You’ve got a great product. You believe in it, and are excited to share it with others – but we here at Synima know that without a product demo video detailing those brilliant features, or a product demo presentation showcasing its ease of use, you won’t yet find others with the same enthusiasm.
Investing in a new product is always a risk, and there’s a million questions on buyers’ minds, but by building an informative explainer video that proves the benefits of your product, you’ll position yourself as reliable, trustworthy, and ease all of your customer’s doubts – leading to more conversions and potential buyers!
In this article, we’ll journey through every caveat of the demo video production process and all types of product demo videos to help you create a product demo that captivates – but if you’d rather save time and team up with a production company who have experience crafting successful product demos already, then we’ve got you covered.
Overview of Effective Product Demo Video Production
• Product demo videos guide users and make for a compact, accessible way to concisely prove the value of your product or service.
• Through storytelling and interactive elements, a demo video helps grounds how your product works into reality, making its benefits tangible.
• Customers need a range of sources to make a buying decision, use product demo videos to provide your target audience with another way to learn about your brand.
84% of people say they’ve been convinced to make a purchase based on a brand’s video (Wyzol).
Step-by-Step Process for Creating a High-Converting Product Demo
Creating a product demo video that will boost sales relies on a solid plan, so get clear on the following steps: from identifying your target audience, to improving product engagement through a benefit-focused approach, to mapping out a relatable customer journey.
Step 1: Identify Your Target Audience and Their Pain Points
If you’re looking for video messaging ideas, then knowing who you are presenting to should inform most of your decisions. Performing a target audience analysis is the way to go – from a business perspective, two different user personas will (for example) benefit from quite different video content potentially. Think about pain points – what could that potential customer have as a problem you could help them solve?
While an SMB’s main pain point could be the need for a flexible, scaled-down solution, a corporate decision-maker’s interests may align more with a faster workflow. When shaping your demo video, make sure that the pain points you address speak directly to your specific end users and their needs.
Step 2: Focus on Benefits, Not Just Features
We believe that one of the most important conversion strategies is having a “solution focus” – that means, instead of just pointing out key features, embed them in a story that really shows off how your product solves a problem. It’s important to look beyond just product features, and incorporating storytelling in this way not only proves that your product is genuinely valuable but grounds your product into reality too, helping customers see how they can use the product in their lives. If your product’s features and benefits can’t be viewed directly, like a software product or a cloud-based service, and you require a more abstract explanation, then an animated explainer video can help.
Step 3: Script and Plan Your Demo Storyline
Emotive storytelling, with a clear story arc and a compelling narrative that buyers can relate to and engage with, is what takes your demo from a nebulous list of features to a tangible solution.
In our opinion, the best product demo video structure is a simple, three act one – starting with the frustration, or pain point that your audience will be familiar with, then transitioning to how your product serves as a solution, and finishing off with the ease that a customer now feels after integrating your product into their life. This storyline can double up as a real customer testimonial, too – increasing the credibility of your product. Whether you opt for a live action or animated product demo, an easy-to-follow narrative will help you stay relatable.
Best Product Demo Elements
Now, with your main plan established and a solid foundation built, you can start working on the finer details like helpful visual elements, great video quality, and consistent branding that will have you optimizing your video content for web, social media platforms and in-person demonstrations.
Product Video: What Type of Video Length?
When you create a product demo, you should be concise and focused, which will be reflected in the video duration. In our opinion, the best length for a demo video is around 1-2 minutes, just enough time to maintain viewer engagement, prove the benefits of your product or service, and answer your customers’ FAQs. By sticking to this video length, you’ll ensure that the points and footage that you include are truly relevant.
Quality Video: Visual and Audio Design
Professional demo videos need professional audio and visual quality. You want to build credibility with your product, and a high-quality video production will only solidify that. If you don’t have broadcast-quality production skills, don’t worry! We here at Synima are always fully equipped to take on a video project challenge.
Consistent branding is vital for quality too, especially as you start to build a relationship with customers, as they’ll be turning to the rest of your online presence after engaging with your demo to see if you’re reliable. Animation, utilized as visually appealing overlays, is often used here to elevate your brand image and tie in important elements, like your color scheme or logo.
Leverage Social Proof and Data
Using social proof is a fantastic way to further establish credibility and create videos that leave a lasting impact. By combining genuine endorsements with a robust showcase of your product’s unique selling points, you’ll satisfy the need for customer reviews and a real-life demonstration in one. We recommend that you amplify this further with any helpful or striking statistics you’ve gathered to really create a compelling narrative that cements your product as credible.
97% of customers read reviews online (BrightLocal)
Common Pitfalls to Avoid in Video Production
Knowing what mistakes to avoid when making an effective product demo video is equally as important as learning what works. It’s crucial to avoid the following pitfalls: jargon overload, technical errors, and video length issues.
87% of consumers say video quality impacts their trust in a brand (Wyzol)
You should of course be informative, but when you start to overload customers with new information and unfamiliar vocabulary, that’s when you end up breaking that connection-building sense of relatability, and in doing so, you only end up causing more confusion. Make sure to stick to a length of 1-2 minutes for an overview of your product (which should partly prevent your video from becoming too overwhelming), and consider using animation if you have unique features and benefits that are too complex to capture in live action – an informative animation will do the trick and be much easier to follow.
Call-to-Action: Closing Your Video
In order to create a product demonstration that drives actionable results, adding a CTA to product demo videos is a necessary final step. Some call-to-action tips that we recommend are making the guidance 100% clear and simple to follow – something strong and decisive like “sign up for a free trial” or “subscribe to our newsletter here”. An action-oriented CTA is fantastic video marketing strategy that you can incorporate into your demo video, so make sure your customers know exactly what to do.
Optimizing and Analyzing Your Demo
An often-overlooked aspect of the demo video production process – measuring the success of your video is absolutely crucial, iterating through versions until you hit the peak of optimization. Some performance metrics to focus on include conversion rates, watch time, and engagement – which we here at Synima suggest you track through A/B testing.
A/B Testing and Conversion Tracking
Keeping your recording process flexible and planning for variation is what allows you to effortlessly A/B test product demonstration videos. Just specify a few variables to measure, such as a shorter or longer video length, or a different tone to your CTA, and build two versions of your video which you can then evenly distribute. Identifying specific differences and making them markedly distinct is key to deriving accurate results from split testing – but make sure to track important KPIs too, like view rate, click-through rate, and conversions. This will ensure your final product reaches the right people and through the right medium.
Video Marketing: Embedding and Sharing Across Platforms
Deciding where to share demo videos and corporate for maximum impact depends mostly on your target audience – with social media reaching a broader customer base, and email marketing delivering your message straight to other businesses. Targeting those who are actively searching for a solution to their pain point through solid SEO is something you mustn’t overlook too, with this customer-base undoubtedly being the most invested in what your product has to offer.
Final Thoughts: The Software Demo Video Production Process + Working with a Video Company
By following this demo video production guide, you’ll be set to create a compelling, high-quality video that fully proves the capabilities of your product, reaching customers who’ll wholeheartedly benefit from incorporating it into their lives. With over 20 years of creative services experience working closely with clients to craft exceptional demo videos, our in-house creative team here at Synima are fully equipped to handle any type of demonstration and are passionate about capturing the best of any product.
Do you need a corporate video or a demo for customers, sales teams, social media or other specialised production?
If so and you would like to learn more about what goes into product demo video creation, or are looking for a video services partner who has expertise in creating animated and live action demo videos, then feel free to contact our video production agency.
As a journalist specialising in video content, Emily possesses expertise across all facets of the industry, from emerging trends to innovative communication strategies that empower brands to effectively tell their stories.