Some thoughts on the Product Demo

Over the years, I have built a lot of products across a bunch of different segments, and one truism is that getting the product demo right is a big deal when it comes to connecting with customers, partners and investors.

Why? When done right, the product demo has the impact of engaging the audience and making them believers.

To be sure, this is no "sleight of hand," in that the demo is tangible, specific, logically ordered, and tells a story that strives to be engaging and authentic.

The product has to actually live up to the brand promises of the product demo.

Towards that end, there is a grounding aspect, in terms of how product design can be shaped by creation of the product demo, and vice versa.

For example, one can work backward from the product demo to the specific use case(s) being demonstrated, and infer the features required, the user flows, the benefits they deliver, and how the functionality is accessed by the user.

One can also work forward from the demo to the out-of-the-box experience for the user, training, product trials, support, future enhancements, and the like.

But the product demo is also about PHILOSOPHY, to which I’d put forth that one way to think about a product demo is akin an Infomercial.

The infomercial is for a set of gourmet cooking utensils, where the story is all about the terrific yummy dishes being cooked up using them.

There's, of course, a performative aspect in product demos for there's knowing, set up and the payoff, and hitting one's marks in terms of delivery, earnestness and energy.

Such Infomercials go one of two ways. They start by showing you the terrific dish — oh, it’s so delicious — and then pivot to the recipe and the actual making.

Or, they start by talking about the recipe and how easy and fun it is to make, and the payoff is the food coming out of the oven.

In other words, begin with the payoff. Or, finish with it.

Food for thought.