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Product Demos

How to Create an Interactive Product Demo in 5 Steps

Updated on December 8, 2022.

The people have spoken! 

(In case it wasn’t clear, by people, we mean buyers.) 

And the people have one simple request: they just want to try the product before they buy! 

This is why your product demo matters so much. It’s the first impression that buyers will have of your product. And you only get one chance to make a good first impression. 

Because no matter how amazing your product is, if the demo fails to engage your prospects, you’re going to have a hard time convincing them of the value and benefits your product can deliver. 

In this article, we’ll explain how you can easily create an interactive product demo using demo maker software in 5 simple steps.

What are interactive demos?

One of the most crucial parts of any SaaS sales process is when the product is revealed to the prospect. 

This phase is known as the product demo, or sometimes the software demo. Both refer to the same action: showing the product and explaining its value to a customer. 

Until the demo phase, the prospect has usually only heard a B2B elevator sales pitch and hasn’t had the chance to see and certainly not try the product they’re about to adopt— allegedly. And this is why, ladies and gents, the product demo is often the deal-breaker (or maker) of the sales process.

5 steps to creating interactive product demos

You’re ready to start creating a killer demo. You’ve got this!

But where should you even start? Great question!

Here are 5 simple steps you can use to create an interactive and highly converting product demo with product demo software like Walnut

Step 1: Capture your product’s screens

The first phase in the creation of your interactive product demo or interactive product tour is to capture the screens of your product. 

Just remember, there’s no need to capture it all, including all the fancy features your product has to offer. Focus only on the parts that are useful to this specific prospect you’re about to meet. 

As said by Lou Wolf, VP Sales at ZoomInfo in an episode of Nuts About Sales, “feature dumping” is one of the worst sales demo mistakes to avoid and can result in a live demo fail

For your demo to bring the most value, you have to highlight the aspects of your product that solve the prospect’s unique pain points.

How to capture your product’s screens: 

Go to the Walnut extension in your browser, and click “Capture Screen” on the screens you want to show your prospects. That’s it. The screens are recorded!

Capturing your software screens

Step 2: Personalize your interactive product demo for your prospect

Today, every sales email you send or receive is personalized with your name, company name etc. 

Seriously, when was the last time you got a schedule a demo email opening with “Dear sir/madame” or whatever it used to be?

So, just like any email you send, your demo needs to be customized entirely for your prospect: logo, name, figures, numbers, and of course, features. 

Every single pixel of it should be tailored to give the prospect a sense of what it would actually be like for them to use your product.

How to personalize your demo: 

In the Walnut Editor, simply click the element you want to customize and use the relevant option. You can edit texts, images, hide any element, and even play with the HTML code, if that’s your thing. 

The sky’s the limit!

Editing your interactive product demo

Your product content is now fully customized! 

All you have left to do is to link the pieces between them. 

Link the buttons to the screens they should go to (and back) and make sure your interactive demo works smoothly.

How to link your clickable elements: 

  1. Click the element you want to link. 
  2. Select the Link Icon.
  3. Enter the destination you’d like to send to. 
  4. Click “Done”.
Linking the screens of your interactive product demo

Step 4: Put some annotations in

You heard us correctly.

Your interactive sales demo is already customized and interactive, which is great. But why not make it perfect for your prospect? 

By adding annotations to your demo, you can create the perfect flow you’d like your prospect to follow and make sure they get the most out of your demo! You know things like “Start by clicking here”, “Then do this”, “Now do that” and so on.

This way, your prospect will be able to explore your product by themself with your demo before, during, and even after the demo call. 

Using a demo experience platform (like Walnut), you will be able to do exactly that. But more on that later. 

Now, back to our topic.

How to add annotations:

  1. Select the section of your demo you’d like to annotate.
  2. On the left bar menu, select the Annotation Icon.
  3. Write the copy of your annotation.
  4. Click “Save”.
Adding annotations to your interactive product demo

Step 5: Share and collaborate

Alright, the sales demonstration went great, you delivered when it came to objection handling, you showed the value, butterflies everywhere. Give yourself a round of applause, you deserve it!

Now what? 

At this point, you’ll want to send a link to your interactive demo to your prospects so they can try the demo and share it internally in their organization. This will allow you to collect insights about their usage so you can optimize your demo, sales pitch, and product based on this data. 

More than that, you can also collaborate on the demo with your prospect to make sure you close every angle so that there is no surprise and every decision-maker is getting the best possible version of your product. 

How to share and collaborate on your demo: 

  1. On the top bar of the Walnut Editor, click the “Share” button.
  2. Select your preferred sharing option.
  3. Click “Done”, and well, you’re done!
Sharing your demo with Walnut

Create customized and interactive demos that your prospect will enjoy – without coding>

Think of it this way. You wouldn’t buy a car without first taking a test drive. 

Same goes for prospects on the hunt for SaaS. They need to try the software before they buy. 

When done right, interactive product demos will help your prospects realize that they can’t go on without having your product in their lives. But this kind of realization usually only comes from interactive demos that are engaging and offer a realistic product experience. 

So, how can you create this kind of demo experience? 

That’s where interactive product demo software will come in handy. Using a demo platform, you can create interactive and personalized demos that showcase your product’s unique value proposition. 

You can also embed your demo or product tours in your marketing materials to make sure every user, visitor, prospect, subscriber, lead – you name it – can enjoy your product directly and easily. Yes, even before your actual demo. 

The best part? If you see that your demo flow performs amazingly for a specific use case, you can duplicate it and personalize it in a few clicks, and use it again for another prospect. ‍

The bottom line: Without investing in interactive product demos, it’ll be much more challenging for you and your team to show how your product is just what the prospect needs to solve all their problems.

Related reads:

  1. Product Demos: The Different Options and Their Benefits
  2. The Ultimate SaaS Product Demo Checklist
  3. Top 3 Ways for Remote Sales Teams to Deliver Impactful Live Product Demos

So what’s the hold up? Stop wasting time and push the “Get Started” button at the top of your screen to start improving your sales funnel today.

Create demos your prospects will love today.

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