It’s hard to be a buyer when it comes to demo
solutions. With a crowded landscape, new tech,
and various terminology, understanding who
does what in this space is easier said than done.
And that leaves buyers with a confusing and
convoluted buying process, trying to get to the
bottom of how each product was meant to be
used, and often ending up with a solution that
doesn’t actually solve their business problem.
Let’s break those down.
This guide is meant to demystify the various
types of demo technology, who plays where,
and what use cases are best suited for each type
of demo asset.
Let’s start with the problem you’re trying to solve.
The way we see it, there are three main use cases
for a demo solution:
 Create self-guided product tours that can be shared or embedded

This use case is all about enabling buyers to self-
educate on your product before talking to sales.
Maybe you’re looking to put an interactive product
tour on your website, or share a link to one in
your outbound cadences. In either case, product
tours are especially helpful in giving buyers a
taste of product right off the bat, rather than
being dragged through multiple calls with your
SDR or AE before ever seeing a demo. Not only
does this create a better buying experience for
your customer, it results in higher quality pipeline.
After all, those that want to dig deeper with your
sales team after taking a product tour are already
coming to that call with a better understanding
of your product offering - and you’ve weeded out
those that were just window shopping.
The Technology
The technology behind a tour is pretty
straightforward. You take HTML screenshots of
your product, then stitch them together through a
specific path, and add tooltips on top.
The result is a step-by-step, self-guided product
tour that walks a user through a linear flow.
This is a lot like clicking through a set of slides
with product images, or even a Figma prototype.
It’s perfect for top-of-funnel buyer enablement
or providing a product vignette, but won’t do
your product justice in a live demo. So as long as
your use case is about providing a self-guided,
bite-sized product experience, tours are a great
solution.
The product tour space is by far the most crowded,
as screenshot technology is the simplest to build.

The Players

(and 15 other companies...)

 Tailor the product story on live demos

The more you connect the dots of how your
product solves for their exact business needs, the
easier it is for them to see the value. The alternative
is asking your buyer to “imagine” how what you’re
showing could work for their business, and this
puts the burden of the cognitive load on them.
So pulling them into an immersive, tailored story
is crucial, but often easier said than done. It often
means plugging in dummy data sets into your
backend, which could take weeks if you have to
wait on R&D.
In this scenario, your use case is centered around
the ability to show a tailored product story on
your live demos. This could also include enabling
your team with a demo library of ready-to-use
templates, so all they have to do is plug in a few
values to personalize the story just before giving
a demo. A tool for this use case should provide
you with live demo analytics as well, and integrate
with your CRM so you can understand how your
demos are impacting deals.
The Technology
The technology for this use case leverages your
live application as the base for your demo, with
a tailored story layered on top. Consider it like a
mask or filter that shows the product story you
want to tell. And because your live application
is the base, you’re able to showcase every bit of
functionality your product has to offer - even real
time data or workflows that need to ping your
backend. Afterall, it’s the real thing.
At Demostack, we call this Overlay, since you’re
layering a tailored story on top of an existing
environment.
This technology is the new kid on the block in
terms of the broader market of demo solutions,
with a handful of logos playing in this space.

Let’s also assume you have a stable demo

environment (otherwise, you can skip ahead to
section 3).

The Players
 Scale and take control of the demo environment
The demo environment can feel impossible to
scale for a variety of reasons - it’s overly complex,
stuck between go-to-market and R&D with no
real owner, access control is a nightmare, or it’s
just plain unreliable, and you’re sick of surprises
popping up during live demos.
This use case is all about having a stable,
independent demo environment built for
showcasing, and completely owned by go-to-
market. A solution in this category should allow
you to easily spin up a demo environment that
doesn’t change as often as you release new
product updates. That way, your frontline reps
always know what to expect when going into a
live demo. Plus, you should be able to customize
the story here as well, but this time on top of a
separate demo environment, rather than your live
application.
The right solution in this space should also
allow you to share that demo environment as
a sandbox leave-behind, which can serve as a
POC or trial replacement. These can build a ton
of momentum after the live demo by allowing
your buyer to get their hands on product faster,
and share with other stakeholders who weren’t
on the call.
The Players
The Technology
This use case requires cloning technology. This
is the most complex type of tech in the broader
demo solution market, but when done right, it can
solve a massive need for SaaS teams struggling to
scale their demo environment.
Essentially, you clone your production environment
into a new demo environment that’s independent
from your live application, then tailor the story to
your buyer.
In the case of Demostack cloning, we’re a proxy
that simulates your backend. Our Cloner records
all the traffic between the browser and your
backend, and saves it aside so we can simulate
it when you’re giving a live demo. We learn how
your backend responds to requests made during
cloning, so we can respond the same way - without
actually pinging your backend.
This cloning tech allows you to get a separate,
stable environment that’s built specifically for
showcasing. You’re able to show your real product
experience, through a story tailored to your buyer,
without worrying about product surprises or the
headache of a complex demo environment.
Lastly, consider the types of demo assets you’ll want to create, and where you’ll use them across your
sales and marketing funnel. After all, there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to demo technology.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

We hope this guide clarifies the various types of demo technology, who does what, and ultimately helps
you find the right solution for the problem you’re looking to solve. If you’re looking to level up your demos,
we’d love to chat.