Demo
If you are in B2B SaaS sales, you know that a great product demo is the most critical piece in the sales process that can make or break your chances of closing the deal. It’s a unique opportunity to demonstrate the value of your product or service to prospects.
What is a demo?
A demo is the shortened form of the word “demonstration.” It means a trial version or sample of a digital product (software, game, music, etc.). Demos are usually spread among users who might be interested in trying the product, for them to test it before buying, and also with the advertising purpose.
Besides, a demo serves as the presentation and is an integral part of the product marketing process. As we know, digital marketing is focused on high-level conversion. Marketers create special product demos that can be presented in different formats. But the main idea of each demo is to get the purchase done or close the deal.
Let’s take a closer look at SaaS demos because SaaS products are in demand, and the number of SaaS offers is growing fast day by day.
Types of SaaS demos
Each marketing team can choose the best type of SaaS presentation based on the requirements of their target audience. As the SaaS market provides users with high-quality applications, the definition of a tech demo will be used here.
SaaS tech demos may be presented in the following formats:
Sales demo call
The sales rep of the company communicates with each potential customer by phone. This kind of product demonstration is the most personalized one but is poorly efficient for SaaS marketing campaigns.
Teaching demo (academia)
This online presentation is similar to a guide. Some marketers offer a live stream to tell more about solutions prospects may find in the promoted product or app. Teaching demos are also not very popular among sales reps who specialize in SaaS markets.
Website demo
Web-users see a customized pop-up screen while visiting online resources. The format of website presentations can be different: text message that includes graphics, table with statistics, slide-show demo, video presentation, and many more.
Email demo
This is one of the efficient tools for email drip marketing campaigns. You can put text in the email body and add an attachment or a link to the presentation.
Video product demo
This is a special demo that focuses on prospects’ pain points and hot-topic requirements. Salespeople that run digital marketing campaigns for SaaS products prefer this format the best.
Combined approach
It should be noted that the combined approach is considered the most efficient for B2B SaaS companies. For example, marketers can prepare the demo video/academia/website presentation section and use the links to this material in emails.
How to create a powerful sales demo email
Most prospects prefer feeling special. This is why the best way to brief them on the product presentation in any format is by sending customized and personalized email letters. This message should contain a link to a sales demo.
Additional recommendations for the achievement of results are the following:
- Create a specific call to action (CTA)
- Make polite conversation
- Use bright info content and add some catchy details presented in your demo
When to use demos in the digital marketing campaign
SaaS product presentation doesn’t take place in the first stage of a digital marketing strategy. In general, each campaign has four main steps:
- Lead generation & management
These two processes often take place together. Lead generation and management allow collecting leads and help them move through the sales funnel. - Ideal customer profile (ICP) creation
This is the stage of research, analytical investigations, and other studies based on already-gathered statistics related to leads. - Pitch stage
During this stage, all promotional materials are created. Here the procedure of the product demo delivery takes place. - Conversion stage
This is the final step of the marketing process. The most expected result is high sales rates. A meaningful demo leads to better conversion because most prospects convert into willing buyers and users of SaaS products.
One more way to see when demo delivery takes place is to find it in the typical plan of the customer journey. There are many detailed graphs with different steps to take into account. According to the one below, the process of demo delivery should take place in the mid-course of the customer journey:
Key aspects of the efficient SaaS product demo
Some marketers prefer to mention or show all the strong sides of the promoted product or service in the demo. But a properly-done demo has to solve problems of the targeted audience and meet clients’ requirements instead of promoting services or products.
Any sales process requires a high-quality demo. Marketers need to pick an optimal demonstration variant that will become an effective tool for digital marketing progress. It’s better if you create a customized story, not a tour of the product’s functionality.
Tech demos contain information about the specifications of the product. But technical data should take up the minimum part of sales presentations. The most powerful demo should contain:
- 80% of information about prospects’ requirements, needs, pains, and possible solutions;
- 20% of detailed information about the SaaS product the company sells.
It means that the more marketers focus on potential buyers’ issues, the better the final result will be. A perfectly-done demo of any format is characterized by two other features:
- Visualization of any statistics mentioned (if these numbers are necessary for prospects’ decision-making).
- Decision contents (demo version can be combined with free-trial options; the main idea is to show prospects different options to choose from).
Wrapping it up
As it was mentioned before, SaaS products are in great demand nowadays, so the rivalry in this segment is very intense. SaaS companies prioritize product demos, which results in higher conversion rates. But they can also provide their prospects with free trials or even freemiums (absolutely free-of-charge versions of SaaS applications but with limited functionality).
