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Show, Don't Tell

🀫 Show, Don't Tell #61 - There's a new CTA strategy in town


Read Time: 4.2 minutes

Welcome to our 61st edition of Show, Don't Tell. A newsletter to help you build REMARKABLE interactive demos...3 tips at a time.

This week we're:

  1. Giving you a new CTA strategy
  2. Deciding if this is a demo center or not
  3. Finally looking at a gate that Eric is happy with

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: Let Your CTA Change As You Scroll

Put a "Take a Tour" CTA in your top nav. The Dash Brothers have been recommending this for months. It's visible, and it catches buyers at any point in their visit.

But there is ONE problem. The top nav is already crowded. "Book a Demo" lives there. "Sign In" does too. And the moment you suggest adding a third CTA, the web team and demand gen both start panicking.

Unify solved it without making any compromises.

Instead of choosing between CTAs, they made the nav CTA change based on behavior. When you first land on the page, it shows "Sign In.” Which is exactly what someone returning to the product wants to see. But the moment you start scrolling, it swaps to "Explore Product" and the interactive demo is one click away.

Everyone should know this trick because:

  • New visitors who are still exploring get the demo CTA exactly when they're most curious
  • Returning users who came back to log in aren't tripped up by an irrelevant button
  • The nav stays clean and nobody has to fight about which CTA to use

Definitely adding this to our client recommendations.

​→ See how Unify made one CTA do two jobs​

Tip #2: Turn Your Demo Center Into a Checklist

Checklist demos have been picking up steam lately. They typically show up as a full window, showing a list of demos you click through one by one.

Think Cell took the format somewhere we haven't seen it go before. At first, we thought they just embedded the checklist onto a resource page.

But this isn't JUST a checklist demo. It's their demo center.

Instead of a grid of thumbnails or a dropdown nav, every demo they offer is a line item. You scan it like a to-do list, then click what interests you.

This is a cool way of doing these because:

  • It’s a really organized way to present a library of demos
  • It keeps buyers in the flow instead of bouncing them somewhere new

We've seen Klue's Demo Arena, UserEvidence's Demo Ranch, and the Demo Site from Close. Think Cell adds a new format to that conversation.

​→ See the checklist that's secretly a demo center​

Tip #3: Make Your Gate Easy To Go Through

I'll be honest. I don't like gates. Never have. The moment a form shows up between me and a demo, my instinct is to close the tab.

Jason is more on the fence about it than I am. But we can both agree on this: if you're going to gate your demo, Airwallex shows you exactly how to do it.

The first thing you notice isn't a form at all. It's a custom graphic that welcomes you to the demo. It’s interesting enough that the gate becomes part of the experience instead of a wall in front of it. By the time your eyes find the actual input field, you're already engaged.

And then there's only one field. Just your email. That's it.

They’re not making me feel like a deer in the headlights with the first name, last name, company, job title, phone number, and "how did you hear about us."

And it’s not like gating is going away. Heck…a PMM texted me yesterday to ask about gating their demo. I’ll tell you the same thing I told him…

The best gates give before they take.

​→ See the gate that we don’t hate ​

How often are you sharing interactive demos during your sales cycle?

Here's a common misconception: if a prospect is active in your sales cycle, you should only show them the product on a live demo call.

However, the truth is actually the complete opposite.

In fact, Navattic's State of Demo Automation Report shows that deals with two to three automated demo touches had a 72% win rate compared to a 59% win rate on deals that had zero automated demo touches.

Instead of thinking that your interactive demo competes in some way with your live sales demo, think of it more as a value add and a way to get in front of buying committee members that never attend your live demo call.

By making it easier for people to explore your product on their own time and share demos across their company, you actually enable your champions to help sell your product.

All 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.

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, Apr 22nd at 12PM ET.

​→ Register now - It's 100% Free​

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So that’s it. Our 61st 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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