How to Make an Interactive Product Demo in 7 Steps

An interactive product demo lets someone try your product without signing up or booking a call. Making one used to mean stitching screenshots together by hand. Now a demo tool records the flow while you click through it, and most of the work is in the editing.

The short answer. Plan one flow, record it once with a demo tool, then edit each step. Write callouts, blur private data, change what the screen says, and add an end card with a next step. Then share it as a link, an embed or a file. With Proovyt the recording takes as long as the click-through itself.

For more on this topic, read Best Interactive Demo Software and Hexus Alternatives.

Key Takeaways

• Plan one flow with a clear start and end before you record.
• Record it once with Proovyt Capture. Each click becomes a step with a hotspot.
• Write short callouts, then blur private data and change what the screen says.
• Add an end card with buttons that send the viewer somewhere next.
• Publish as a link or an embed, then use drop-off by step to find the step to fix.

Before You Start

You need three things.

• A flow. One task a viewer should see done, such as sending a first invoice.
• A clean account. A test or demo account with believable data, if you have one.
• A demo tool. This guide uses Proovyt. The Free plan has 3 published demos and every editing tool.

Step 1. Plan the Flow

Write down the clicks before you record. A good demo shows one job from start to finish.

• Start where the viewer would start, such as the dashboard.
• End on the result, such as the sent invoice.
• Cut anything that does not move the story forward.

Step 2. Install the Extension

To record, add Proovyt Capture, the Chrome extension, and connect it to your Proovyt account.

It only works on the tab you choose to record and on the Proovyt app. It has no access to every site you visit. Already have screenshots? Drop, paste or pick image files in the editor, and each one becomes a step.

Step 3. Record the Flow

1. Start recording. Open Proovyt Capture on the tab you want to record and press Start recording. On Pro and Team, choose Screenshot or HTML capture first.
2. Click through. Use your product as normal. Each click takes a screenshot and marks where you clicked.
3. Stop. Press Stop and create demo when the flow is done.

A recording pill on the page counts the steps as you go. A recording holds up to 200 steps.

Step 4. Guide the Viewer

The editor opens on a new demo, one step per click, with a hotspot on each click.

• Hotspot and callout. Drag the hotspot onto what matters and write the callout beside it.
• Zoom. Zoom a step up to 3x on the hotspot. Callouts keep their size, so text stays crisp.
• Label. Pin a short note anywhere on the screen.
• Highlight. Dim the rest of the screen so one area carries the step.
• Style presets. Accent, Dark and Light styles for callouts, hotspots and labels, on one step or every step at once.

Write callouts as short instructions. Say what the click does, not what the button is called.

Step 5. Clean the Screens

• Blur and redact emails, names and figures. Blur is baked into the pixels when you publish or export.
• Replace text to cover a word or a line with your own.
• Change a number to show a figure that fits the story.

Details in how to blur sensitive data and how to change text and numbers on a screenshot.

Step 6. Add Your Brand and an Ending

Every new demo has an intro card and an end card. Open with a title, and close with buttons that send the viewer somewhere next, such as sign-up or a call.

On Creator, Pro and Team, set your logos, colors and fonts once in the brand kit. Every demo linked to the kit picks up a change, published and embedded ones included.

Step 7. Share and Measure

Publish for a hosted link and an embed snippet. On Creator, Pro and Team you can also export one self-contained HTML file. On Pro and Team you can add a password, an expiry date or a lead form.

Then watch the numbers. Every plan shows view counts. Creator, Pro and Team show unique viewers, completion rate and drop-off by step. If one step loses viewers, fix it and republish. The link stays the same.

See how to embed an interactive demo on your website and interactive demo analytics that matter.

Common Mistakes

• Showing the whole product. Make one demo per flow.
• Long callouts. One or two short lines per step.
• Real customer data. Check every step before you publish.
• No ending. Every demo should end with a next step.

Choosing the First Flow

If you are not sure which flow to record first, pick one of these.

• The first result. The shortest path from sign-in to the moment the product does something useful.
• The most asked-about feature. The one prospects ask to see on calls.
• The newest feature. For a launch post or changelog.

Avoid settings pages and admin screens for a first demo. They rarely show why someone should buy.

Writing Callouts

Callouts carry the story. A few rules keep them readable.

• One idea per callout.
• Say what happens, such as "Send the invoice to your customer".
• Use the viewer's words, not internal feature names.
• Keep the same tone from the first step to the last.

Editing Faster

A few editor features save time on longer demos.

• Style presets. Apply Accent, Dark or Light to every step at once.
• Smart guides. Objects, hotspots and callouts snap to the frame's edges and centre lines, and to each other. Hold Cmd or Ctrl to move freely.
• Align to frame. Line an item up with the frame's left, centre, right, top, middle or bottom in one move.
• Undo. Every edit can be undone and redone.