How to create a product demo GIF [2024]

You've likely seen a product demo GIF before. It's one of those slick, animated images you often see on social media, landing pages and emails showing off a new product feature in a loop.

There are 2 main types of animated GIFs you can use to showcase your SaaS product:

• Product demo GIFs: Recordings of your actual UI being used.
• Illustrated GIFs: Animated, custom illustrations that give a more abstract view of your UI.

Illustrated GIFs are quite tricky to create unless you're a very capable designer. A good thing about them is that don't have to update them whenever your UI changes, but they don't actually let the viewer get a sense of how your product looks and functions.

Product demo GIFs on the other hand do require updating from time to time if your UI majorly changes, but if you're using a fit for purpose tool to generate them, then the creation process should be relatively painless.

Should you use a video or GIF?

The most recognisable characteristic of GIFs is that they're short, start playing automatically and continuously loop back to the start once finished.

They're particularly useful as they can be used in any piece of software that lets you upload images (even if said software doesn't support video, eg: Gmail). The downside however, is that GIFs are generally lower quality for a given file size when compared to a video - thus they can look a little grainy or jittery when compressed too far.

Certain video formats like webm can help solve the quality issue. They still can behave like a GIF (short, auto playing and looping) but the downside is they're not as widely compatible as a file format.

In general, you should aim to use webm where you can (for example on LinkedIn, Twitter (X) and as a website embed) and opt for GIFs when video embeds are not supported (for example on Gmail or any other emailing tool).

How long should an animated GIF be?

You should try keep a looping GIF to under 10 seconds in length. This should be enough time to show a feature in action and keep the viewer engaged. Any longer than that and they tend to lose a viewer's attention and blow out in size (making them slow to load).

If you're trying to show off a more complex feature or demo a longer flow in your platform, you should check out our product demo guide to understand what kind of demo best suits your use-case.

4 best use-cases for product GIFs

1. Landing page animations

Animated GIFs are an awesome way to spruce up your landing page and convey some more information about your product to visitors. You can pretty much place them anywhere, but they're best used as small accompanying graphics to explanations of specific features.

If you're looking to show off more than one feature of your product, you should consider a different format like an interactive product demo. These are better suited to longer product tours, as they are more engaging and result in a higher conversion rate.

>>See examples of high-converting interactive product demos<<

2. Social media posts

Whether you're using your personal or company social media accounts to keep customers and prospects up to date with your latest developments, you should accompany every new feature launch with a product GIF.

These help your audience visualise what you're trying to describe and generate enough interest to get viewers clicking through to a longer article or a more detailed product demo.

Just launched an article or home page? Try our free scrolling website gif generator.

3. Feature launch emails

It's easy for your company communications to get lost in your customer's inbox. No one wants to read a big wall of text about your new feature, so what better way to get your point across than with an embedded GIF that will catch the reader's attention?

4. Personalised outbound

Much like with a feature launch email, you can embed a GIF into your outbound email sequences to help your message stand out in the noise.

3 ways to create a product demo GIF

1. Using a purpose-built tool like Howdygo

HowdyGo is a Chrome extension that lets you build interactive demos, videos and GIFs in minutes.

Instead of recording a video, where you need to be conscious of timing and mouse movements, HowdyGo lets you click through a flow in your app, edit the UI in each captured step, and then export the flow as a slick, optimised GIF.

You can start using HowdyGo right now for free.

Key features

• Create GIFs, interactive product demos and videos with a single tool.
• Capture a flow through your app, rather than a video so you don't need to stress about timing and mouse movements.
• Edit the captured UI - replace text and images to hide sensitive data or simply tell the right story.

See how a GIF is made in HowdyGo with this interactive demo

2. Using a screen recorder

There are a wide range of screen recording platforms available that give you enough post-production control to build a good looking demo video. You should check out our best demo video production tools guide for a full list of paid and free tools.

It doesn't take long to record a video, but getting it right will take a few shots and some planning. Specifically, make sure that when you record, your timing is fast enough and that your mouse movements are smooth, else you'll end up with a very average looking GIF.

Once you've created a video you're happy with, you can export it as a GIF through the tool or by simply using a free online converter.

3. Building animated GIFs from mockups or illustrations

If you're not looking to record your live UI because you either want to use pre-existing mockups or some slightly more abstract illustrations, you can do that too.

Mockups are best created using design platforms like Figma, Sketch or Adobe Photoshop. You can then animate your mockups or illustrations with Figma itself or by using something like Framer or Lottie.

This process gives you the most control over your output, but also means that it requires a lot of extra work illustrating your UI and animating it from the ground up. You should consider hiring a motion designer to avoid some of the headaches.

Conclusion

GIFs are a great way to bring your marketing assets to life. They're more eye-catching than static images and can help you take the "Show, don't tell" approach on any channel you use for marketing.

There are a number of ways to create GIFs, some requiring a little more effort than others. If you're ready to create a GIF, you can try HowdyGo for free - the easiest way to demonstrate your product.

‍