Micro Demos: The New Way to Sell

The customer attention span is eight seconds. No wonder, ninety percent of them prefer short-form content.

This has seen the rise of snackable content, such as TikTok videos, infographics, bite-sized news, explainer videos, and micro demos. 

In this article, discover how to use micro demos for sales and marketing and some best practices to consider. 

What Is a Micro Demo? 

A micro demo is a condensed form of a product demo that focuses on a single customer pain point or product feature. 

Think of it like an elevator pitch, short, focused, and value-driven. 

While a traditional product demo communicates the entire product features to the customer, a micro demo focuses only on the ones the customer needs. 

Micro Demo vs Traditional Product Demos 

Here are the primary differences between the micro demo system and traditional product demos: 

Where and How to Use Micro Demos?

Micro demos have both sales and marketing use cases. Here's how you can use them:

1. Build prospect interest with pre-sales outreach

Want to give your newsletters an edge? Want to reduce your pre-demo churn? Want to boost your email click-through rate? Slide in micro demos in your email sequences. They reduce the conversion pressure of a call-to-action (CTA); instead, they take your prospects closer to the purchase stage with an interactive product demo. 

2. Boost product recall with post-sales interactions

Your deal close rates will diminish if you don’t send a demo follow-up email. An important component of a successful follow-up email is adding leave-behinds, i.e. summarize takeaways such as key features or solutions. Customize your micro demos to include key takeaways from your original demo. This way, you’ll be able to drive greater product recall. Here’s a micro product demo follow-up email template you can copy: Hi {Name}‍Thanks for joining the product discovery call yesterday. It was great meeting your team and learning more about your goals to {enter business pain point} ‍Here are the key takeaways from yesterday’s call: 

1. Takeaway 1
2. Takeaway 2
3. Takeaway 3
4. Takeaway 4

‍Here’s a short demo that shows how {your product can solve their pain points}. As a next step, I’m sharing my availability for a 30-minute call next week to answer any questions. ‍

‍Best, 

{Signature} 

3. Get prospects excited about product updates

Your prospects can easily miss out on product updates unless you make them stand out. The difference between a help doc describing the update and a micro demo showcasing it is huge. Micro demos are also a great way to let prospects try out your product in real-time before onboarding. How to use micro demos for various customers: 

1. New customers - Use micro demos during onboarding to align key product features to specific pain points and proven outcomes. For example, showcase how your product can reduce customer churn. 
2. Existing customers - Demonstrate which specific challenge your product update helps solve with a micro demo. Bring out—with data—how the update can add value to their day-to-day operations. 
3. Potential customers - Highlight product comparison with micro demos. Show a before-after comparison that clearly points out your product’s competitive advantage.

4. Optimize website conversions 

The global average website conversion rate is 3.68 percent. Website conversion is hard. It’s not enough to just place screenshots of your product offerings on your website. That won’t convert your visitors. However, interactive micro demos will. Especially if you place them strategically on landing pages, blog posts, or knowledge base pages.

Also read: 15 CRO strategies for 2024

Best Practices for Creating a Micro Demo

Micro demos are a powerful way to capture attention and drive results. The effectiveness of micro demos, rely mostly on strong planning and smart execution. Here are some key practices to ensure your micro demo hits the mark

Know your audience: Whether crafting a marketing piece or a sales tool, understanding your buyer personas or target demographics is crucial. By tailoring your message to resonate with your target audience, companies will be able to gain more traction.

Define your goal: Align your micro demo's objective with the company’s ultimate goal. A clear objective, be it to raise brand awareness, generate leads, or educate potential customers about your product, keeps your message focused and impactful.

Focus on one problem (or solution): Each micro demo should address a single pain point your audience faces or showcase a specific and compelling value proposition of your product. 

Craft your value proposition: Clearly communicate the "why" in your product in the micro demo. Once you've communicated your value, conclude with a clear call to action, encouraging users to take the next step, whether it's visiting your website, contacting your sales team, or learning more about your offering.

How Can Storylane Help You Create a Micro Demo in Less Than 10 Minutes?

Creating impactful product demos can be time-consuming. Storylane streamlines the process, letting you capture your product directly through our Chrome extension –  no complex software needed.

Our platform intelligently sequences your screens, automatically adds tooltips, and guides users through key touchpoints.

With Storylane, you create a demo once and personalize it endlessly using dynamic tokens, perfect for sales presentations. Plus, embedding your demo on websites, landing pages, or emails has never gotten more easier, making it a marketing powerhouse too.

Micro Demo Examples: Powered by Storylane

Micro demos are short, interactive product tours that condense complex features into bite-sized explanations. Storylane allows businesses to create these micro demos, enhancing user understanding and driving conversions.

• OtterTune: Their micro demo guides users through the product directly on their website, leading to a significant increase in both demo engagement time (over 5 minutes) and sales inquiries (by 10%).
• BugHerd: They skyrocketed website engagement and conversions with an interactive homepage demo. Shilpa Wason, their Head of Growth, saw over 150,000 impressions and a 6.45% increase in trial signups within four weeks.
• Uberall: They used a micro demo to introduce their new Social Post Assistant, resulting in an average engagement time of nearly 10 minutes and a remarkable 77% conversion rate for their call to action.