Sales Demo Environment: The Ultimate Guide

The days of traditional one-sided sales presentations are long gone. Today's prospects expect interactive experiences versus passively consuming demo content and wasting time listening to a sales rep talk about product features. 

This is where sales demo environments come in. You can use them to make your sales calls more interactive or publish them on your website so the prospects can try your product and self-qualify in their own time.

In this article, we’ll explain the different types of sales demo environments to help you choose the right one for you. Plus, we’ll show you how to make your own interactive sales demo environment quickly and easily.

What is a sales demo environment?

A sales demo environment is a simulated version of a product or tool designed to showcase its features and benefits to potential customers. A good sales demo environment usually looks and feels the same way as your tool, but it’s a replica.

Unlike the actual tool, a demo environment doesn’t use real data, making it a safer option for testing, as prospects don’t have to input their own data, nor can they accidentally interfere with something.

It allows prospects to interact with the product and try its features in a risk-free setting without editing real data. The whole interactive experience will enable you to present your product in a much more convincing way. Compared to standard screenshots or static videos, interactive demos often lead to higher conversion rates and better engagement.

There are different types and use cases of sales demo environments. Before you choose a demo-creating tool, you should figure out what type of demo environment you need.

Sales teams can use a sales demo environment during presentations and sales calls. They can send it to prospects as a follow-up or use it in marketing campaigns.

On one hand, there are tools that help you create a demo environment that sales can use in calls to demonstrate specific use cases. 

On the other hand, there are tools for creating self-guided demos that prospects can view on their own as a follow-up. They can be embedded on your website, you can use them in your marketing campaigns or send them as follow-up after a sales call.

If you need both types, HowdyGo allows you to create both a sales demo environment for live calls and interactive self-guided demos. Also, you can turn one into another with just a few tweaks, like adding annotations.

Click here to see some interactive product demo examples that can be used in sales.

The benefits of a sales demo environment

The sales demo environment has many benefits both for your sales reps and prospects: everything from data protection to customer engagement. Here are just some of them:

• Avoiding technical difficulties: Technical glitches happen all the time. They also tend to happen exactly when you need to present your tool in the best light, such as during a sales presentation. Unexpected issues can be avoided by using a pre-made sales demo environment which you have complete control over independently from your live app and development team so nothing can surprise you.
• Increasing customer engagement: Sales teams often complain that their prospects check out mentally during long sales calls. It's no wonder, as no one likes to listen to long and dry lists of features. A sales demo environment can significantly improve the pre-sales evaluation journey and engagement by allowing prospects to try the tool and be active participants instead of passive listeners.
• Protecting sensitive data: Some customers might be reluctant to try the tool using their own data, especially those who are working with sensitive data, like healthcare or legal companies. A secure demo environment allows them to try the tool risk-free, so they don't have to worry about accidentally editing or removing data.
• Implementing personalization at scale: personalization is one of the most effective marketing and sales strategies, personalized demos are much more effective than one-size-fits-all solutions. You can personalize your sales demo environments for each prospect beforehand by adding their company logo, name and other relevant information. For more tips, check out these tips for better interactive product demos.
• Saving time: It might take some time to set up your first sales demo environment (although it's much quicker than you probably think), but once you have it, you can easily replicate it for multiple prospects and save yourself the time spent preparing for each sales call.

Of course, you can’t expect these benefits with any kind of demo. To get inspired, check out these 9 interactive product demo examples you can copy in 2024.

Types of sales demo environments

There are different types of sales demo environments that can depend on many factors such as the stage of the buyer’s journey. For the purpose of this article, it’s important to make a difference between:

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1. Live call demo environment
2. Self-guided demo environment

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The first type is used during sales calls and it’s usually guided by a salesperson who is doing a presentation. They look similar to your tool, but they’re populated with dummy data so that you don’t have to expose your client’s sensitive data.

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The second type has multiple use cases. We’re talking about clickable demos that users can try out on their own, whenever they want, and get a firsthand experience. They’re often used in early-stage evaluations when prospects want to test the tool before committing to a live demo. 

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They can save your salespeople a lot of time and effort, as they let users self-qualify before booking a sales call. 

While live demo environments have one main purpose, here are some ways you can use self-guided demos:

• You can embed them to your website or landing page
• You can use them in your marketing campaigns
• You can send them as follow-up after a sales call
• Potential customers can share them with other decision-makers in their organization

How to create a sales demo environment

One of the fastest ways to create custom demos is using high-quality sales demo software like HowdyGo.

While some demo recording software just take screenshots of your tool, HowdyGo captures HTML that can later be edited.

For example, some companies edit the UI in the demo environment or blur certain features and highlight others to make a demo more user-friendly. We’ll talk more about editing your demo in the following steps.

 Here's how to do it:

1. Set up your account

• Sign up for HowdyGo for free. You can test the demo creation platform for 14 days completely free, no strings attached.
• Download HowdyGo's Chrome extension to record demos.

2. Capture a recording

• Go to your software or app and then activate the HowdyGo extension. Press the red "Start Recording" button to begin.

• Now, just move through your tool as you'd normally do, whether you want to showcase different features or perform a particular workflow. HowdyGo records your flow automatically and breaks it down into steps , making it easier to follow.
• The tool is based on the 1 click = 1 step rule, meaning that it will create one step for every click you make. Of course, you can edit and remove steps later. If you want to do something without recording, no problem. Just pause the recording and restart it when you're ready.
• To finish, just press "Stop Recording" to save your flow, or "Cancel Recording" if you want to start again.
• Don't switch tabs until all your recording data is uploaded and you're redirected to the HowdyGo Editor. The process is very quick.

3. Edit the recording

You can record your tool once and then use the same recording to create personalized demos for multiple prospects.

Here's what you can do:

• Add annotations and highlights: You can add annotations for every step, providing additional guidance. Annotations are short in-app textual explanations that look like comments. Many companies use this feature to highlight the most important or little-known features or provide bonus tips to their prospects. 

You can also use them to handle concerns in a subtle way. For example, if you already know some common questions that people tend to ask about a particular feature, you can anticipate them by providing an answer with annotations. 

If you want to learn more about interactive elements, check out HowdyGo's guide on how to create a great interactive product demo.

• Reorganize the steps: Use the drag-and-drop editor to reorder the steps any way you want. You can also remove unnecessary steps or add new ones. This option comes in handy when you add new features, as you won't have to re-record the whole demo from scratch. 

You can simply record the part on new features and add it to your existing demo.

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4. Edit the captured HTML

As promised at the beginning of the article, you can edit and enhance the actual content of your demo! That's possible because HowdyGo isn't a simple demo-recording tool that creates a screen record of your app.

HowdyGo captures HTML, CSS, media and fonts to create a pixel-perfect copy of your product, so good that probably even you won't see the difference. Now, here's the fun part. You can edit the HTML copy of your app as much as you want.

• Editing the text: To edit any textual element, all you have to do is click on it and enter a new text in the field that pops up. This feature can be useful if you want to hide a client's actual data for privacy and security reasons or if something in your app has changed after making the first recording.

• Replacing the images: It's possible to change all images that appear on your screen recording. Many companies use this feature to add their prospect's logo or their profile picture, for an extra layer of personalization. 

You can also bulk-add logos and pictures throughout the whole demo by using the automatic brand fetch feature.

• Blurring: You can blur any part of the screen, simply by selecting "Blur HTML" from the top menu and clicking on the elements you want to blur. 

You can use this feature to hide sensitive customer details like their contact information or to highlight the most important features by removing not-so-important elements from the background.

If you want to dive deeper, check out these 7 tips for better interactive product demos.

5. Track and optimize

HowdyGo offers many other customization features that you can explore for free during your trial period. Also, personalization options are basically unlimited.

To create a perfect sales demo environment, you may need to test a few versions with your potential customers to see which one converts the best. But HowdyGo has you covered here as well. Its analytics automatically capture prospect behavior, enabling you to make data-driven decisions.

You will get insights into the percentage of users who completed the whole demo, actions taken by leads, their progression and engagement. This helps you identify drop-off points to optimize and increase conversion.

Interested in analytics? Click here to discover why your book-a-demo button is losing conversions.

Sales demo environments for live demos vs automated demos

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Sales demo environments for live demos are used during sales calls where a salesperson guides a prospect through the product, showcasing its features. This type of demo environment looks very similar to your tool, except for the fact that it’s filled with dummy data. This provides a risk-free environment to test the tool without exposing any sensitive data.

On the other hand, automated or self-guided demos can be used on their own, without the need to book a sales call or reach out to a salesperson. They can be embedded in your website and available 24/7 on-demand to those who wish to see your tool in action.

They allow users to explore the tool on their own by clicking around, controlling their own pace, skipping some steps, etc. They often come with annotations or additional explanations that help users fully understand the tool and its features, just like a salesperson does during the live call.

Product demos created with HowdyGo can be used for different purposes, with slight adjustments during the demo creation process. To learn more about different types of demos, check out our interactive demo hierarchy.

If you're creating a demo environment for a live demonstration during a sales call, there's no need to add annotations, as your sales reps will be guiding prospects through the demo and explaining all the features.

However, even during live calls, a simulated environment is a much better option than good old demo videos, as it allows your prospect to actively participate in the sales process and get to know your product better.

On the other hand, automated demos can be used for multiple purposes, both before, during and after a sales call. Here are the three most common use cases:

1. Website embed: You can add interactive demos to your website or landing page so that all visitors can see it and those interested in learning more can book the call. Click here to discover how to increase conversion of your book-a-demo page.

2. Demo center: During a sales call, you have only a limited amount of time until your prospect loses interest, so you usually can't show them multiple demos. 

That doesn't mean you can't add more interactive demos to your website and even create a whole demo center (on our demo platform or on your own website) where your target audience can dive deeper into use cases and features that interest them. 

People often visit your demo center after a sales call as they want to get additional information in their own time.

3. Shareable links: You can share demos with a simple link as an excellent follow-up strategy after a sales call. 

That way, your prospects will not only be able to return to your sales material, but they can also share it with other stakeholders in their organization, speeding up the whole decision-making process.

If you want to learn how to implement different types of demos, check out how Flagsmith uses interactive product demos to attract new customers.

The biggest benefit of automated demos is that they're available 24/7 on your website and allow prospects to self-qualify without the hassle of booking a call, leaving their email, etc. This can significantly shorten your sales cycle and save your sales reps a lot of time and energy, as they'd be talking only to qualified leads who already know what they want from your product.

If you're used to live sales demos and you worry that an automated demo may not be able to fully convey your message and convince prospects like an experienced sales rep, don't worry - you can add annotations that provide additional explanations.

In fact, the insights from your sales team can help you create a good sales demo environment that addresses all prospect concerns.

Finally, demos can also be used for lead and demand generation. Check out these SaaS demand generation tactics and strategies.

Conclusion

You now have everything it takes to create a great sales demo environment and the only thing you need is a reliable tool to support you along the way.

With HowdyGo, you can easily create unlimited demo environments and product tours that you can customize for each prospect with only a few clicks.

You can use these for your live demos, or create guided versions that you can share with prospects or embed on your website.

Get started for free and create your first demo today.

FAQs

What are the three types of demos?

• Live demos during sales calls
• Self-guided demos that can be embedded into your website or shared via link
• Video demos ( increasingly being replaced with the more interactive self-guided demos )

How to build a demo environment?

The easiest way to build a demo environment is by using a product demo tool to create a copy of your product that can later be customized by adding interactive elements, annotations, etc.

What is an example of a sales demo?

You can create a sales demo for any SaaS product, software or app. Instead of a passive demo video showcasing the UI, your sales demo should guide your prospects through the product’s features and allow them to try it on their own and get a first-hand experience of what it’s like using your app.

How to structure a sales demo?

Focus on solving specific problems your prospect is facing. Tailor your sales demo to highlight how your product addresses their pain points, using relevant features and real-life examples. 

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