Product demos are a great way to present your product to potential customers: what a product does, how the product works, etc. If done properly, a good product demo can generate demand for a product and generate substantial income for the company.
But what are the elements of a good product demo? And what makes a successful product demonstration? Here are five essential tips for running a quality product demo:
- Match the demo with your customer persona
- Focus on the benefits
- Prepare well and rehearse
- Keep it short and simple (KISS)
- Include a CTA
1. Match the demo with your customer persona
In order to get the most from your presentation, you need to tailor it for the right people. Before starting to develop the product demo, be sure to think about your customer persona, so that each element of the product demo can fall into place. Your customer persona will dictate the language you use, as well as the benefits and pain points you should stress out, for maximum effect.
What is the demographic you plan on addressing? Is there anything specific about it? Also, it’s important to know whether the product demo is for your current, existing customers or new ones you plan on educating about the product. Existing customers might already know something about your company, but new customers might need additional information.
2. Focus on the benefits
Every product has features, but that’s not what customers really want to hear. Customers are interested primarily in benefits, and a good product demo revolves around that.
If there is too much talk about the features, those watching the demo will soon get bored and lose interest. The benefits are really what viewers want to hear: how the product solves a problem, how it makes a customer’s life easier – what the product helps with. How a product works is secondary to what the product helps with. Discussing the benefits is in the core of every good product demo. This is what potential users will value the most.
3. Prepare well and rehearse
A product demo is not something that should be improvised. Every aspect of the presentation should be planned in advance and thought out in great detail.
While creating the concept for the product demo, think about what viewers would like to learn about, and incorporate that.
Make sure that everything is explained clearly and using simple language. Once everything is planned out well, it’s time for rehearsing the demo. Nothing should be left to chance. It’s recommended that your sales team rehearses the demo at least three times, to get the real feel of the material and the flow.
4. Keep it short and simple (KISS)
There are no strict time boundaries for the length of product demos, but the general opinion is that a demo shouldn’t exceed the 20-minute mark. It is considered that this is more than enough time to tell everything that’s essential about the product. That is why a product demo should mention only what is absolutely necessary, so that the viewer doesn’t get lost.
Therefore, if during rehearsal the product demo runs longer than 15 to 20 minutes, you will need to trim it down to the basics. Remove everything that isn’t crucial for educating the viewer. This will make the product demo tighter and snappier.
5. Include a CTA
A product demo serves to turn qualified leads or potential users into customers. So, it is crucial that, at the end of the product demo, you introduce a closing statement that will help sell the product. There is nothing wrong or shameful in asking the viewers to take the next step. After all, they are watching the product demo because they are interested in the product.
Without a call to action, your product demo won’t be complete. A call to action can be an invitation to sign up for a trial version in the next hour, choose a membership plan, etc. Call-to-action (CTA) buttons vary widely, including text links, visually distinct buttons, and even QR codes that users can scan to engage directly with content or offers.
