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Show, Don't Tell

🀫 Show, Don't Tell #59 - Your demo center IS your landing page


Read Time: 4.4 minutes

Welcome to our 59th edition of Show, Don't Tell. A newsletter to help you build REMARKABLE interactive demos...3 tips at a time.

This week we:

  1. The CTA arguments are getting crowded
  2. Your off-ramp is sending buyers to the wrong exit
  3. One swap changes how buyers feel before slide one

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!​
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Tip #1: Ask Your Web Team for This Sticky Bar

We try to avoid giving advice about custom-coded experiences. But…we’re breaking our rule for Visier.

When you click their "Take a Tour" CTA, you fill out a form to get access. Nothing strange there. But as you start to click around their demo, you notice a sticky bar at the top with two dropdowns.

One lets you pick which demo you want to see. In our opinion, it’s one of the best choose-your-own adventure navigations we’ve seen.

The other lets you request a demo with sales. You just select what you're interested in and click one button.

And here's the best part β€” since you filled out that first form, every new demo you try starts with your first name instead of another form or a nameless greeting.

​→ See Visier's sticky bar​

Tip #2: Stop Making Excuses for A Messy Demo

A lot of people have fallen victim to messy demo environments. Bad data, generic company names, "Lorem Ipsum" showing up in weird places.

But you can capture the HTML then edit out most of the blemishes. The technology is getting so good, there's very little excuse for having bad visual examples in your demo anymore.

Runa built a demo environment featuring Adidas as the example company. And boy, does it look polished.

It makes their platform look like it's already being used by the kind of customer their prospects want to be. Which, of course, is the whole point.

It’s a big deal if your demo looks polished. Because people assume your product is polished, too.

​→ Check out Runa's clean demo environment​

Tip #3: Your Landing Page Can Be a Demo Center

I had to message Tas Bober and get her take. But PushPay has a new idea for landing pages.

Instead of a giant form then a wall of text, they built a landing page where the demos ARE the page. Seven of them, to be exact.

Each one gets its own spotlight and context on what you'll see before you click it. And if you’re confident in your product, you should love this.

Because someone clicking an ad hasn't necessarily spent time on your pricing page, your homepage, or your feature breakdowns. They're coming in cold.

We've seen plenty of companies build great demo centers. But those live inside a larger website ecosystem. PushPay shows that the demo center can be the first thing a buyer lands on.

FYI: I'm still waiting on a response from Tas...

​→ See how PushPay made demos the whole point​

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 β€” 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!​

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Ask the Dash Bros πŸŽ™οΈ

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​

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So that’s it. Our 59th 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 πŸ™
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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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