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Show, Don't Tell

🤫 Show, Don't Tell #83 - First one's free


Read Time: 4.1 minutes

Welcome to our 83rd edition of Show, Don't Tell. A newsletter to help you build REMARKABLE interactive demos...3 tips at a time.

This week we:

  1. find a demo center that gates half of itself
  2. follow a tour out of one app and straight into another
  3. watch a plain text box become way more than that

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: Make the First One, Free

We’ve seen nearly a hundred demo centers. And apparently you have to pick a side.

Leave everything wide open… or… park a form in front of all of it.

It’s fine, I guess. But we like what Unily did with theirs.

Their demo center leads with the one tour they want you to take without a form. Underneath it is the rest of the library, and those demos ask for something in return.

It’s a worthwhile trade because:

  • the free one gives a great first impression
  • Anyone who reaches the second tour has already decided the product is worth their time, and that's a very different person filling out the form than the one who just showed up

We just spent Edition #81 on Splunk putting eight demos behind a single gate. Unily is the other half of that idea. Don't gate the first episode, just gate the sequels.

→ Take Unily's free tour, then see what the rest costs you​

Tip #2: Show Your Product In Other Apps

Pretend you sell something that sends a message. An order confirmation, an alert, a reminder even. Anything that leaves your product and lands on somebody else's phone.

Now think about where the demo of that usually ends. At the send button.

Which is a shame, because the send button isn't the part that matters. The part that matters is what shows up on the other end, and almost nobody shows it.

Except…Fresho.

Step 5 of their 11-step OrderPilot tour picks you up out of the Fresho app and drops you inside WhatsApp, so you see the message the way a customer actually receives it.

We've spent a few editions lately on meeting buyers on the right device. This is that same instinct aimed at the right APP instead.

→ Ride along from Fresho's app into WhatsApp​

Tip #3 - A Chat Box is More Impressive Than You Think

Think about those text box features for a second. Someone types a question, something useful comes back.

So what's there to demo?

This is the single most common objection Jason and I hear from anyone selling an AI feature, and it's wrong. Cohere's is the proof.

They don't demo the chat, at least, not really. They demo everything wrapped around it:

  1. picking which model runs your request
  2. what the output looks like coming back
  3. real questions people ask and the answers they get
  4. how you build an agent you can run again and again
  5. how you customize the thing once you have it

Turns out the box was never the product. The box is just where you type. But the decisions… those are what a buyer is sizing up. Watching a real question get a real answer does more work than any paragraph about how capable your AI is.

→ See how much is hiding inside Cohere's chat box​

Everything you need to know about capturing and editing screens in Navattic 👇

Screen captures are the building blocks of your interactive demo. You simply can't have a demo without them!

So we created a 101-level intro on how to create/edit them in Navattic.

If you're new to Navattic or still feel like you've barely scratched the surface with screen capturing and editing, this is a video you won't want to miss.

PLUS, you'll get a sneak peek of their new In-line and Copilot editor, which brings Navattic's capture editing, and new AI editing capabilities, directly into the demo builder.

​→ Watch the tutorial video now!​

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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, August 25th at 12PM ET.

​→ Register now - It's 100% Free​

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So that’s it. Our 83rd 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 🙏
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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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