Most enterprise software exists to solve a problem, not support the sales process, which makes it challenging to give buyers a persuasive, independent product experience.
Demos bridge this gap, showcasing a software’s value while demonstrating its functionality, but even demos come with a set of limitations. Making a good demo environment isn’t easy, customizing it is even harder, and both require engineering involvement.
So when demo creation platforms entered the scene a few years ago, B2B SaaS companies greeted them with a lot of enthusiasm—and for good reason.
Demo creation platforms make it possible for sales teams to generate and share high-fidelity, custom demos that look, feel, and behave just like a software solution without involvement from engineering—no need for coding experience, no hassle, and no delays.
And engineering tends to be a fan. They can better support sales and the company when every custom demo doesn’t require their time and technical expertise, especially when it’s early in the sales cycle.
Demo creation platforms include interactive capabilities that enable sales teams to proactively guide their buyer’s demo experience. These same interactive elements help marketing generate and share product tours that engage buyers far more than a static video ever did.
What’s specifically awesome about demo creation platforms?
They don’t require any coding knowledge. Remember when you needed to understand HTML or cascading style sheets if you wanted to create a website, or at least an attractive one?
Then platforms like Wix and SquareSpace made it possible for everyone to produce beautiful, interactive websites.
No-code demo creation platforms empower sales and marketing teams in a similar way. They eliminate technical prerequisites that prevent anyone outside of engineering from generating and sharing custom demos and product tours.
Because of this, no-code demo creation platforms have unlocked the sales funnel, making it possible to independently create and share custom demos and interactive product tours with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel. Here at Reprise, we call this Full-Funnel Product-Led Growth (PLG)—using your product to sell your product—throughout the entire funnel.
They replicate an authentic product experience. While not every demo creation platform performs at the same level, they all strive to deliver a high-fidelity replica of a true software interaction. (Some succeed, and others don’t. But more on that later.)
Demo creation platforms generate a product experience that looks, feels, and responds like an authentic software interaction. Minus the potential for errors, glitches, and fear that another salesperson will log in and interrupt a live product demonstration.
They deliver product experiences sooner. Good demo creation platforms allow users to create interactive product tours that are more engaging than a passive video. Animated buttons, instructional pop-ups, and cartoon mascots may seem like they’re just fun features, but they serve a bigger purpose. (Although they are pretty fun.)
Interactive elements engage buyers’ attention and direct the flow of their product experience. Marketing and early sales teams reduce time-to-value when they share product tours that bring buyers directly to their software’s “take my money” moments—the product features that make buyers tap their credit card on the table (or ask to talk to sales).
They deliver data analytics. Demo creation platforms collect and relay usage data that help sales teams understand prospect behavior with actionable insights. Some, include an intuitive dashboard that lets sales teams view:
- Overall usage: everyone and every demo.
- Specific usage: everyone and one demo.
- Individual usage: one demo, one user.
Really good demo creation platforms take it to the next level by integrating that data into their user’s existing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Marketing Automation (MAP) platforms, like Salesforce and HubSpot.
Why does this matter? If your demo creation platform integrates with Salesforce, sales is much less likely to miss a qualified opportunity.
For example, demo creation platform users set parameters within their own Salesforce platform, determining which demo usage actions will trigger which Salesforce prompts. When the usage data is pushed into Salesforce, and meets these predetermined parameters, the prompt is automatically triggered. It might look like this:
Usage parameters: 10 demo views, 2 users viewed.
Salesforce prompt: Send an action notification to sales leaders.
How demo creation platforms help SaaS companies achieve Product-Led Growth (PLG)
Have you been hearing a lot about Product-Led Growth, sometimes referred to as PLG? There’s a reason for that. Software companies that adopt a product-led approach perform better.
In 2020, the venture capital firm OpenView noticed that product-led Saas) companies were garnering 50% more in revenues than their SaaS peers. And that valuation continued to grow as the year progressed.
We don’t have OpenView’s 2022 numbers, but we can share some of our own. Reprise commissioned a Total Economic Impact (TEI) report from Forrester so we could evaluate the impact our demo creation platform had on existing customers.
Here’s how our demo creation platform improved PLG for sales, marketing, and engineering.
Sales & Marketing
A 60% improvement in lead and pipeline conversion. Sales teams that can easily and independently create custom demos lead with what buyers want: product experiences. Reprise’s demo usage insights also help optimize sales outreach and shorten sales cycles by tailoring demos to buyers identified needs.
A 50% increase in marketing staff productivity and a 323% improvement in ROI. Demo creation platforms make it easy for marketers to produce multiple iterations of their product tours. Customizing them for vertical markets, buyer personas, and specific use cases. All of which lead buyers directly to their software’s “take my money”, reducing time-to-value and lowering collateral costs.
Sales Engineering
A 20% reduction in the need for engineering to be involved with demo creation. Reducing the number of informational demo requests frees up resources and eliminates bottlenecks. Giving engineering the bandwidth to provide technical support where it is needed most.
That’s it! If you’re interested in trying out a demo creation platform for yourself, we’ve got you covered. Reprise Starter allows you to create a light, interactive demo or product tour for free.
