Not all demo tech is equal
There are many benefits most demo experience platforms share across the industry. For example, you may want to present a demo that appears faster than your actual product. Or your team may want a no-code editor to personalize demos at scale. Demo platforms also include analytics, which helps sales leaders better understand what part of the product catches the prospect's attention and what doesn’t.
But not all demo tech is created equal, even if the website copy is similar. For example, a tour product that calls its product a “guided demo” probably is using screenshot tech. And screenshot tech just doesn’t cut it for the live sales demo use case. Let us prove it to you below.
1. Show a demo that looks and feels like the real product
When you pitch your product, you want it to look and feel like a functional product should. Because if it doesn’t, your prospect will believe you are selling a pipe dream and not a functioning product. Essentially, they will be losing trust in you. Today, sales teams that pitch with slides, Figma Prototyping, or screenshot tech, which does not capture product interactivity, are disadvantaged.
With screenshot tech, you can’t drag and drop, show hovers, or capture most product interactivity.
Below we disabled JavaScript in this open-source Kanban. The second one, we did not. As you can see, if you try it out, the one with JavaScript disabled does not move. The one with it enabled moves.
Screenshot tech can’t capture that interactivity because it takes static screenshots of your DOM (Document Object Model). So it can capture your front end but not mimic its dynamic behavior.
You, too, can disable JavaScript and see what works on your app and what moves and what does not.
In summary: Build trust with your prospects by showing screenshots of your front end and an environment that mimics your front end’s dynamic behavior.
2. Decrease time towards demo environment management
Managing demo environments and processes around demos is a cross-team, time-consuming process. Buying demo software should simplify your tech stack, not add complexities to it.
Screenshot tech repurposed for live demos is not powerful enough to replace your demo environment. But cloning is. You can clone pages, menus, pop-ups, and more with just a few clicks. No need to manually link pages together - that’s automatic. You can own your organization’s demo environment without needing technical resources.
On the other hand, repurposing screenshot technology for a live sales demo causes weeks of painful, low-value work. Because screenshot tech takes static screenshots of your DOM, you will need to manually capture every screen, drop-down, and pop-up separately and manually link pages together to recreate the experience. If your app is complex, then this could become your full-time job.
Let’s see this in action in the GIF below. You can see the DOM change when I hover my mouse over the microphone button causing the “search by voice” text hover-over to appear.
Using screenshot tech, I would need two screenshots and then stitch those screenshots together. That is not so difficult in this example, but if your app is even remotely complex, this can become overwhelming and be a huge time drain.
In the GIFS below, I have JavaScript enabled and it is disabled in a simple RevPower app. The menus cannot open, and hover-overs do not work because the DOM cannot be changed. Additionally, I am unable to click on other pages. However, by utilizing cloning technology, you can capture the entire web application rather than just a screenshot of the DOM, eliminating this issue.
With JS
Not with JS
See for yourself how important this is on your web app. You can disable JavaScript and see what does and does not work on your app.
In summary: Screenshot tech takes too much time for complex apps to set up a cohesive environment. But cloning tech essentially empowers you to present your dynamic web app in an independent environment.
3. Substitute your POC with a Sandbox
By using Tour leave-behinds, prospects can now access the product at an earlier stage in the deal process. Screenshot technology is useful for this purpose, but Tour leave-behinds are more suitable for displaying a limited number of product screenshots.
To create a leave-behind that can substitute for a POC, you need an acceptable asset for the prospect to explore on their own without any sales guidance. Each web app page should be included in the sandbox and look and feel like your product.
Demostack has customers closing deals without POCs because of this. The Sandbox environment from Demostack has a realistic look and feel and includes engagement analytics as an added bonus.
In summary: Demostack’s cloning tech lets you share a trial-like environment after your live demo and can substitute for a POC.
See how screenshot tech stacks up against cloning tech
Final thoughts
While there are many benefits to demo experience platforms, not all demo tech is created equal.
Screenshot tech falls short in comparison to cloning technology, as it cannot capture the dynamic behavior of your product, takes too much time to set up a cohesive environment, and cannot substitute for a POC. Cloning technology allows you to showcase a demo that looks and feels like the real product, simplifies demo environment management, and can replace your demo environment.
By utilizing cloning technology, you can build trust with your prospects, save time and resources, and create a trial-like environment for your prospects to explore on their own.
Further Readings
So what exactly is DOM
The Document Object Model (DOM) is a programming interface for HTML. It translates the content of an HTML document into a standardized object that functional programming languages like JavaScript can easily access and modify. Hubspot blog: What is the DOM? An Introduction for Non-Programmers
The problem with screenshots and DOM
HTML represents initial page content, and the DOM represents current page content. When JavaScript adds, removes, or edits nodes, the DOM differs from the HTML. Google blog: Get started with viewing and changing the DOM
