How to Create a Software Product Demo Video with 3 Examples

Getting leads to sign up for your product demo is only half the battle. Then, you need to create a software demonstration that’s compelling, engaging, and answers all of your prospects’ questions.

The best way to charm potential customers is by creating a tailor-made demo video and using the right tool to plan, host, and analyze your prospect’s engagement metrics all in one place.

Ready to increase your demo to conversion rate and show leads exactly what your product can do for them? We talked to Jennifer Owen, Account Executive at Livestorm, to get her insights on how to conduct a great product demonstration (and how to choose the right tool to host it).

What is a software product demo?

A software product demo is a presentation of your SaaS solution in action. Demos are usually conducted by the sales department and answer all potential customers’ questions. These can be held in person but most SaaS demos are hosted online, either live or on demand. A product demo should:

1. Highlight your software’s functionality, key features, and benefits
2. Troubleshoot any potential roadblocks your leads might be facing
3. Answer your prospects’ questions
4. Share the product’s value proposition and the unique selling point of your solution

It’s important to personalize your live demos to each user and get them to imagine what your product can do for them. “A demo call is usually a one-to-one conversation,” explained Jennifer Owen, Account Executive at Livestorm. “I’ll show prospects specifically what our product does in a very personalized scenario.”

Live software demo

Live-streamed product demonstrations happen in real-time, either as one-on-one conversations or one-to-many deminars (i.e. webinars hosted by a sales team to focus on a specific product or feature).

To host live SaaS demos, you’ll need a great video engagement platform, like Livestorm, that allows you to:

• Create registration pages
• Send automatic email reminders and follow-ups
• Host the demonstration
• Engage with your audience live and qualify leads
• Review meeting analytics in an attendee-by-attendee detail

Even if you have on-demand demos linked on your website, hosting live demos lets you interact directly with new leads and find out what they’re looking for. This is beneficial as most people don't necessarily buy a product for the product - they buy the promise of what it can do for them.

On-demand software demo

On-demand software demos are pre-recorded explainer videos that potential users can access at any time. If you have an automated campaign for moving potential leads through your funnel, use this to get them to sign up and try your software solution without manual intervention.

Try Livestorm as a free automated webinar software and demo platform to plan, host, and analyze your sales calls. You can use Livestorm as your on-demand webinar software as well, since the platform can be used to record asynchronous, evergreen content.

It’s a good idea to have an on-demand demo up on your site at all times, even if you plan to host live demos in parallel. It gives your customers the freedom of choosing how they’d like to know more about your product. You can also gate it as a method of capturing leads.

How to create a software demo video

Product experts like you usually don’t have trouble coming up with a standard demo video. It gets harder when it’s time to tailor the demo to each particular attendee and find the right pace to share the information.

We’ve got you covered. Here’s a list of every step you should take to create a demo video for your software. Start by looking at this short video for a quick overview of the steps we’ve listed below:

Step 1: Pick the best video tool

You need a video engagement platform to host your SaaS product demos. There are a huge number of video tools out there, but not all will allow you to host the complete process end-to-end. Here are the features your product demo software should have:

• Custom registration pages with a scheduler
• Automated email reminders
• In-call engagement features:
  • Screencast
  • Polls
  • In-app chat
  • Questions and answers (Q&A)
  • In-call call to action (CTA) button
• Analytics dashboard

Livestorm is an all-in-one on-demand and live events software that’s designed to increase engagement, with features like live polling and in-call CTAs. Plus, it’s browser-based, so external users won’t have any trouble joining the call. You can use it for internal meetings, sales calls, and larger events like webinars or deminars.

Step 2: Create your product demo landing page

Capture your prospects' information before they hop on a call with you. Design custom registration pages for your live or on-demand demos to:

• Collect your leads’ contact information
• Send automated email reminders
• Use the information to tailor your presentation

If you’re using Livestorm as your video platform for hosting these demos, you can customize the colors and fields to add your branding. Let your attendees sign up using their Google account information to simplify their registration process.

Step 3: Tailor your product demo to your audience

Use custom registration forms to ask questions and collect as much information about your audience as you can. Tailor the presentation to their needs and give reasons to overcome potential challenges.

To help you prepare, try writing a demo script suited to each ideal buyer persona. Add frequently asked questions and highlight the most relevant product features for each audience. Your scripts should follow a standard path based on how users interact with your platform.

For example, when a prospect wants to use Livestorm for onboarding clients and customers, we run a product demo on how to use Livestorm as customer training software. “In Livestorm product demos, we present the logical progression that a person wanting to participate in an event would follow,” Jennifer explains.“We show our prospects how to create a landing page and have somebody register for their potential event. And also, what happens once somebody has registered.”

Step 4: Promote your product demo video

There are different promotion strategies you can try depending on the type of demo you’re hosting.

• On-demand demos: Link to the video from your pricing page, share it on social media, blog posts, and your email newsletter. If you work with influencers or referral partners, ask them to share the link too.
• Deminars: If you’re hosting a series of deminars, add the registration link to your top and middle-of-the-funnel marketing strategy.
• One-on-one live demos: Make the registration link easily accessible to your potential customers. Add it to your social media profile, include it in your brand newsletter, add it to your blog posts, or get your referral partners to share it. You could also share a CTA to sign up for personalized sales meetings during other live events like deminars.

Step 5: Hit record on your live-action product demo

Make sure you record a standard demo video to use as an on-demand deminar for your site. Embed the registration form on your website to get the contact information of anyone who watches the video. You can follow-up with them later to find out if they want a more personalized demo.

You can even sneak the demo link anywhere it’s useful, like in a customer support chatbot response. And if you’re hosting deminars or on-demand presentations using Livestorm, you can share an automated email with the replay link to all the registrants. That way all registrants can view it on their own time.

Step 6: Host an engaging product demo

To make your demo super engaging, speak clearly, give concise answers, and use visual examples to demonstrate your points. Tell your audience what to expect at the beginning with a loose itinerary, so they know if and when they can ask questions, how long the demonstration will take, and what they can expect to learn.

Leverage your video conference platform engagement features to capture your viewers’ attention. If you’re on Livestorm, you can use:

• Polls and Q&As
• Screen and file-sharing
• Interactive whiteboard
• CTAs
• Private and public chats

Remember that your prospect is choosing to find out more about your product, so your demo should help them get the most out of it. “Rather than getting a trial account, start testing it and have a very frustrating experience, they choose to attend a call for 30 minutes,” explained Jennifer Owen. “You should tell them the basics of how to use this platform so they can validate if the platform can do what they want.”

Step 7: Answer your prospect’s questions

Take note of all the questions you’ve been asked in previous demos, or in the registration form, and add them to your scripts. Update them with frequently asked questions.

Also, open the floor to questions and answer them. You can ask your potential customers to add their questions to the Q&A tab and answer each one as you go or in a dedicated block. Try the question upvoting feature in Livestorm to prioritize the most important queries, and be sure to follow up after the call if anything goes unanswered.

Step 8: Follow-up on your demo video

Plenty of people will attend your demo but only a few will convert. Following up after a great product demo puts your product back in the attendee’s minds, and also gives them another opportunity to sign up.

Your follow-up communications should give access to a recording of the demo. It should also include registration for another event, sign-up for a newsletter, links to your blog, or forms to begin purchasing the product.

Step 9: Analyze your product demo data

Lastly, review your meeting analytics to see what worked and what didn’t. Livestorm gives you access to a detailed analytics dashboard, where you can:

• See who answered your polls (and what they said)
• Track registration form conversions and sources
• Export your event data (people, questions, and chat conversations)
• Open your people’s dashboard and review meeting engagement

3 Video examples of best product demo videos for inspiration

You can create a product demo in different formats.Have someone from your company on video explaining the product, or record a voiceover to narrate an animation or walkthrough. Get inspired by these examples:

Livestorm

Take a look at this pre-recorded Livestorm product demo for a quick peek at everything the platform can do for you. Request a live demo if you want a more personalized and interactive option.

What makes it effective?

• It’s an on-demand gated tutorial
• The presenters explain what will happen during the video in the first two minutes
• They give an explanation of everything you can do with the platform and show you how the features work in real-time
• They explain how pricing works and what comes with every plan

Livestorm gets to show how the platform works by using it to host a demo call. “We send them a number of emails to remind them, enable them to add it to the calendar,” said Jennifer Owen. “And, show them how to make the event engaging using our features. We share how they can access the data afterward and the kind of data that we collect.”

MixPanel

MixPanel is a data analytics tool that captures user behavior and information through web and mobile. Its product demo is easy to find on YouTube.

What makes it effective?

• It’s easy to watch and follows a straight progression using a voiceover
• It has a chapter view linked to a timetable so viewers can watch the part they find interesting
• The brand shows how the platform looks and works
• The brand includes use cases and industry-related problems

ClickUp

ClickUp is a task project management system that helps users of all sizes manage their workload. It has a dedicated webpage for on-demand demo videos with different types of pre-recorded product walkthroughs.

What makes it effective?

• There’s one video per use case
• The intro contains ClickUp target audience pain points and explains how the software solves that problem
• You get to see how the host uses the features
• It’s aesthetically pleasing and easy to follow

Increase your conversions with Livestorm for SaaS demos

Pre-recorded SaaS demo videos are an incredibly low-cost and low-risk way to drive more conversions for your business. But a live, personalized demo is the best way to show each lead exactly how your product is going to change their life.

You can increase your lead-to-conversion rate by creating eye-catching, educational, and entertaining SaaS product demos. Just follow these steps:

1. Choose your video tool (consider Livestorm as an all-in-one video engagement tool)
2. Do your research before the call and write a script per buyer persona
3. Build a demo registration page and promote the link
4. Use engagement features to interact with attendees (don’t forget to share your screen)
5. Anticipate and answer your prospect’s questions
6. Follow-up after the call
7. Review your analytics

Livestorm can help you prepare, host, engage, and analyze your demonstrations in one place. With Livestorm, you can host 1:1 demos, record them, and make them accessible on-demand as gated content. Plus, you won’t need additional software for live events, customer training, internal calls, or on-demand webinars, because you can do it all using this single tool.

Frequently asked questions about software demo video

What is a demo video?

A demo video is a presentation of your product or software online. Demo videos can happen live in the form of a one-on-one or one-to-many conversation. By recording those interactions, you can create on-demand videos and invite potential customers to see how your software works at their own pace.

What should a software demo show?

A software demo should show:

• An explanation of what your product can do
• Your value prop
• A walkthrough of what your software does
• A description and demonstration of your most relevant features

It’s also always beneficial to personalize your product demo to the audience so be sure to gauge their goals and current blockers using a custom demo registration page or by doing a quick poll at the start of the demo.

How do you demo a software feature?

To demonstrate a software feature during a virtual product demo, share your screen and show your leads how to use them in different cases. Find the right pace so your prospects can follow your steps without getting bored.

What is the purpose of a software demo video?

The purpose of a software demo video is to explain how to use the platform, get leads to engage with your app first-hand, and get those prospects to move down the funnel. Most people make purchases based on the promise of what the product or service can do, so it’s important to really showcase the value of your software during the demo.

What are the advantages of a software demo?

Advantages of a software demo include:

• Having your potential customers take a closer look at your product
• Showing how your product works in a simple way
• Allowing your leads to ask questions directly to the brand
• Giving your potential customers a personal point of contact
• Attending a call that suits your lead time preferences