What’s the difference between demos that create loyal customers and those that never seem to engage the buyer? We polled a panel of professionals about the critical differences between successful and unsuccessful product demos. Read on to learn what they had to say.
No Unanswered Questions
The best product demos are the ones that give potential customers the most accurate depiction of how the product is used. These demos should make it easy for potential customers to see how they would use this product in their own day-to-day life, and how that would genuinely benefit them. A product demo that converts well leaves the viewer with no unanswered questions, and it makes them believe that purchasing the product is urgent because it will make that much of a difference for them.
Fills Customers’ Needs
The key feature in a product demo that converts well is the ability of the demo to demonstrate not just the features in the software, but the value and sales advantage it will provide potential customers. Angling your demo from this selling point, and paying attention to the client’s specific needs, will get straight to the heart of your product’s true value. At the end of the day, a software’s features and functionality are secondary to the advantages it will provide a customer.
Demonstrates Value to the Customer
A product demo that leads to eventual conversion focuses more on how it delivers value and solves problems rather than what features it has.
- Focus on starting with your strong points
- The beginning of your demo is when you have the most attention from your prospective clients – you need to hook them in soon before they get sidetracked with other distracting tasks
- By starting strong, you’ll be able to generate [connection] between your clients and your team, allowing you to learn the pain points they have and what they’re looking for (i.e., their “wish list”)
- With this knowledge, you can then pivot your story to match exactly what they’re looking for
- Remember – focus on solving their problems and show the value proposition and NOT features
Value, Competitive Edge, and a Personal Touch
A combination of value and edge wrapped up in a personalized and tailored experience is needed in every effective product demo. Keeping these three in mind, and making them the highlight of your demo, will help you demonstrate what your product can do that others can’t. Giving this a personalized touch will help your audiences see that your product is the best option that answers all their individual needs.
The Customer’s Perspective
A high converting product demo should demonstrate how your product creates value rather than focusing on how good your product is and what features it has. The product demo should be done from a customer’s perspective by demoing how your product is useful to them and how it is going to solve their problems when used. One should prepare a script but customize the demo for each lead. The sole purpose of your demo should be to explain how your product is beneficial to the lead and how it addresses their pain points.
End with a Call to Action
- Showcase your product
- Educate a potential customer
- Persuade the customer to take action.
- Persuade the customer to take action.
If your product has many features, a live or pre-recorded demo can be the best option. A short video animation or a real-world model would be more apt if it’s simple to use.
Action Plan, Storytelling, Testimonials, and More
A product demonstration is part of a sales strategy that highlights a product’s or service’s value to potential buyers. It’s a display or presentation that highlights the features of a product or service that prospective buyers may wish to know about. It should have:
Action plan
Effective live product demos or webinars have a script and a clear timeline. Consider how long each stage takes so you can prepare the appropriate quantity of information to deliver. Customers may appreciate seeing your itinerary ahead of time, so they know what to expect. Having a timeline might help show you’re prepared and can address queries.
Product experts
Product specialists are knowledgeable about a service or product and can communicate its benefits to customers. They usually exude excitement for a product and are good at connecting with potential clients. Although many sales professionals conduct their product demonstrations, it may be beneficial to employ a product specialist. If your company sells alcoholic beverages, try hiring a professional bartender to demonstrate your product.
Storytelling
Storytelling approaches can help you frame your demonstration interestingly and dynamically. Consider using suspense or nostalgia to engage potential customers in your product’s tale.
Prototypes
You can also use test products or samples to show prospective buyers how your product performs, looks, or tastes. It’s critical to allow potential customers to test or sample your items quickly and safely. Test samples are essential for selling products like clothing, furniture, technology, or food.
Testimonials
Include quotes or video material from current consumers demonstrating how your product or service fits their daily needs. Consider choosing a long-time user of your product or service. The power of client testimonies may outweigh that of sales representatives.
Highlight Problem Solving
Successful product demoing comes down to being able to frame the product as the best thing since fire. And this means downplaying its shortcomings by focusing on its strengths and heavily emphasizing how it can help the prospect fix their problem. After all, even if your product has a sizable number of impressive features, unless those features help them in specific ways, your chances of conversion will be almost nil.
Aside from that, it is also not uncommon to face resistance from prospects, and one way of ensuring that you don’t suddenly get caught off-guard is to always come prepared with pre-written responses. These can help you to address common objections from the start, which, in turn, does an effective job of impressing the prospect by showing your level of industry knowledge.
Cater to your Specific Target Audience
If a product has different target audiences, there should be at least one product demo per broad audience (e.g., for marketers, for agencies, for eCommerce stores), [but it’s] even better if there is a specific, personalized demo for each audience segment (fashion eCommerce, makeup eCommerce, jewelry eCommerce). The more the user can empathize with the product, or rather feel the lack of the product as a burden, the more they will likely convert.
As a rule of thumb, product demos should not endlessly talk of the product’s features – the users do not care about that. They should show how the product helps the user, and how it’s worth their while to try this product
This is a crowdsourced article. Contributors are not necessarily affiliated with this website and their statements do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this website, other people, businesses, or other contributors.
