When NOT to use product screenshots on SaaS websites

We as designers and marketers often gloat over companies like Stripe for how good their product screenshots are. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that. Drawing inspiration from these websites and showcasing their methods helps us all understand why it works and how to replicate it.

But have you ever considered that there are businesses, maybe even including yours, that shouldn’t show the product on their website? It sounds like shooting your own foot, but the reasons make all the sense in the world – and here they are.

1. Software requiring long-term, bespoke usage

There are categories of software that require long-term usage and provide unique outcomes for every buyer. A good example would be established AI tools that need a learning period to realise their potential. I’m not talking about simple ChatGPT wrappers, but rather software like forecasting construction risks and delays, which has existed for years now.

While it’s useful to show what it looks like, this only achieves superficial goals. People can decide whether they like the way it looks or not, but there’s very little they can learn from your screenshots in terms of potential outcomes.

In this case, the typical product images include generic graphs and dashboard. These are okay to show, but I would be very careful going in that direction. Just the use of “generic” explains why – if you want to stand out, putting together a few images that virtually any of your competitors could use isn’t the way to go.

2. Simple or highly customisable software

Similar to the above, highly customisable and simple software only offer superficial value from showing product screenshots. A good example is Zapier, an integration tool which is essentially “just” an automation map on the surface. Zapier’s website has very few screenshots – if they show off the software, it’s generally another type of a product demo, e.g. a video.

Since the use cases for a tool like Zapier are varied, showing specific examples runs a risk of isolating some of your buyers. There are people who will only need to trigger one simple action, while others expect to build complex decision trees for their automation. Showing too much depth runs the risk of scaring off the first group, while demonstrating simplicity in your screenshots can lose the attention of the “power users”.

3. Apps that don’t look modern – and don’t need to

Not everything that shines is gold. There’s a plethora of applications without a sexy interface that are invaluable to business operations. This even applies to life-and-death systems like in healthcare or… space exploration. NASA runs on decades old hardware and software for its reliability – and some SaaS platforms are in a similar position.

This is especially common in industries that rely heavily on reliability, such as medicine, construction, or logistics. In that case, you’re better off showing the potential outcomes, using stock photography overlaid with illustrations and images that visualise the functionality.

Other product demo mistakes

It’s not often you hear “don’t use product screenshots on a SaaS website”, but as you’ve just learned, there are valid reasons for it.

But even for those tools that should use screenshots, there are times where the static image isn’t the best option. Here are two rules of thumb:

1. Static images are great for cold traffic. A good example is the Home page or any other landing page.
2. The further people get in the user journey, the less they want to see basic screenshots. Replace product screenshots with more interactive demos further down the funnel.