Let’s say you’re on your phone, searching for a help article about a mobile app.
“Tap the three dots → Settings → Billing...”
And now you're reading those steps on the same little screen you're supposed to be tapping, flipping back and forth, losing your place every time.
Thryv (business software for small businesses) handles it differently. They dropped an interactive demo straight into a help-center article. Instead of screenshots and numbered steps, you tap through the real mobile experience of sending an invoice.
And the best part is… they put it in a phone frame.
Jason and I love this because:
a how-to you can DO beats a how-to you have to read and translate in your head
this demo helps someone who is already paying you get unstuck, not just drive new logos
We've been beating this drum for 75 editions now. if your product is mobile, your demo should be mobile.
In many cases, visitors are unfamiliar with your product. So asking them what they're interested in up-front can be confusing 🫤
But one or two context-setting steps can make all the difference.
Every (every.io) uses an interest demo, but they don't open with the question. You get a couple of context-setting steps first so get you oriented with everything.
THEN they ask what you want to dig into. By the time the “what are you interested in?” moment shows up, you know what you want to pick.
We think the interest demo is great… but only once visitors have their bearings. People can only pick what matters to them once they know what's even on the table, right?
Jason and I both believe that demos should look great. Well... Storyblok just took that concept to another level.
Their demo opens with a mesmerizing animation of Earth spinning in outer space. It's not just eye-catching, it's sexy. And why does that matter?
This demo is often a prospect's first real interaction with your product. Just like you wouldn't show up to a first date in sweatpants (we hope), your demo instance deserves to look its absolute best.
This isn't just about being pretty – it's about showing an experience that prospects aspire to recreate in your product. Storyblok reminded us that with a little creativity, you can turn a standard product tour into a showstopper.
Navattic just released a major update to their MCP server.
Now, not only can you get performance metrics or reminders to refresh your demos, you can actually build and edit demos directly from AI agents like Claude 🤯
For example, say you want to build a new demo flow using an existing capture collection. Just type "Build a first draft demo using Captures from Marketing Conversion Demo"
Or say you want to refresh your existing demo with more benefit-focused messaging. Just type "Edit all of my existing step text to be more benefit versus feature-focused."
All it takes is simple natural language prompts, and you can let AI build and improve your demos for you.
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, July 22nd at 12PM ET.