The traditional sales demo practice still has its place, but product demo automation has enabled a streamlined way to quickly turn leads into customers. The typical demo process can create a longer buying cycle that can run the risk of losing the lead’s interest.

Now, demo automation software helps you offer streamlined, on-demand demos so leads can move through the buying process as quickly as they like. Sales experts can be available when needed, but removing the requirement of scheduling a traditional demo can increase your conversion rate.

However, sales demo automation software varies between vendors, making it critical to thoroughly evaluate different vendors so you can sign up for the best platform for your needs. 

So, we’ll be breaking down how you can navigate the different demo automation software vendors to find the right option for your organization.

What is Demo Automation Software?

Before diving deeper into choosing the right vendor, what are product demo automation platforms? This class of software allows for automating several aspects of the sales demo process.

Typically, these tools use interactive technologies to build product demos that allow leads to get hands-on experience with your SaaS platform before they sign up. The right platform lets you configure how each demo should be personalized so you can deliver the right experiences based on what you know about the lead.

Additionally, these demos can be used by marketing teams and sales teams to drive the overall customer journey. Marketing teams can send traffic directly to the automated demos, while sales teams are available for traditional demos alongside optimizing automated demos.

Choosing the Right Demo Automation Software

Once you’re ready to start using automated demos, you’ll need to find the right vendors that offer the capabilities you need. 

Let’s break down how you can navigate and evaluate the demo automation tools availible on the market to decide to drive lasting growth.

Overall Ease-of-Use

Demo automation software should save time for everyone, including leads and sales teams. At the same time, demo automation is relatively new, so some options still have issues with user experience.

Leads should be able to intuitively launch demos, follow simple guidance, and offer a fleshed-out experience that represents your platforms. Any technical issues or confusing directions can make these tools less effective than traditional methods. 

Additionally, you’ll need a solution that has a low learning curve for backend admins who configure demos so they can focus on building effective automated demos, not figuring out how to use the platform.

AI-Powered Capabilities You Need

Depending on your chosen platform and its implementation, AI can be a significant benefit or a detriment. Avoid the temptation to go from your current process to mostly AI-powered sales demos, but instead, keep the focus on capabilities that make automated sales demos work for you.

A few AI capabilities most companies will benefit from include:

• Realistic voiceovers: Offering voiceovers can help guide leads through the demo without having static recordings. AI voices have come far and can avoid the typical, off-putting robotic sound. Some options can also offer interactivity, allowing voiceovers to respond to inquiries or feedback.
• AI translations: Your core leads might speak English, for example, but not every lead may speak English fluently and would prefer their primary language. AI translations allow you to offer several languages to provide a better experience to everyone, rather than relying on a single language.
• Generative text: One of the primary use cases of AI in recent years is text generation. An AI-driven automation platform can help admins generate necessary text to help guide the lead through the demo. However, ensure that human experts review generated text before being deployed to live demos.

Vendors may offer other AI-driven capabilities, but remember, avoid using every possible AI tool as it can create a worse experience for leads if poorly implemented.

Quickly Creating Demos

Allowing admins to create and modify demos easily helps admins offer always-accurate experiences for leads that mimic the latest version of your platform. Additionally, you may offer a variety of demos that reflect the different tiers of the platform.

The ability to quickly build, edit, or copy demos is critical for choosing the right automation platform. Admins shouldn’t spend a significant amount of time making changes or creating new demos — prioritize demo creation and modification as you evaluate different options.