Should You Build Your Own Demo?

Here are four quick questions to consider when deciding whether to produce your Website demo in-house or to outsource it:

1.) Have you ever given a live of presentation of the function or site feature you want to demo?

Building an automated demo is never as easy as it seems. An effective automated demo should stay between three- to five-minutes in length. A live presentation of the function or feature you want to demo may take as long as ten minutes to run through. How do you know what to cut and what to keep? If you make your demo too long, your customers won't hang around for all of it. If you keep it too short, you may not be giving them the info they need. It takes a professional demo-developer to shape your content for maximum results.

2.) Who will determine script and design aspects?

Writing the script for your automated demo and making sure it synchs with the actions you are demonstrating is a crucial component of your demo. What do you plan to show and how do you write an engaging script that keeps users interested? If this is your first experience creating an automated demo, then you need to do your homework.

3.) What about the voice?

To fully engage your viewer, you should include a voiceover to narrate what is being shown. The voiceover you record could possibly be the one variable that makes or breaks your Website demo. When it comes to recording audio for your demo, do not go lightly into the recording studio. A demo that has expert content matched with professional instructional design will crash and burn if the voiceover sounds unprofessional.

4.) What technology are you going to use?

In the world of Web 2.0, there is no room for patience. Now that everyone has access to high-speed Internet options, no one wants to wait for anything online, especially your demo. If the technology you are using to build your demo takes forever to load, or asks the viewer to download a plug-in (gasp!), then you are already behind the curve.

Remember, your customer's loyalty is only as strong as your site's usability. Giving them an automated tool to help them help themselves is a great way into their hearts and spending habits. But before you go down that path, be sure to create a Website demo that will give customers valuable information that's easy to access and is user-centric.

Success Stories:

Leading Internet companies choose Autodemo because we use a minimal amount of your time to deliver results that are always on target. Our demos can dramatically improve your conversion rates and reduce customer service costs.

Read case studies on demos we produced for Expedia, Amazon, and many others.