Glossary
Interactive Demo Software
When it comes to selling online software, it can be challenging for customers to visualize how your product will solve their problems and make their life easier.
Interactive product demonstrations are becoming increasingly popular as new products emerge and existing products adapt to stay ahead of their competition.
By creating an engaging, applicable-to-them experience, potential customers can see how your product works and feel confident in their decision.
What is Interactive Demo Software?
The best way to sell software is to show it. That’s why we schedule demos with prospects.
Unfortunately, demos are expensive. They’re expensive because the prospects have to set aside time for the demo, and you have to train and pay a salesperson to encourage the sale. And in general, the larger the company, the more likely it will be that the software must be approved by multiple people, each of which with scheduling limitations of their own.
If you could show your software efficiently, without a sales rep or another human being present, you could both save money and sell more software.
But what if your product doesn’t lend itself to a brief, easy-to-follow demonstration? What if your customer needs hands-on help from someone who knows what they’re doing?
That’s where a product demo platform comes in.
Interactive demo software can replace your full product demo. Instead of organizing a meeting between several key decision makers and someone from your company, you can direct them all to an interactive demo on your website and let them learn the product on their own time.
Such demonstrations can provide an interactive and effective experience of your software —one that lets customers better visualize themselves benefitting from your products. And the interactive demo accomplishes this without requiring the use, or even the presence, of your actual product.
Why is an Online Software Demo so Important?
The better your customers understand your product, the more they’ll use it, and the more they use it, the better they’ll understand it. It’s a virtuous cycle.
As you develop your product and business, you will inevitably reach a point when you need to increase awareness of what you have to offer and attract new users. A well-designed, interactive software demo can be a powerful tool to achieve this goal.
It’s often difficult for customers to understand what a software product can do for them, and most written descriptions (even with screenshots) fall short of conveying that information. Interactive software demonstrations are more engaging and more readily attract customers— and each customer spends significantly more time viewing the demonstration. Most importantly, it better helps the customer visualize the experience of using and benefiting from your product.
What are the Benefits of Having an Interactive Training Experience?
Interactive demo software can show customers what your software does and how it works, without requiring much from them beyond the willingness to take a look.
Here’s why you should consider investing in interactive demo software…
1. It’s convenient for both the company and the customer
A software demo is a valuable tool to get a customer excited about your product. It’s an opportunity to show the customer exactly how your software works, and once it’s built it requires minimal attention or continued investment.
Similarly, even if the process requires a dozen team members to sign off for the customer, they can each do so on their own time.
2. The demonstration is a good way to visualize the experience of using an online software
Most existing demos are just a series of screen recordings or screenshots. If this sounds like you, you’re doing it wrong. If you want to create a demo that’s engaging and relevant, you need to make it interactive, allowing users to control their experience, so they can explore and learn at their own pace.
3. Increased likelihood of customers buying your product
74% of B2B buyers will pay more for great experiences while more than 65% of B2B buyers agree that a positive customer experience with a brand is more influential than great advertising. If you’re selling software, it’s hard to deliver a great customer experience without a demo.
How to Create Interactive Demos for Your Customers
Identify your target audience
When customers use your software, they should have no doubt about who you are and what you do, and what you can do for them. Identify who they are.
Consider the customer experience
Although you’ve likely been using the product since day one, you need to put yourself in the shoes of someone who’s hearing about it for the first time.
To avoid a storyline that’s too complex or confusing– focus on benefits over features, and keep it short and simple. Your customers are busy people. Show them you value their time. Make it easy on them to say yes.
Test the virtual demo software with existing customers
This will not only build rapport with your strongest fan-base, it’ll help you identify things that need improving on before releasing your demo to prospective customers not yet sold on your company.
Lead the customer toward measurable action
The purpose of a demo isn’t just for users’ benefit. It also helps you understand what your product does well and what it needs to work on. As the adage goes, you can’t improve what you don’t measure.
Be sure your demo collects information in this process that helps you always be improving. It can be as simple as a form the customer must complete, but the more people who use the demo, the more data you should collect.
Use that in the future to improve your products, and always aim to provide the customer with what they’re asking for. If one person wants it, thousands others likely will too.
