Whether you have a SaaS platform, a mobile app, or even physical products, a product demo video available online is your chance to show not only how they works but also how they can solve your prospects’ or customers’ problems. But how do you make one? Let’s look at the options along with how you can use ClickMeeting to create and distribute your demo video.
But let’s start with the basics first.
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What is a product demonstration video?
In a nutshell, it’s a video designed to demonstrate how your product works. But it can also be a lot of things:
a simple tutorial-style screen recording with voice overlay showing going through your platform or app in real-time,
a more sophisticated animation showing the selected features along with a customer story with their challenges being solved using your product,
a video with actors or your team members talking about the product with intermittent screen recordings showing how the product works,
a mix of all of the above – or anything else you’ll come up with.
You’ll find some examples here.
And although creating a product video is a creative task with many takes on it, there are some basic principles to make it effective.
Why create a product demo video?
According to Wave, over 50% of internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store. Other stats say shoppers who watch demo videos are almost twice (1.81 to be exact) more likely to buy than people who don’t.
But this is not the only reason – although it should be enough to convince you that you need one. Apart from being an important resource during the consideration phase, allowing customers to see what your product does and how might also be helpful further down the funnel, for example:
helping your free trial users use your SaaS platform increasing the chances of upgrading to a paid account,
helping retain your existing customers by showing them how to use certain features of your tool,
reducing the volume of customer service emails or calls by walking your customers through the platform or its individual features.
Everything is saving you time and resources and helping you increase both customer acquisition and retention in the end.
So how do you make a product demonstration video?
A good demo video has many faces but any compelling video has to tick certain boxes like:
answer your audience’s needs and challenges,
not bore your audience to death,
explain your product in easy-to-understand terms,
and be compelling enough to convince your audience to purchase it (sign up for the free trial, download the app, etc.).
And to do that, there are certain steps you need to follow on your way to a successful outcome.
Know (and listen to) your audience
This is really the essential step in anything related to marketing a product but let me highlight it here. To create a product video that does its job, you need to know your audience really well. And I don’t just mean the standard demographics or customer personas but also:
what’s their stage in the funnel (e.g., are they warm leads or free trial users you want to convert?)?
what are their pain points and challenges they’re looking forward to solving with your tool?
what are some features they’re likely to find especially valuable and why?
To have a good look into all of these, you can browse your customer service chat logs and emails to know what your customers usually struggle with or ask about – and talk about it in your videos.
You need to know how people use your product. What are the essential elements? And what usually is their AHA moment with your tool? You’ll want to lead them there – and your product video is one way to do that.
Because to create a good product demo video, you should always look to your customers (and not just your product team – no matter how excited they are to show off their product).
Define your goal
As already outlined above, your demo can have many goals depending on how and where you want to use it in the funnel.
Is the demo supposed to get people to buy? Or educate current customers? This will determine things like:
the features you want to show (corresponding to the challenges they solve),
the user flow in your app that you’re going to be demonstrating,
the Call-To-Action at the end (e.g., buy/upgrade/learn more).
You might end up with several product demo versions depending on the goal and the audience.
Decide on the format of the video
This will determine things like the resources you need, the budget you need, and how you’re going to use the video.
As I already mentioned, there are several ways to do this, depending on your product, including whether you’re demonstrating physical products or non-physical products like apps or platforms.
Probably the easiest way you can create the video in-house is to record a team member using the tool and taking the user step-by-step through it while sharing the screen. Some tools that you can use for this are Camtasia or Screenflow. They’ll allow you to add highlights and annotations, and of course, voice over.
A little more complicated way would be to record your team member talking intermittently with showing the screen. This will require some filming equipment like a professional camera, lighting, microphone, and recording studio (or a spot in your office that could be turned into it for recording purposes).
Do a live demo and record it, share your screen while you’re in the app and explain what you do step-by-step, or record yourself using your physical product in front of the camera. Then edit it for your purposes, add a text overlay or sound effects and music, animation, etc. A live demo will allow you to do a Q&A session at the end which might also help respond to actual questions your customers might have.
Hire an agency to do everything for you – probably the most expensive option but done with the help of professionals. To make the video more engaging, you could add custom animations, music, actors, etc., all depending on your needs and budget.
Create a structure
When you have a rough idea of what you want the video to be and how you’re going to make it, frame it into a solid structure, and then create a storyboard.
Include the entire narrative and consider things like:
what are the individual elements and how they connect into a coherent whole,
when will the additional elements like animation or people talking come in,
what will you talk about besides showing the product itself (and when) – e.g., displaying industry data, customer stories, etc.
Remember to make all the elements smoothly and logically flowing from one to another, so your viewers can follow and easily understand the whole thing.
Once you have the sections of your video planned out…
Write a script
This is important, even if you’re just having someone on the team recording as they go through the platform. A script will not only make it less stressful to record the video but it will help you avoid confusion or unnecessary pauses and will make it easier for the speaker to fit into the desired timeframe.
Here is a handful of tips you could use to make the process easier.
Be concise. Edit out anything that’s not necessary and focus on bringing solid value with anything you say or show.
Keep it simple – don’t overcomplicate things and don’t confuse your audience.
Communicate your product’s value as clearly and compellingly as you can anytime you can.
Answer your audience’s actual pain points and challenges.
Talk about the benefits, not just the features.
Highlight the fact how you are different from your competitors (if you want to).
Do a dry run before recording
This is super important to avoid any hiccups. Even with a script, you might run into technical difficulties. Going through the whole user flow within the product will help you do the final recording smoothly. And you (or the person actually handling the recording) will be much more relaxed – which will probably show in the video.
How to use ClickMeeting to create a product demo
One of the easiest ways to create a product demo is just to record yourself using the product to create a tutorial. With ClickMeeting, you can do it in two ways:
You can record your demo live – e.g., as a webinar for your customers, then edit it, and use it as an on-demand or automated webinar within your marketing funnel.
Record it without an audience and use it on your website or in your onboarding emails as a webinar/video people can access on-demand.
Some features that will come in handy:
Screen sharing to show your audience step-by-step what you’re doing within your platform. This is the perfect tool for demonstrating different features and the entire user flow within an app, so your users will know exactly what to do right from the moment they sign up and land on the dashboard.
Live video will come in handy if you want to show how your physical product or mobile app works in front of the camera.
Record your screen, edit it, and export your video to other places like your YouTube channel, website, social media profiles, and other marketing channels.
With on-demand webinars, you can record your content and let the audience access it anytime. You could put a link to it in your onboarding emails or your Help Center or send it to your customers via your customer service chats.
With automated webinars, you can create an entire timeline with the video followed up by, e.g., an active, time-limited discount or a special offer, without having to go live each time.
Follow-up emails will allow you to send extra content or offers after a customer’s watched your video, prompting them to buy, sign up, or upgrade to a paid/higher plan.
To read more about how ClickMeeting can support your marketing channels, click here.
Some additional points to remember
A good product demonstration video is equal parts tech and human touch, so make sure that apart from the latest tech tools, you keep your audience in mind at all times.
Don’t bore your audience – keep the demo short and sweet but with a sufficient level of detail so it doesn’t turn too vague. This will, of course, depend on things like your audience’s stage of the funnel.
If you need a longer video, make it as interesting and straightforward as possible. Also, do you really need to include all the stuff you initially wanted? Pick the most important things that will keep your audience interested – so you don’t lose them somewhere along the way.
Make the voiceover engaging, easy to understand, and uplifting. A bored speaker will definitely not engage your audience, so practice reading the script out loud beforehand. Add some personality to connect to your audience easier and keep their attention throughout.
Summing up
Creating a product demonstration video doesn’t have to be a very complicated endeavor. Of course, a lot will depend on your idea, resources, and budget – but also your creativity. Even a simple product demonstration can be turned into something engaging if it’s relevant to what your audience wants to hear.
So good luck with yours! And if you already have one you’d like to share, do it in the comments.
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