How to reclaim your calendar with async product demos

Over the years, all forms of video consumption have considerably increased. This post outlines the best practices and advantages of using product demo videos.

How to reclaim your calendar with async product demos

A product demo is a means to explain the various features, benefits, and use cases in a way that it does not feel like the user is being sold to. You can show why a certain feature was included, how it solves a certain problem, and what value it adds. Product demos are meant to be influential and designed in a way to motivate the user to buy your product.

Why make product demo videos?

Studies show that four times as many people would rather watch a product demo video over reading and re-reading documents.

Demo videos provide a means to quicker product adoption, giving you an edge over the competition who might be still stuck with in-person demos. Async videos reduce the waiting time and remove all the formalities of an in-person demo.

A product demo video that is available later makes it easier for a prospect or a customer to revisit in the future. This helps them answer basic FAQs and reduce time spent in decision-making. It also reduces the number of support tickets, thereby increasing customer satisfaction.

Finally, in a world where attention spans are shrinking, users can choose to play the video at any speed — faster or slower — skip through content, etc. at their convenience. This makes up for a much better user experience. If you are a user-centric company, this is critical for your business.

How to create impactful product demos

  • Ensure that you are not robotic in your delivery. Put yourself in the viewer's shoes and craft your demo in the form of a story from a user's perspective.
  • Highlight the key benefits of your product without the fluff. Consider using real examples of customers, their experiences, and how your product helped.
  • Help users learn things about your product that they would not have in their cursory Google search. The video should help them understand your USP better — how you differs from your competition, and how you are the right solution to their problem.
  • It's often helpful in demos to tun through a handful of scenarios that would help the prospect visualize how your product can help them.
  • Most importantly, pick the right speaker for your video. Preferably someone from the team that built the product. A founder (for early-stage start-ups), an engineer (for mid to late-stage start-ups), or a designer would be ideal depending on your product.

Over the years, all forms of video consumption have considerably increased. The pandemic accelerated our appetite for video content. It fundamentally changed how and how much we use videos in our everyday work-life. It would largely benefit teams to learn and adapt from this massive change in human behaviour.

At Spiti, we're building a private YouTube for your team that helps you organize all your video content for ease of consumption. Sign up here to get on the early access waitlist for the free tier.