Introducing Attributes to G2's Demo Automation Category

Demo automation software is a rapidly growing and evolving software category.

According to G2’s State of Software Report in October 2023, Demo Automation Software was the most visited new category on G2 (created in February 2023). This category has experienced rapid growth, not only in terms of traffic but also in terms of a proliferation of products; demo automation software has 39 products listed in it.

With the increasing number of demo automation products, we noticed a need to evolve the category to reflect the various use cases these solutions support.

Thus, G2 created "Use Case" attributes to the Demo Automation category to enable buyers to evaluate products that support one or multiple of the following use cases: Product Tours, Live Demos, and Sandbox/POC Automation.

As mentioned above, the number of products available on the market has been consistently increasing since its inception. Additionally, the volume of reviews for the category has increased month over month, further suggesting that these solutions are becoming more widely adopted.

Demo automation solutions can and should be used throughout the buyer experience

These solutions have a wide range of applications and can be leveraged across all GTM teams to enhance a buyer’s experience and, later, a customer’s experience. The ability to be infused throughout all GTM teams and the evolution of buyer preferences are likely key reasons for its proliferation.

Below, we will discuss the different use cases or types of demo automation solutions and how they can be leveraged throughout the GTM organization. 

Not all demo automation solutions are equal; focus on what’s important to your business

Given the wide applicability of demo automation solutions, organizations should consider what their business objectives are for these tools. 

Are you seeking to increase website conversions? Do you want sales reps to deliver demos? Are your buyers highly technical and seeking to explore the product on their own time? Is your solution complex and requires live demos with relevant data to showcase its capabilities? 

Due to the varying applications of demo automation solutions, G2 has added attributes for "Use Cases" to the Demo Automation category. While some products cover multiple use cases, others focus on maximizing a specific use case. Since its inception, demo automation software has been commonly associated with interactive product tours; however, there are other use cases and emerging solutions in this category that cater to different needs. 

Product tours have gained popularity due to their ability to reduce friction in the buying process and educate prospects seamlessly without using great technical or human resources. Additionally, the number of vendors offering product tour capabilities has steadily grown since the category’s creation, perhaps causing confusion for buyers as to how the various solutions in this space are differentiated. 

The growth of product tour products has led to pricing competition amongst the vendors while also enabling new entrants to focus on differentiated use cases other than product tours.

Below are the three use cases buyers can now use to filter the Demo Automation category to find a solution that meets their needs.

Product Tours

This use case is the most common amongst demo automation vendors, with many vendors starting to offer this use case due to the low barrier to entry, ease of implementation, and showing value. 

While the method of producing product tours may vary, with some vendors utilizing HTML capture, screenshots, video captures, etc., the focus remains on showcasing a product to a prospect on their own terms. Product tours walk through a product’s key features to prospects, either through a gated or ungated product tour.

Live Demos

This use case focuses on the ability to show live versions of a product with synthetic or overlayed data in a product, typically through a cloned demo environment or pre-configured account. These solutions enable presales individuals, or even AEs, to customize data within a demo to better tailor to the prospect’s interests—use case, industry, geographic, etc. 

Products for this use case better serve live demonstrations, as demos can better showcase data, graphs, and less restrictive guardrails typically found in demo environments. Presales individuals can showcase a plethora of features without fear of the demo instance breaking or displaying sensitive data.

Sandbox/POC Automation

This use case is evolving, with some new entrants focusing on providing a sandboxed environment or a lightweight proof of concept (POC) to allow prospects to have a trial-like experience of the product. Solutions in this space are helpful for highly complex products and industries or in sales cycles where evaluation is highly scrutinized and elongated. 

Typically, for this use case, sandbox/POC automation is done through either a cloned demo environment in which the front end and back end are cloned to replicate a product or through a pre-configured account with data. This use case is differentiated by its ability to allow prospects to "feel" a product more than any other use case.

How to leverage demo automation throughout your GTM organization

One of the benefits of demo automation solutions is the widespread applicability of the software, as it can be leveraged by various teams. It is essential to consider which teams and how each team will leverage the software when evaluating options.

Below are a few examples (but there are many other ways) of how different teams can leverage these tools.

Marketing

Marketers can embed product tours on a website to educate prospects on the product's features while reducing friction, ultimately increasing website conversions. They can also leverage these tools in marketing campaigns to get prospects engaged and educated earlier in the process. By leveraging product tours, marketers can provide higher-quality MQLs and more aligned messaging across their marketing channels (for both internal and external teams).

Sales

Sales teams can leverage these products to provide more in-depth and applicable leave-behind demos. Additionally, given the ease of tailoring demos, these solutions enable some sales reps to conduct basic demos without the need for additional technical resources.

Presales/solution consultants

Presales teams can leverage these solutions in various ways, including reducing their overall workload by having prospects use product tours more often and potentially unqualify themselves, and in turn, focus on higher viability deals. They can also better manage and customize a high quantity of demos through overlays/synthetic data and pre-configured data environments. These teams can also better manage demo environments channel partners use to ensure consistency throughout all sales channels. These solutions enable presales teams to do what they do best—demo effectively by tailoring demos to resonate with prospects better.

Customer success

Customer success can also leverage these tools by continuing customers’ knowledge about a product’s capabilities or new features. As product features evolve and are created, demo automation can help quickly educate the existing user base on how to best leverage new capabilities, as well as easily upsell to existing customers.

The future of demo automation

Since the category’s inception in February 2023, there’s been a continuous evolution in products’ messaging, capabilities, and use cases have continuously evolved. Many products have evolved from focusing on one specific use case to seeking to support multiple use cases.

Partnerships have also formed, enabling vendors to focus on use cases that they do well and form complementary relationships with others. Both of these trends are likely to continue as these products gain popularity and are infused throughout the buyer’s journey.

The demo automation space is not immune to the advent of generative AI as well. Many vendors have begun leveraging these innovative technologies to accelerate demo creation, personalization, and management.

G2 will continue to examine the growing demo automation market to ensure we stay abreast of the latest developments. This software category has tremendous potential to change how vendors sell (or demo) their products as they keep up with the latest buyer behavior trends—particularly the growing notion that buyers desire self-service options throughout the sales process.

Find the perfect demo automation solution through G2’s Demo Automation category. Discover tools tailored to your needs!

Edited by Jigmee Bhutia