HN Explorer

Ask HN: How do you demo and sell your product/service?

20 points by willheim ↗ HN
What tools are you using on your site to demo it?

Screencast? Video? Animation? Stills? Just text?

A combination of all of those?

What is most effective for you?

12 comments

[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 51.5 ms ] thread
delano
Giving your product a personality is more important than the medium and tools you choose to promote it.
jsean
What more specifically is meant by giving the product a "personality"? A touch of distinction, perhaps even allowing it to be opinionated. But what does that mean on a more practical/concrete level?
delano
Among other things, the personality bundles up the intangible aspects of the product in a way that helps potential customers figure out whether they love it or hate it.
jsean
What are some of those intangible aspects? Any examples?
delano
How does the product make you feel when it works well? And how about when it breaks or wastes your time?
willheim
So are we talking about an Octopussy like Github and a Fail Whale like Twitter? Cutesy personality stuff like that?

May work for some... and certainly throwing down a comical quirkiness to your failings helps to ease the pain of being down (Fail Whale, Blippy's rainbow 404 page - not site failing but still cute) but one must be careful with how they go about giving a personality. Too cute and missing the target market and I'd wager you'd be dismissed as amateur.

If what you mean by personality is "theme" then, yes. Every site, every business, every aspect needs a consistent theme. It doesn't matter if you're a SAAS or a coffeeshop, a manufacturer or a lawyer. Every business needs a theme that demonstrates their "why".

That still doesn't answer the question posed, though.

spencerfry
Simply allow people to one click into a demo site with full functionality.
fezzl
I agree that a demo website is the most helpful. If your product requires data to illustrate its usefulness/features, do preload some data as well as provide a stage-by-stage walkthrough (e.g. try doing A, click B to do C, etc.). The only drawback is that a demo might be more time-consuming, resulting in sign-up friction. As an alternative to the demo, I have a 30-second video with screencasts baked in it. Also, never require sign-up information just to try a demo. If they're really interested, they would go for the trial, during which you can start capturing your leads.

Personally, I find screenshots rather unhelpful and, to some extent, fake. Sometimes it feels like vaporware. The best remedy to that sort of impression is to give a live demo.

willheim
Yes, That is certainly a useful suggestion. Seems that taking away any barriers to entry to trial it out with pre-populated data would:

1) lower resistance to test the product/service. 2) Eliminate the need for a free trial period 3) Increase conversions.

Has anyone done this and what was your response rate?

zaidf
We pitch over the phone using gotomeeting to do a 5-10min demo.
javery
I am still pre-beta so I am showing the application in person or using GoToMeeting to potential customers. I have setup the more serious ones account to try out and use (but not in production).
smysore
you could probably make a cool demo just using camtasia. there's a 30-day free trial. it's a pretty good combination of screencast, voice, effects / production, text and is good for a first version. not sure what the best tool is..