A Super Straightforward Guide to Defining Interactive Demo Software

Here’s the deal.

We’re gonna write this blog for you, dear reader, so you can quickly learn what you wanna learn and be off on your way. Because we know you’re here, surfing our page, while on a bigger, broader life journey. And you do not want to hear about anything but what you came to learn.

In the next few sections and paragraphs, we’re gonna cover the basics of what interactive demo software is, why it’s a thing, and why it’s a useful tool for SaaS sales. And we promise not to waste your time.

What is demo software?

Demo software is a tool that lets software companies create mock/sample/mini/trial versions of their products to be used for sales. 

So if you are selling a certain software and want to show your prospective buyer what it is and how it works without actually giving them access to the product itself, you’ll want to have a sales demonstration of your software.

This way, you can easily show your prospects why your product is valuable so that they will want to buy it.

What is interactive demo software?

This may be self-explanatory, so we’ll be brief.

Not all demo software is interactive. Sometimes the demo software just sort of screenshots your product so that it looks real but the buyers can’t actually click through it at all.

Interactive demo software like Walnut, however, lets you create a demo of your product that prospects can actually click through and interact with so that it feels like they are inside your actual software.

Why is interactive demo software important for the sales process?

Without a way to interact with the product themselves, SaaS buyers are left in the dark. And it sucks to buy stuff in the dark.

Think about it. Would you want to buy anything without seeing it for yourself? Now imagine you’re buying expensive software for a business that has a tight budget. You’ll obviously want to make sure you know how the product works and how it feels before committing.

But it’s not just important for buyers. Investing in interactive product demos is also really helpful for sellers, too. That’s because it makes it much easier for them to sell the product. It lets the sales process fall back on the actual product itself instead of the salesperson’s ability to convince buyers.

Plus, interactive demo software like Walnut lets sales pros easily personalize the demo so it gives prospective buyers the experience of the product as if they were already owning it. They can add basic personalizations, like their name and company logo, or more complex ones, like only showcasing the specific areas of the product that are relevant to this buyer.

This way, live product demos are more interesting, successful, and converting.

The top 5 benefits of interactive demo software

We narrowed down the hundreds of ways demo software can help SaaS companies into this cool list of 5.

1. Improves the sales experience

It’s what everyone wants. Buyers want to try the product themselves and sellers want to be able to show it to them in a controlled sales demo environment. 

Plus, it allows for more personalized buying and selling experiences.

2. Shortens sales cycles

Because the buyer can see the product straight away, it eliminates a ton of back and forth.

Plus, demo software like Walnut also lets you send links to the prospects so that they can show it to the relevant stakeholders within their company. It also allows buyers to comment directly on the demo so sellers can answer any questions or concerns about the product in context.

3. Provides key insights to sellers

Walnut’s demo software gives sellers the ability to track their demos to see which ones are highly converting product demos and which don’t convert and which buyers are engaged and which aren’t.

This way they can improve their craft and optimize the way they spend their time.

4. Easy to use

Without a demo software platform, it’s a pain in the ass to make a demo. It will usually require a team of developers to create a sandbox environment to make sure sellers don’t accidentally reveal customer data while on a sales call. 

But with one, sellers or presales professionals like solution engineers can easily create interactive demos themselves without involving R&D resources.

5. More engaging

We don’t want to ruin your day by telling you some terrible news, but many sales teams still demo their products with slide decks. Ew, right?

So imagine how much more enjoyable it is for prospects to actually see the product themselves and click through it.

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How to measure the ROI of your interactive demo software tools

When push comes to shove, convenience and finesse only matter as much as they are able to move the needle from a business perspective.

Lead-gen forms

By using demo software like Walnut, software companies can embed an interactive product tour directly on your website and require prospects to share their information in order to see it. 

This saves your sales team the need to demo to bad leads and saves prospects from having to sit through a bunch of discovery calls before seeing the product for themselves. 

Plus, you can easily qualify the leads that come in by analyzing how they engaged with your demo.

The result is a fully trackable marketing asset that will boost your lead generation.

Demo conversions

For sellers using demo software like Walnut, they can track the engagement of their demos in the demo analytics page.

There, they can filter by areas of the product that are most viewed, the amount of time spent viewing, which demos convert most, and much more. 

This means continuously optimized demos, a better sales experience for everyone, and completely trackable sales progress.

How to expertly create and present interactive demos 

You may be thinking to yourself at this point: “Yeah, it sounds great to use an interactive demo software, but I bet it’s still really hard and time-consuming to create each software demo.”

Well, you’re so very wrong, my friend.

Creating interactive demos is really simple in 2023 with tools like Walnut. To build a demo that’ll make prospects drool, all you need to do is download the Walnut browser extension and follow these steps:

Step 1: Capture your product’s screens

Step 2: Personalize your interactive product demo for your prospect

Step 3: Link your buttons (and other elements) to the right places

Step 4: Add a guide

Once you do that and your demo is ready to go, you gotta do the research you need to prepare the best demo presentation since sliced bread. 

Here are some tips for giving an engaging software demo presentation:

1. Get to know your audience and call people by name.

2. Add finesse or humor to your presentation.

3. Avoid feature dumping.

4. Don’t drone on and on without asking for feedback.

5. Be prepared to go off script depending on the prospect’s needs.

And that’s it! We told you we’d be brief.

FAQs 

Should you always give a demo when selling software?

When selling software, a key part of the process is the demo, where the buyer has a chance to see or try the product for themselves. They can also use this opportunity to ask specific questions about how the product works and how it can be used to improve their business.

What should demo software include?

A good demo software should include an easy way to build interactive demos based on personas, use cases, and individual prospects. It should also provide demo analytics, insights, and data so you can use them to improve your sales process. Lastly, it should allow you to personalize the demos very easily for each prospect.

What is a product demo in SaaS?

A SaaS product demo is the phase of a sales process where a sales rep makes a presentation that demonstrates the value of a product to a prospect. The demo’s main objective is to show how your product (and its features) solves your prospect’s pain points and to position your solution as the most efficient tool to achieve this goal.  

If you want to learn even more about the best interactive demo software around, click ‘Get Started’ now!

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Related Resources:

The Ultimate Product Demo Checklist for SaaS Companies 

How to Create an Interactive Product Demo in 5 Steps