Recently, I conducted some research on the demo experience for one of my clients. They were looking for a "mystery shop" for their demo process from a marketing point of view. So I thought it would be interesting to do this with a number of other Saas organizations to see what the market is like and how the competition stacked up. I chose some well-known Saas brands including, Salesforce, PandaDoc & Hubspot. You can also find a list of other popular CRM tools here for more examples, many of which have demo flows."
The results were very surprising. In the end, none of them provided, in my opinion, a world-class customer experience, however, I got a lot ideas and insights from the process so I thought I would share my learnings with you here on the blog.
Salesforce
Source: https://www.salesforce.com/uk/campaign/sem/salesforce-products
Source: https://www.salesforce.com/uk/form/contact/contactme
Key observations
- Clear value-based copy on the landing page
- Can see a benefit to clicking on the button - they will answer my questions & the reps are positioned to "help your business succeed"
Where it could improve
- The form, unfortunately, didn't work and I couldn't submit it! Luckily they did include a number on the landing page.
- I would like to know when I would receive a callback, even better would be if I could schedule a time that suited me better using a calendar tool.
Pandadoc
Key observations
- I loved the fact I am in control of when to schedule the demo, so I can choose a time that best suits me.
- I know exactly how long the demo will take
- There are some social proof and trust indicators used.
- They asked for "company size" to use for lead qualification or routing.
- I love the fact I can instantly see who I will be speaking with
- On the thank you page they offered additional content by including a link to the podcast.
Where it could improve
- Unfortunately, the huge letdown here was canceling the demo a few hours beforehand. I understand things happen, however, there was no offer of speaking to another colleague, or a link to reschedule etc.
- I then sent an email with some questions I was hoping to get answered and I had to chase for follow-up and was eventually given a less than helpful response
Hubspot
Source: https://offers.hubspot.com/demo
Key observations
- It was nice to have options of different channels I could use to contact Hubspot. It gave me control over the way I prefered to interact and also how I can speed up the process if I wanted to
- There were some good trust indicators used.
- They include an opt-in subscription to the blog (this is a great way to keep in touch of potential leads and gain subscribers)
Where it could improve
- I wasn't given any specifics about the demo itself, e.g. how long will it last, what will be covered, how will it benefit me etc. ?
- I received 2 different emails in 10 mins
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Would you like to get an indepth "mystery shop" of your demo experience?
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