Demo automation has emerged in recent years due to the emphasis on buyer enablement and reducing friction in the buying process. G2 recently launched its new Demo Automation category, which falls under the Presales parent category. This category was created to showcase the growing market of solutions that automate the creation and distribution of demos, allowing prospects to experience a product earlier in the buying process. 

Enabling better buying experiences with demo automation

Typically, prospects have to schedule multiple meetings with sales representatives to learn about the company and its product before actually seeing and experiencing the product. This leads to scheduling constraints, long sales cycles, and vendor-driven buying processes. 

Demo automation solutions allow buyers to understand a product’s features earlier in the process, often without needing a sales representative or solution engineer. This can accelerate sales cycles, provide more qualified leads, and, most importantly, a better experience for the buyer by allowing them to self-educate. 

Growth in the demo automation space

Businesses have realized the benefits of enabling prospects through personalized and tailored demos and allowing the efficient distribution of demos to be viewed asynchronously. Solutions in this space provide businesses with a streamlined method to personalize demos at scale while tracking prospect engagement to gain insight into what features are most important to the buyer and who the organization is engaged with the demo. Multiple teams can use these tools, including product marketing, sales, and presales, showcasing its vast applicability throughout the sales cycle. 

The graph above shows the emergence of demo automation vendors in recent years, with significant growth in the space in 2020 and 2021 and increased saturation as the category evolves. Furthermore, in addition to Lancey, which was formed in 2022, Vivun—formed in 2018 and whose flagship product is a PreSales Management solution—also released a demo automation product in 2022, Revel, highlighting the continued investment in this space. 

As seen above, this market is growing. It will continue to grow as there is an emphasis on the buyer and their preferences rather than a sales rep-driven buying experience. Demo automation solutions allow prospects to engage with a product throughout the sales cycle and share with other stakeholders, providing a frictionless experience and saving businesses time and resources. 

Looking ahead

With the continued emphasis on the buyer and the growing popularity of product-led growth (PLG) strategies, demo automation providers will likely expand their offerings to cover all use cases, whether it be live demonstrations with real injectable data or better personalized guided tours. As buyers’ needs evolve and expectations rise, demo automation solutions can be a key resource to effectively engage with prospects at scale while keeping buyers’ interest at the forefront. 

Recently, sales cycles have been increasing due to heightened scrutiny of buying decisions and the desire to consolidate tech stacks. Demo automation solutions can aid in alleviating this as prospects can better qualify themselves, and sales professionals can focus on higher-value tasks to progress deals. 

Edited by Shanti S Nair