...3 tips at a time.

This week we:

  1. Bookend your demo like a landing page
  2. Let people explore 45 demos without losing their minds
  3. Find the missing piece in every checklist demo

Let's get after it...

Supported By:

  • Navattic is our favorite interactive demo platform ❤️
  • It's easy to build demos of your product, that feel like the real thing
  • With HTML screen captures, easy editing, lots of sharing options, and powerful analytics
  • Try building your first demo for free!

Tip #1: Make Your Demo Feel Like a Landing Page

Leading with a screen that's NOT your product isn't new. But we haven’t seen this before.

MeBeBot designed both their intro step AND their closing CTA to look like landing pages. Not product screens or a snazzy video. Actual landing page layouts with headlines, copy, and CTAs.

It’s a bold, but functional swing because:

  • It feels familiar. Landing pages are a pattern people know
  • It doubles as an outbound asset. Because it looks like a standalone landing page, sales can send it without it feeling like "here's a demo."
  • The bookends matter. Starting and ending with landing page-style screens feels like there’s closure.

Jason doesn’t know it yet, but I’m going to request this to one of our clients 🤫

→ Check out MeBeBot's landing page screens

Tip #2 - Build Demos for Every Scenario

Platform-selling is a nightmare. You've got multiple products, multiple segments, multiple use cases. How do you let people explore on their own terms?

Some companies build demo centers. But that takes resources and planning.

FYNXT built the mega adventure.

They have 5 core products in their platform. Across those 5 products, you’ll find 45 demos to navigate through without ever changing pages or hitting filter options. Just click and play.

I’ve wanted to do something like this because:

  • When you're selling multiple products, you can't force everyone through one linear demo
  • You're not being kicked back to a another page to pick-and-load another tour
  • Listing "we have 45 demos" sounds exhausting…but it’s presented in chunks

We called Wise's six-pathway demo from Edition #10 a multiverse. I’m still struggling to find the right words to call this work of art.

→ Explore FYNXT's mega adventure

Tip #3 - Don't Keep People Guessing

Checklist demos are having a moment. But there is one problem

Most of them don't tell you what you're about to see. Just a label like "For Sales Teams" or "XYZ Use Case." You're taking a leap of faith every time you click.

Now introducing, Gremlin.

They added 1-sentence excerpts under each checklist item that makes all the difference.

  • Instead of “Sales Team” (okay…and?), you see "how [persona] use [feature] to [use case] before [scenario]"
  • It qualifies interest faster because if the excerpt doesn't resonate, you skip it
  • Adding that one sentence shows you care about helping them find what their answers

Most checklist hope that people pick the right one. Gremlin just tells you what's inside.

→ See how Gremlin explains their checklist


Are you personalizing your demos?

I haven't met a sales engineer who doesn't conduct the same demo multiple times per week. According to Navattic, 94% of sales engineers report spending time conducting repetitive demos.

Time that could be better spent acting as strategic advisors on complex, high-value opportunities.

This data comes from Navattic's State of Demo Automation Report, where they analyzed 40k+ demos and surveyed 70+ SEs to discover how demo automation is impacting sales cycles, and what best practices make a real difference.

One best practice that is clearly a game changer, is demo personalization.

Navattic found that demos had a 48% increase in view rate when they were personalized to the buyer or company they were being sent to.

In Navattic, you can easily personalize your demos in a couple of ways:

  1. Interest demos - This is where you present your buyers with an intro step, asking them to select the features or capabilities they're most interested in. You can then tailor their demo to the things that matter most.
  2. User / account properties - this is where you use the data you've collected through demo forms to personalize the copy or even your app for a specific buyer or account.

The best part — Navattic makes it easy to do both of these without any complex coding, letting YOU create a personalized demo experience that wows your buyer and leads to better demo engagement.

If you want more best practices like this and some pretty compelling stats to help you build a case for demo automation, check out the report below.

​→ Read the full report!

Ask the Dash Bros 🎙️

A live, FREE coaching session to help you build better interactive demos (and make them your top marketing asset.)

In these 45-minute coaching sessions, Eric and Jason answer your questions about demo strategy, distribution, sales enablement, and any other challenges you're facing with interactive demos.

The next session is Wednesday, Feb 18th at 12PM ET.

→ Register now - It's 100% Free

So that’s it. Our 52nd 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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