Sales demos have always been a big part of the SaaS customer acquisition process. Live one-to-one demonstrations are a powerful way to show prospects what a product can do. Indeed, many SaaS teams love this way of connecting with potential customers because it has average conversion rates of 5% to 15%.
However, live demos aren't the perfect solution for SaaS brands. They take a lot of time to schedule and complete, they can draw out the sales cycle, and they're impossible to scale. As SaaS operations are becoming more cost-effective, efficient, and streamlined, live demos can seem like a relic from the past.
And yet, despite these drawbacks, the live sales demo endures because of its power to educate your prospect and give them first-hand experience of how your product can provide them with value.
But what if there was a way to get all the positives of a live sales demo without the negatives? Thankfully there is. Welcome to the world of sales demo automation.
What is sales demo automation?
Sales demo automation is the process of programming a sales demonstration that your prospects can access anytime and anywhere. Instead of requiring a sales rep to guide prospects around your product, you can use a mixture of videos, product tours, walkthroughs, tooltips, and more to do the job.
Automated sales demos allow users to explore and test drive your product on their terms. These interactive product tours are amazing for product-led growth companies or bigger teams who want to scale their sales outreach.
You can use automated sales demos in place of live demos. Or, you can use them to power your presales and drive your conversion rates into the stratosphere. The choice is yours.
Automated sales demos allow teams to create consistent, accurate, self-service options that are available 24/7.
What problems do automated sales demos solve for modern SaaS teams?
While live demos can help you drive sales and conversions, they fail to meet the needs of modern SaaS companies. Here are some of the significant issues with live presentations that sales demo automation solves.
#1. Customers want self-service options
Customer preferences toward digital self-service channels are well established. Some statistics suggest that more than four in every five users want to solve issues on their own.
A recent Gartner report showed that between 60% and 80% of B2B buyers prefer self-service and digital research. According to a Forrester report from a few years back, 60% of buyers don't want to interact with salespeople at all.
That's the context that modern SaaS products are trying to sell in. An automated sales demo suits this growing trend and accommodates buyer preferences.
#2. Sales demo automation saves your team lots of time
Live demos take a lot of time. The presentation itself could be somewhere between 30 mins and an hour. You'll also have to add prep time on top of that too. There's an inherent limit on how much selling each rep can do per day.
Another thing to consider is that according to Gartner, there are an average of 11 stakeholders involved in a B2B deal. If you want to connect with everyone who has a say in the deal, that could mean multiple demos.
On top of all that, you need to consider scheduling. Busy professionals don't have too many open windows, and there's no guarantee that your free slots will align.
Instead, you can build an interactive product demo once and let your prospects access it at their leisure. Your salespeople can use their team more wisely. Everybody wins.
#3. Demo automation can scale
Many SaaS businesses are obsessed with scaling. And rightly so. Growth is good, but scaling your business is where the real revenues lie. However, if you have a small team doing your live demos and you start picking up momentum, it can become quite a problem.
Sure, you can take on new reps. But it will take them time to bed in and learn the technical aspects of your product so they get to the point where they can close consistently.
Sales demo automation doesn't have that problem. It moves with consumer demand and allows you to sell while you sleep. What's more, it's an excellent option for smaller SaaS products that don't have a sales team.
#4. Less reliance on expertise
Your B2B prospects want to see your product at full speed and understand how it will bring them value. A great live sales demo requires a rep with a lot of training and expertise.
Acquiring this knowledge takes time. Each of your sales team needs to know the product like the back of their hands. Additionally, they must understand the niches your product serves and the typical concerns and objections they can face.
We mentioned above the time it takes a new sales hire to get up to scratch. Even fast learners at new companies can struggle to understand the product and market. Achieving fluidity and understanding is something that you can only unlock with experience.
Sales demo software provides SaaS brands with a way to take their best rep's experience and expertise and make it repeatable. This process helps you get the most from high-quality staff members. Once it's automated, it can run forever, bringing you value day after day.
#5. Speed up the sales cycle
According to Hubspot, the average SaaS sales cycle is just short of 90 days. But when you factor in bigger deals (>$100k per annum), it's nearer six months.
Speeding up the sales cycle is vital for brands that want to achieve growth. There are several proven methods you can use to accelerate the time it takes to close deals.
Intelligent lead scoring is a good start because it helps sales teams use their time more efficiently. In recent years, virtual sales rooms are growing in popularity as a way to share documents, videos, and discussions. And, of course, we can't forget the impact that scheduling tools can have on getting everyone around the table.
But one consistent point of friction that hurts the sales cycle is finding time for the sales demo. An automated interactive product demo is the perfect solution for this situation.
Sales demo automation means your prospects can access your solution on their own time.
They can also share it among the various stakeholders within the organization, removing the need to schedule several demos and shaving precious days or weeks off the sales cycle.
#6. Fine-tuned, high-impact demos
Even the most well-structured sales demo can go awry. Prospects can ask questions that lead you down blind alleys, and before you know it, your time is up, and you haven't managed to do your product justice.
However, a sales automation demo doesn't suffer from this issue. You can constantly edit and fine-tune your sales demo to ensure that it makes the most significant impact possible.
Digital sales and advertising have greatly benefited from optimization over the last few years.
Analytics tools mean that you can measure and test your creatives and understand their impact. However, the live face-to-face sales demo doesn't offer the same path to using granular information to improve conversions.
Sales demo software can record how your prospects have interacted with your demo. It can tell you how far they got and what elements they've engaged with. You can use this data to fine-tune and optimize your demo so that it's a conversion machine.
What's more, once you've got a message to inform you that your prospect has completed your interactive product demo, it could be time to reach out to that warm lead!
#7. Reach all your users
SaaS products have all sorts of users. Some of them generate lots of revenue, so they need white glove treatment. Other users bring in less revenue, but they're still an important part of your subscriber base.
Sales demo automation provides a way to reach out to these customers without a huge investment of time and money. They also provide an early-stage demo option. You can put your best salespeople on tasks that will bring the best return without overlooking the rest of your target audience.
#8. Drive down customer acquisition costs
We’ve saved the best reason for last.
These days, SaaS businesses need to pay close attention to customer acquisition costs (CAC). They've become so high over the last few years that turning a profit on some users is impossible unless you have strong customer retention rates.
Anything that reduces the costs of winning customers is helpful. Sales demo automation allows teams to reduce their overheads. These savings are especially relevant for businesses that are growing or scaling quickly.
Automation isn't just about saving time. It also allows key people to use their time on other value-driven tasks. Sales demos mean a more efficient sales team with a lower overall CAC. What's not to love?
How Usetiful can help with sales demo automation
By now, you're probably convinced that an automated sales demo is the way to go. But perhaps you're thinking about what a headache it will be to code. However, you can choose Usetiful to help you build an interactive product demo that converts.
Our no-code tool helps you build sophisticated overlays on top of your app or website and share them easily with a personalized link. Your users can explore your solution with tooltips, product tours, and checklists there to highlight all the steps they need to get maximum value from your product.
Usetiful is here to help when you need high-converting product demos.