profile

Show, Don't Tell

🤫 Show, Don't Tell #68 - Give them 4 ways to see the product


Read Time: 3.9 minutes

Welcome to our 68th 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. Give buyers more than one way to see the product
  2. Show how animation makes your demo feel alive
  3. Make a case for better demo center thumbnails

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: Give More Than One Path to Your Product

Book a call… or take a tour?

That's the choice on pretty much every Demo page on the internet. Found decided to carve their own path.

Their Demo page lays out four options side by side.

  1. Schedule a Live Demo
  2. Take a Product Tour
  3. Watch Demo Videos
  4. Read the Getting Started Guides

And at the bottom, if none of those feel right… just sign up.

If I were to guess, 99% of companies never think about this. Someone lands on your demo page at 11pm on a Tuesday. They're not booking a call. But they might watch a video, or click through a tour, or read a guide.

Found is just making sure there is something for each buying scenario. Because the best experience isn't the one YOU prefer.

​→ See how Found built a demo page for every kind of buyer​

Tip #2: A Little Motion Goes a Long Way

Static demos are a little awkward at first. Nothing moves until you make it move.

Shoutout to Lili for this trick.

Midway through their demo, there's this subtle animation. But unlike a GIF on a loop, it shows you what it looks like when something is actually processing. It looks like the product is doing the work right in front of you.

It feels like they’re saying "here, watch it happen."

If you’ve been keeping up then you’d know we talk about motion a lot. There’s Elation in Edition 60, and Samsara all the way back in Edition 38.

Our stance is that the human brain appreciates a little movement. So your demos will appreciate it too.

​→ See Lili's subtle animation in action​

Tip #3: Demo Center Thumbnails Must Be a Priority

A blurry screenshot doesn’t say much. You have no idea what you're clicking into until you're already in it.

Case Status went the extra mile and we’re excited to show it off.

Every demo in their center has a curated thumbnail. It’s a proper visual representation of what that demo covers. You can scan their demo center and know exactly what each tour is about before you click anything.

We talked about InsiderOne doing something similar last week in Edition 67. Both companies understand that the thumbnail is part of the demo experience. It's the first thing a buyer sees. Treating it like an afterthought is a missed opportunity.

​→ See how Case Status makes every thumbnail count​

One capture library, available for every demo

This is one of those features that sounds simple, but actually makes a HUGE difference.

If you’ve built multiple demos in Navattic, you’ve 100% experienced the challenge of managing multiple capture collections.

Like when you create a new demo and need to duplicate captures from one demo to the next. Or you waste time capturing screens that have already been captured!

And then you update captures in one collection, but all of your duplicate collections of the same captures remain the same.

NO MORE!

With Workspace Captures, you can now easily manage your screen captures at a Workspace level and re-use them across multiple demos.

And when you edit a screen capture, you know exactly what linked demos will be updated automatically.

So you can focus on getting the perfect screen capture every time and sleep easy knowing that you’ll never need to capture it again.

This feature is in beta for Growth and Enterprise customers, ask your Navattic CSM to get access.

​→ Here’s a quick interactive demo showing you how it works​

​

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, May 27th at 12PM ET.

​→ Register now - It's 100% Free​

​

So that’s it. Our 68th 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​
​
Say hi on LinkedIn!

​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

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.

Share this page