# Best Practices

* [A checklist for engaging, high-converting demos](#a-checklist-for-engaging-high-converting-demos)
* [Pick the right type of demo for your needs](#pick-the-right-type-of-demo-for-your-needs)
* [Demo creation best practices](#demo-creation-best-practices)

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### 👉 A checklist for engaging, high-converting demos

Hear from Renee, from our customer success team, on the makings of a great interactive demo!

{% embed url="<https://www.loom.com/share/a789c08f51344b4e855d11620b1f67d6>" %}

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### 👉 Pick the right type of demo for your needs

Once you have a rough idea of what you want your demo to look like, open up Storylane's extension and start recording. As you may already know, our extension supports a couple of types of demos:

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="230.5">Demo type</th><th>Who's it for?</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Screenshot Demo</strong></td><td><p>Choose this demo type if:</p><ul><li>You don't need to edit on-screen HTML elements or content (such as in-app text, names, logos, etc)</li><li>You're looking to create quick self-guided demos <br>(Not sandbox demo environments) </li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><strong>HTML Demo</strong></td><td><p>Choose this demo type if:</p><ul><li>You need to edit on-screen HTML elements or content</li><li>Need a responsive, life-like product demo experience</li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>

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### 👉 Demo creation best practices

Here are a few questions to think about before building your demos and Buyer Hubs

* Who is your audience? Use their vocabulary. Avoid internal language or tech jargon.
* What are those 3-5 "Aha!" moments you want to showcase from your product?
* What's your primary CTA for users? Eg: start trial, request demo, check out pricing, etc.
* How long should your demo be? We typically recommend limited demos to under 12 steps.
* Do you plan to gate your demo? If so, what's a strategic demo step to place the form in?

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Guided Demos" %}

* **Keep your demos short** \
  We recommend limited your demos to between 8-12 steps. If you need to more, consider splitting your demo into [chapters](https://docs.storylane.io/editing-demos/chapters-and-convert-cta).
* **Build a story, not a demo**\
  To create engaging demos, avoid dry "how to" style product walkthrough content. Instead, create compelling narratives that address relevant pain points and use cases.
* **Have an eye-catching opening**\
  Start your demo with something that sparks your prospects' interest. It could be a fun welcome message, a relevant image/meme, or a video to hook visitors in.
* **Capture the lead**\
  If you want to track who’s going through your demo, make sure you [capture leads](https://docs.storylane.io/analytics-and-performance/capture-leads) by asking the viewer for their email address or passing the email address as a UTM parameter.
* **Have a CTA**\
  Include a distinct call-to-action button that guides the viewer to take desirable next steps (Book a demo, start free trial, check out pricing, etc.)
* **Have a secondary CTA**\
  To ensure maximum exposure to your call-to-action (CTA), sprinkle in CTAs in the middle of your demo to encourage prospects to take next steps. &#x20;
* **Adopt brand color**\
  You can use the custom theme feature to change the color of all your guides at once to align with your branding.
* **Multiple links for a demo**\
  To track the performance of a demo in various locations, generate [multiple links](https://docs.storylane.io/sharing-demos/demo-link-sharing)[ ](https://docs.storylane.io/sharing-demos/share-link#additional-custom-links)for it.
* **Reuse stories**\
  You can reuse stories in [two ways](https://docs.storylane.io/account/managing-demos): copying screens from one demo to another or duplicating the entire demo.
* **Track engagement**\
  Examining the [analytics](https://docs.storylane.io/analytics-and-performance/tracking-and-analyzing) of your shared or embedded demo provides crucial insights for enhancing it.
* **Bored?**\
  By this point, you’re probably bored by our best practices and advice. Thus, this is a second reminder to keep your demo story short. :)
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="Buyer Hub" %}

* **Limit your Buyer Hub to 8-10 assets**\
  Buyer Hub is a great way to share multiple enablement assets in one place. That being said, to ensure ease of use and consumption, prioritise the top 8-12 assets to surface per Hub.&#x20;
* **Use Buyer Hub's&#x20;*****Buyer Enablement***\
  Group your Buyer Hub content by sections so users can pick what matters most to them.
* **Organize your Buyer Hub**\
  Organize your buyer hub by products, use cases, personas, etc. for better navigability
* **Mix formats**\
  With Buyer Hub, mix multiple asset types: demos, PDFs, videos, embeds, etc in one place. Also, keep your content unique: avoid adding similar content in multiple formats.
* **Keep PDFs short**\
  If you're sharing PDF resources, ensure they're short. We typically recommend 1-pagers.
* **Pick the right layout**\
  For sales use cases (leave behinds, champion enablement, etc), we recommend using the Playlist layout for Buyer Hub. For marketing use cases, consider the Gallery layout.
* **Use videos and voiceovers**\
  We encourage using videos and voiceovers (either AI generated or self-recorded) across the length of the Buyer Hub to ensure an engaging, personalized experience for your prospects
  {% endtab %}

{% tab title="Sandbox Demos" %}

* Keep your PoC demos (relatively) short: We recommend no more than 200 screens
* Use Storylane's [auto-capture feature](https://docs.storylane.io/recording-demos/recording-html-demos#html-capturing-methods) to link screens automatically
* Link screens from outside your product (integrations, pricing, trust center, etc)
* For live demos, use presenter notes to ensure smooth product walkthroughs
* For leave behinds, combine sandbox demos with guided flows
  {% endtab %}
  {% endtabs %}

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If you need help or have any questions, feel free to contact us at <support@storylane.io>.
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