SaaS product demo types – when and where to use them

The benefits of self-serve SaaS demos range from higher conversion rate to smoother onboarding. In this article, we’ll cover benefits of different types of product demos and when to use them.

Overview of demo types and their use cases

1. Live demos

Live product demos have been around way longer than the concept of SaaS. They’re useful for almost any type of company and any software product. The longer the sales cycle and the more complex your software, the better it is to go over your product during a 1-on-1 conversation.

The biggest problem with live demos is that most of them have strayed from the traditional “demo”. Software buyers know that booking a demo usually means signing up for a heavily scripted sales call. Because of that, product champions are reluctant to book them. You’ll have to make it a compelling transaction for them if you want to use live demos.

2. Webinar demos

Webinar demos are great to scale your outreach. They put far less pressure on the software buyers.

On one hand, the “one-size fits-all” approach makes the interaction less personalised. But on the other, people expect more focus on the actual product.

A product champion attending a webinar knows that they won’t have to share sensitive company details just yet. They can get the demo at face value, and then consider booking a sales call.

3. Interactive product tours

Self-serve demos allow software buyers to discover your product on demand. In that sense, they’re a top-of-funnel tool – unlike live demos and webinars. Interactive product tours help software companies scale with a small sales team, or sometimes no sales team at all.

As an extra benefit, this type of demos works wonders for website engagement. When used at the right time and targeted well, self-serve product tours reduce UX friction and time-to-sale.

In many cases, self-guided demos are used as an opportunity to start the onboarding process early on.

4. Pre-recorded demos

Like interactive product tours, pre-recorded demos allow buyers to explore your software at their own pace. Recording your product can take different forms – from detailed, narrated videos, to short GIFs that showcase your software at a glance.

As such, the target audience for video demos will vary. Narrated videos work well for primary software buyers. However, a short snippet of different areas of your product can come in handy for members of the buying committee – e.g. the CTO who doesn’t decide on the purchase, but manages the tech stack at the company.

Pre-recorded demos are highly reusable. They can live on your website, in social media posts, and also as part of outbound campaigns. Some companies have dedicated “demo libraries”, which cover specific parts of the product.

5. Product screenshots

When done right, static product imagery is in the same league as other types of demos. It’s extremely focused on the top of the funnel, but that complements other types of demos that are focused on MOFU and BOFU.

However, it’s not just any screenshot that counts as a “demo”. Plain images in templates resembling physical devices are a thing of the past. Product screenshots are now primarily rich graphics that combine decorative and informative aspects. This new wave of product imagery has been perfected by companies like Stripe.

6. Personalised demos

Personalised demos are a great tool at the end of the buyer journey. A bespoke tour of your software is extremely valuable – as long as it’s truly personalised.

Custom demos like this are easiest for companies doing account-based marketing. They’re very relevant and directly address the pain points of the buyer.

A major risk with personalised demos is using them when you don’t have enough data on the prospect. They typically come after at least one sales call but that’s not always enough. ABM isn’t necessary to run heavily personalised demos, but make sure you’re not making them up as you go.

7. Free trials and tools

Free trials are often seen as a PLG staple. For us, the distinction isn’t between product-led and sales-led growth. Whether your demo account is useful to buyers mostly depends on the complexity and time-to-value of your software.

A complex SaaS will not benefit from a free trial. One example could be forecasting construction delays. You’d need a lot of usage and first-party data to realise the full value.

Simpler apps, even targeting enterprises, can still find them useful. CRMs are the most obvious example. The path to an enterprise purchase of a CRM often goes through a free account or a regular plan. The product champion uses it at a smaller scale before deciding on migrating the entire company.

If a free trial isn’t feasible for you, consider offering free tools. Ahrefs has over 50 of those. Free tools work for both B2C and B2B buyers, and we believe even SLG companies should use them. We’ve created website tools for B2B SaaS clients and saw high engagement and improvements in lead quality.

One major downside is that setting up a free trial is much more complex than just enabling that option in your software. Free trials thrive on post-sign up nurturing sequences. As such, they require more effort to set up and maintain than e.g. an interactive product tour.

8. Demo accounts

Unlike free trials, demo accounts allow for more complexity. Where a free trial might require months or years of data to prove its value, pre-populated accounts can give people a sense of what to expect right away – as long as the data is believable.

The downside is that it’s not always easy to relate a generic setup to a buyer’s own context. It gives them a more hands-on experience than a typical interactive product tour, though.

But like free trials, demo accounts aren’t always easy to set up. Depending on your situation, it might not be worth the hassle, especially as an early stage SaaS.

9. Prototypes and proof of concept demos

Prototypes and technical demos have several uses. They’re a great tool to validate the direction of your product. You can do it using moderated user tests or early previews for existing customers. It’s a crucial use case for both early-stage and established SaaS companies. In both cases, it reduces unnecessary investment in features or interfaces that don’t appeal to people.

A proof of concept demo is also your gateway to the first customers and investors. Showing a functional but unfinished product helps you establish credibility and – as the name suggests – prove that you’re capable of solving the problem.

How to pick the right demo type in your context

Knowing the ins and outs of different demo types, there’s still one question to answer: when to use these product demos? We’ve split the recommendations into these categories: SLG vs PLG, buyer journey stages, and use cases by persona.

For simplicity, we’ve split the buyer journey into three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision.

Which product demos are good for PLG and SLG?

The short answer is that PLG and SLG companies can often use the same types of demos. There are just two exceptions. Free trials and demo accounts aren’t always feasible for SLGs. This is especially the case for complex products or high purchase values. Free trials won’t help your customers if it takes several months to realise the full value of your software.

Other than free trials and demo accounts, we have SLG SaaS clients who use all types of demos – live and pre-recorded demos, webinars, interactive product tours, rich screenshots, and personalised demos.

Likewise, running a PLG company without a sales team is possible, but it’s not always the best option. Many companies use the baseline of PLG customers to fund a sales team and boost their growth. As always, it’s not a one-size fits-all solution. Some of your customers will never want to speak to a person and they’ll convert from trials, demo accounts, and interactive product tours. But there’s always a part of your audience that prefers the human connection on a live demo and you might be missing out on those customers if you don’t have a sales team.

Product demos for the awareness stage of the buyer journey

The awareness stage calls for hands-off demos. The goal is to get a “feel” of your software while showing relevant areas of your product.

The first obvious choices include multimedia on core pages of your website – rich product screenshots, graphics, videos, and GIFs.

Types of demos to use at the consideration stage of the buyer journey

The middle of the funnel calls for more detailed demos. The two staples here are interactive product tours and pre-recorded demos. Webinars are a good option as well.

Product demo types at the decision stage

Buyers who are deciding on the purchase are the warmest of prospects. They will benefit from live and personalised demos the most. These two are not necessary for fully PLG companies, but crucial for every other scenario.

The decision stage overlaps with the consideration stage. Using webinars is still a good option. One of our clients in B2B SaaS gets direct conversions from their live webinars. Keep in mind that you’ll need to adjust the distribution and messaging around the webinar to fit one or the other stage. A “discovery” webinar won’t attract many buyers who are already deciding on the purchase. Make sure the landing page for each webinar is clear on that.

Product demos for different types of ICPs

At the consideration stage, your product champions will often show your software to others at their organisation. The most important thing at that stage is a wide range of topics for your demos.

You’re not just talking to your product champion anymore. You’ll need the approval of people like marketing directors or CTOs. They’ll sometimes look for demos of your software, but not generic ones. It’s always useful to have something tailored for them.

Using the two examples we mentioned:

• CTOs will often look for integrations or administrative functionality.
• Marketing directors will have similar requirements to your product champions, but they might look for the demo independently.

Every SaaS will have a slightly different buying committee to work with. Identify the core members for your company, and make sure there’s some type of demo for them.

Pre-recorded demos and highly-focused interactive product tours are the best tools to appeal to specific ICPs. Their opinion is crucial for you, but they won’t have as much time to attend webinars or live demos as the product champion.

Common mistakes to avoid when choosing demo types

• Using live demos too early
• Over-relying on static video
• Using generic screenshots on your website
• Poor balance between “salesy” interactions and true product demos
• Neglecting personalisation for high-intent leads and “buying committee” ICPs

You can find out more in our article about best practices and mistakes when using product demos.

Conclusion: it’s best to combine different demo types across the funnel

Product demos are the most effective when you spread them across the buyer journey. It’s important to think about more than just live demonstrations on sales calls. Your prospects want to encounter the product in different ways during the purchase process.

You’ll often deal with a buying committee. This makes it even more important to offer a variety of demos. The variety shouldn’t just come from different types of demos. Iit’s a good practice to provide a variety of content in your demos.