4 Best Practices for Ending an Interactive Demo
Head of Growth & Product Marketing
The end of your interactive demo is your last chance to wow a prospect.
In our minds, a great conclusion:
- Reinforces the value your product delivers
- Gets potential customers excited to learn more
- Guides them to take the next best step — whether that’s scheduling a live demo or signing up for a free trial
But hitting those notes can be harder than it sounds.
Below, we share 4 things to keep in mind when ending your demos, based on advice shared in our partner, DemoDash’s newsletter: Show, Don’t Tell.
1. Provide a Clear Call to Action (CTA)
Your demo should end with a prominent, relevant call to action that directs the prospect toward the next step. That next step could be:
- Going through another interactive demo
- Starting a free trial
- Exploring additional resources
According to our State of the Interactive Product Demo report, most interactive demos end with a variation of “Book a demo” or “Talk to sales.”
Typically, these buttons take prospects to a form fill. They answer a few qualifying questions, provide their info, and then wait for your sales team to follow up.
But why not just have prospects book the time they want right then and there?
DemoDash recommends integrating Navattic directly with a calendar scheduler, like Chili Piper, to expedite the process.
That way, you “catch people when they’re excited about your product, and there are no more awkward follow-up emails days later. It turns a waiting game into a ‘wow’ moment.”
This idea of meeting buyers where they are applies beyond scheduling — your interactive demo can also be the call to action.
Take blog posts, for example.
In Show, Don’t Tell Newsletter #13, DemoDash highlights GovWell’s call to action at the end of its blog posts that encourages readers to explore its Navattic tour.
“At the end of their blogs, GovWell has two CTA cards: “Interactive Product Tour” and “Book a Demo.” But the tour card is literally TWICE the size of the demo card,” the DemoDash folks point out.
“It’s basically saying, ‘Hey, click THIS one,’ without being pushy, acknowledges most people aren't ready for a sales call, and still gives a Book a Demo option so sales is happy,” the DemoDash team explains.
2. Recap Key Value Propositions
A great way to wrap up your demo is to summarize the main benefits and solutions of your product, reinforcing how it would make a prospect’s day-to-day easier.
The team at Appcues takes this idea to the next level, using the final moments of their demo to show just how well Appcues delivers — through clear KPIs and social proof.
Featured in Show, Don’t Tell #12, the Appcues demo hit the DemoDash team with
“the perfect mic drop, showing real results, and social proof right when [prospects are] deciding whether to bounce or not.”
A proof-over-promises approach gets prospects excited about the results they’ll see from using Appcues when it matters most.
3. Give Visitors Options to Learn More
Another way to end your demos strategically is to provide avenues for prospects to delve deeper into your product. If you have a more complex product or sell to a wide variety of buyers, they may want to see a bit more of your product before they talk to sales.
Pointing them to a demo library or additional interactive demos tailored to different use cases or personas can help them get a better sense of what your product offers and whether or not it meets their needs.
And, it turns out, tours that end with a “Learn more” CTA tend to have much higher click-through rates (63.3%) than buttons like “Book a demo” (41.4%).
Repsly, a field sales platform, has a fantastic set of Insights Dashboards Playbooks they use as a call to action.
Each tile has catchy graphics that preview the feature in the interactive demo — and use the exact same thumbnails as the intro slides for the tour.
As DemoDash points out in Newsletter #13,
“It adds a nice welcome mat to your demo. Your brain instantly goes ‘Yep, I'm in the right place.’”
Repsly also makes it for users to double check that they are looking at the demo that fits their use case, with filters on the left. Small touches like these reduce hesitation and ensure a frictionless path for continued product exploration.
4. Let Users Choose Their Own Adventure
Rather than ending with a generic wrap-up, let users navigate to the content that matters most to them.
Airwallex’s central demo, for example, starts with a checklist, allowing users to create their own personalized journey — without adding any complexity.
After each flow, they have a “Continue tour” CTA, which reopens the checklist and, once again, lets prospects choose where to go next.
In Show, Don’t Tell #17, the DemoDash team highlights,
“They built one central demo with multiple branching paths based on who you are or what you’re trying to do. It creates a more personalized experience without multiplying work.”
Opening and ending each flow with the ability to customize a prospect’s experience can make your demo feel tailored and relevant — and they don’t even have to jump to a separate demo to see what they want.
If users go through one or more paths and feel ready to get started, Airwallex has thought of a way to support them, too. There’s a static CTA at the top of the screen nudging them to sign up for an account.
If you’re looking for other ways to let users direct their own journey, check out: Implementing Interactive Demos for Multiple Product Lines.