What are Self Guided Demos & How to Use Them

In the fast-paced digital era, we find ourselves in, time is a valuable commodity. As businesses strive to captivate and engage their audience, traditional methods of product demonstrations are evolving to meet the demands of modern consumers. One innovative solution that has emerged as a game-changer is the concept of self-guided demos.

When you're in the market for a new car, you expect to visit a dealership and take it for a test drive to experience its performance, features and overall feel. It's an interactive process that allows you to make an informed decision based on firsthand experience.

However, when it comes to selecting B2B project management software for your company, the traditional process often involves lengthy sales cycles and multiple demonstrations. You're left longing for a more efficient and immersive way to evaluate the software's capabilities, just like test-driving a car.

That's where self-guided demos come into play.

Imagine being able to access the project management software and explore its features at your convenience, without the need for multiple sales calls or waiting for a sales representative to guide you through the process.

Self-guided demos provide you with the hands-on experience you desire, allowing you to navigate through the software, test its functionalities, and truly understand its potential.

By leveraging self-guided demos, both you and the software provider save valuable time. You can efficiently evaluate the software's capabilities and determine if it's the right fit for your team, all while enjoying the flexibility and convenience of exploring it independently.

What are Self-Guided Demos?

Imagine an interactive experience that allows prospects to gain a firsthand understanding of your product ─ that's what a self-guided product demo offers.

Unlike traditional sales demos, self-guided demos eliminate the need for extensive setup time. Say goodbye to creating new sandbox environments, conducting practice sessions, and juggling multiple meeting schedules for each demo. Instead, go-to-market teams can create a single self-guided demo tailored to a specific industry or vertical and reuse it seamlessly.

The beauty of self-guided product demos lies in their ability to provide consistency throughout the sales process. Prospects receive the same level of product education before engaging in a sales call. They encounter the same value drivers and are guided by consistent calls to action. This consistency saves time and ensures that prospects have a comprehensive understanding of your product's offerings.

Prospects themselves benefit greatly from self-guided demos. They can explore the features that pique their curiosity at their convenience, experiencing the "look and feel" of a real demo. This empowers them to prepare meaningful questions and engage more effectively during the live demo and sales discussions.

Also Read: 6 Ways to Use Interactive Product Demos to Enable Customers

Benefits of Using Self-Guided Demos

The traditional approach of qualifying prospects and providing tailored demos is no longer sustainable in today's sales landscape. It consumes valuable time for sales teams and fails to align with the preferences of modern prospects.

This is where self-guided demos become a crucial component of adopting a product-led growth (PLG) model.

B2B buyers increasingly desire self-service experiences that allow them to explore a product's value at their own pace and convenience. Self-guided product demos directly cater to this preference by providing prospects with a hands-on experience, guiding them through the capabilities of your product.

However, it's important to note that self-guided demos should not completely replace traditional sales-led demos. Instead, they are one element within a product-led sales process, similar to slideshows or product videos.

The most successful approach reported by our customers is to offer guided interactive demos rather than an unrestricted sandbox experience. This means that prospects can access specific features or progress through demo stages in a predetermined order.

By controlling what prospects can see and do, you ensure they don't get overwhelmed or lost during their initial interaction with your product. Moreover, it allows you to highlight the most valuable features, leaving prospects eager to discover more and motivating them to schedule a demo with your sales team.

By utilizing self-guided demos as a strategic element, you strike a balance between prospect empowerment and effective sales engagement, ultimately driving better outcomes and customer satisfaction.

Use Cases of Self-Guided Product Demos

While self-guided product demos are commonly associated with prospecting, they serve multiple other purposes that we will explore below.

1) Prospecting

Self-guided demos are instrumental in creating awareness, building excitement, and offering prospects a preview of how your product can streamline their work. These demos are especially valuable in cases where free trials or freemium accounts are not easily accessible.

Also Read: How to Use Interactive Product Demos for Sales and Enablement

2) Pre-demo education

When prospects engage with your sales team, it's crucial that they already possess a solid grasp of your product's functionality and its potential benefits. Pre-demo education eliminates the need for lengthy, repetitive sales conversations, allowing your sales team to focus on their core strengths—selling.

Consider incorporating a self-guided product demo on your website, granting every visitor the opportunity to learn and interact with your product. Furthermore, before each sales meeting, send prospects a self-guided demo via email. While leads may have previously encountered the self-guided demo on your website or read about your product, providing a refresher can ensure everyone is aligned.

To enhance your email outreach, develop an interactive demo specifically tailored for this purpose, offering a more comprehensive and immersive experience compared to the one available on your website.

As prospects engage with the self-guided demo, pay close attention to the features they engage with the most, enabling you to personalize your sales conversation accordingly. Ensure to send the self-guided product demo several days in advance, as prospects typically require three or more days to fully explore the product.

3) Qualifying small ACV customers

Tailored live demos may not always be practical for every inbound prospect. Some companies opt to handle low Annual Contract Value (ACV) customers collectively, conducting joint webinars or demos.

However, when dealing with a diverse group of individuals from different companies with unique needs, effective communication can be challenging. In such situations, it is advisable to provide small ACV customers with an interactive product demo.

By doing so, you confirm their interest, ensure they are acquainted with the essential features and functionality of your product, and avoid consuming your sales team's valuable time.

Qualifying low ACV customers at an early stage allows your sales team to allocate their focus on delivering customized demos to prospects who hold the potential to generate higher revenue.

4) Post-demo leave behind

There is no need to replicate the entire extensive, customized demo for the entire team of a high-priority prospect. Instead, develop an interactive version of the demo environment and share it with your champion.

A self-guided product demo goes beyond the engagement offered by call recordings, product screenshots, or unimpressive slides. It empowers your champion to advocate for your product internally.

Furthermore, interactive demos minimize the requirement for Proof of Concepts (POCs) or free trials, which can significantly prolong the sales cycle. By being pre-configured, self-guided product demos decrease the likelihood of negative initial interactions or a lack of understanding of the product's value.

5) Upskilling internal teams

Although we have predominantly emphasized the application of self-guided demos in the sales process, they can also be a valuable asset for internal teams.

Training newly onboarded Account Executives (AEs) and Sales Engineers (SEs) can be a time-intensive endeavor, as they must gain a comprehensive understanding of your product to effectively promote it. Self-guided product demos can accelerate their onboarding process and offer them valuable insights to enhance their demo presentations.

Also read: How to Use Interactive Product Demos for Customer Success

The Ultimate Solution

Supademo is the ultimate solution for creating captivating self-guided product demos that cater to all your needs. With Supademo, you can effortlessly create awareness, ignite excitement, and showcase how your product can revolutionize workflows.

Here's a small peek at one of the interactive demos created by us.

Whether it's prospecting, pre-demo education, qualifying small ACV customers, leaving a lasting impression post-demo, or upskilling your internal teams, Supademo has got you covered.

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