Product Marketers: creating product demos with a demo creation platform vs without

Once upon a time, there were two product marketers. 

They both needed a way to show their prospects what their product looked and felt like.

But they had very different experiences. 

Let’s take a quick look at what both are doing to create their product tours.  

Creating demos without a demo creation platform

The first one is creating a product tour for his company’s website. He wants to show prospects the newest features in the product because they solve many user pain points. 

So he goes to his colleagues on the product team to ask them for guidance. They want to help, but they’re swamped with the latest feature launch and only have a little time to spare. But they help him log into the product itself and give him a quick tutorial—he has deep product knowledge, but he’s not the one coding it, so he needed that guidance.  

Once he’s in the product, he needs to record the whole user experience, from logging in, to clicking through the home screen, and so on. He can’t skip how the sausage gets made, which makes for a less-than-thrilling intro to his demo and breaks up the story. 

But you know what—it works, and it’s the way making demos has worked for him for a long time. 

When the next product launch rolls around, he needs to wait until the features are out before creating the next demo because he needs to use the live product to make his demos. So the cycle begins all over again. 

Does this story sound all too familiar to you? 

Luckily, there’s a better way.  😁

Creating demos with a demo creation platform

With a demo creation platform like Reprise, the whole process looks different. 

Take the experience of our second product marketer. She also needs to create a click-through demo for her company’s website because they’re launching a new feature next week. 

Let's be honest; we've all been Pam here. 👇

(source: Product Marketing Alliance)

So she asks her product team for a login to the test environment—she can capture parts of the product that aren’t live yet so she’s ahead of the launch. The product team happily hands it over and goes back to their work. 

She pops into the test environment and selects only the screens she wants to feature—no tedious login or home page steps needed. She goes directly to the aha moments and captures them for her demo because she wants to accelerate time-to-value for today’s instant gratification buyer.

While she’s creating the demo in the test environment, she notices there’s some old data and dates in the screens she’s recording. So when she’s finished capturing those screens, she goes in and takes out any sensitive data and updates the dates with a few clicks so everything is perfectly polished. 

All of this takes her less than a couple of hours, with no coding experience required. The demo is clickable and interactive, so prospects will stay engaged instead of skimming over it quickly. And when new features are released, she can simply swap out a few screens instead of creating the demo from scratch. 

Never create a one-pager again 

Another place where a demo creation platform can transform how product marketing teams go to market is by getting rid of those one-pagers no one ever reads. You’ve probably written about a thousand one-pagers in your life, and you’ve rarely read one. They’re just not very effective in communicating the story and value of your product. 

But you need to give your champions something to share with their manager and others on the buying committee because carving out time on their packed calendars for a sales call is their lowest priority. 

With demo creation software, you can build a 5-screen clickable interactive product tour highlighting all the most critical things the buying committee cares about. Your champion can show it to the committee members anytime instead of trying to book a meeting so the purchase signoff happens much faster. It’s like a little product snack—an interactive demo they can experience themselves because the decision-makers don’t always want (or have time) to talk to sales. 

Why not just use demo videos? Well, you can if you have the time and resources, but for everyone else, they’re a pain. They’re expensive to make and hard to update, and with the speed that most SaaS products change these days, that’s a big sticking point. 

Why demo creation software makes product marketers more effective

The way SaaS buyers want to buy now is clear—they want to get their hands on your product as soon as possible. Touching, feeling, and experiencing it is critical for their decision-making process. And as a product marketer, you know that and want to give them the best experience possible. 

But with the resources you have right now, it’s hard. You’re dependent on your product team to get you screenshots or product access. And they’re not storytellers—they’re technical experts. They don’t think about the moment of delight, they think about the moment of usability. Your job is to act as a translator between them and your prospects. 

Interactive demos are the best way to offer the experience B2B buyers want today. And demo creation software is the best way to unlock the full potential of your demos and empower yourself and your whole product marketing team. The experience of the two product marketers shows that clearly—which one would you rather be? 

👉 Want to see what’s possible with demo creation software? Check out the library of product demos from Reprise’s customers, from interactive product tours to live demos and more.

👉 Interested in hearing about the many advantages of creating demos with a demo platform vs. without from a former head of product marketing (and current CEO of Kissmetrics) — watch the short clip below!