A product demo should not be boring. It is a sales and marketing tool just like any other video that lives on platforms or on your website. In fact, it’s more of a sales tool than an explainer or a commercial. Explainers and commercials are hooks – it gets people interested in your brand – whereas the product demo is often the closer.
The product demo, or product tour, is a more in-depth overview of your product’s features. It’s different than a tutorial or a how-to video. The tutorial provides a step-by-step instruction of a feature or process. The demo or tour introduces the different features that your product offers. So it’s more in-depth than an explainer video, but not as detailed as a tutorial video.
Since the product demo is often the last video a prospective client will review before making a decision, it’s a very important tool in closing deals. Too often, this video is exceptionally dry, but it needs to be engaging and of professional quality.
Tips to making a quality Product Demo Video
Animate
If you’re a SaaS or another web-based business, you’ll need to show your UI or platform. This involves screenshots and screenflows. It’s relatively easy to make a video using your device’s screen capture app or just putting together a PowerPoint presentation and recording it. But the end product will be a snooze fest. It will be difficult to watch – as fun as sitting through your boss’s quarterly review analysis.
Animate your screenflows. Key features need to be highlighted. There needs to be good pace with camera movement and zooms. Shading and lighting add to the overall experience as well.
Yes, it may cost more and require a professional video production company or freelancer to help you, but there will be a greater ROI.
Here’s a good example of a product demo with animated screen shots.
Quality over Quantity
There’s always the temptation to include everything. You may want to take all the copy from your website or pitch deck and paste it directly into your video, but that will result in a video that is overly long and complicated.
The product tour is just like any other tour. When you visit a college, a tourist attraction or a potential employer, you get a physical tour of the place. You don’t visit every little place. You only visit the places of interest and perhaps listen in on some interesting tidbit about that specific location. That’s the essential idea of the demo. Give just enough, not too much.
Length
The product demo can run longer than an explainer. The audience is already interested in your product, they just want to know a little more before taking the next steps. Having said that, like other online marketing videos, viewership with drop with each minute. From our experience, about 4 minutes is a good maximum. Shorter is always better.
Audio
Nothing ruins a decent video than bad audio. Unless you have solid recording equipment, get it done professionally. It’s not too expensive to rent a recording booth for an hour.
Music
There’s no excuse to have a bad sound track. Online stock libraries have hundreds of tracks to choose from.
Here’s a product demo with good music.
Voice Talent
If your in-house talent speaks very well, you may be able to get away without hiring a professional. But often a good public speaker doesn’t necessarily mean she or he will do well on a voiceover. If so, hire a professional voice talent. You can easily audition several online.
Conclusion
A product demo needs to be well-made. Like other marketing materials, it reflects who you are as a brand and will help to close deals.
For more information on how Picturelab can help you with your product demos, contact us at info@picturelab.com.