How to use product demos and product tours
A topic everyone has been talking about for a while is customer experience, which is the customer's perception of the interactions they've had with your company and with the service or product they bought. And one of the factors that contributes most to a great customer experience is explaining conveniently to your customers how to use the products they've already paid to use.
A good way to deliver that explanation is with a product demo and a product tour. The idea may still seem a bit abstract, but don't worry, I'll explain it clearly in this article.
We'll not only look in detail at what a product tour is, but also how to make it a high-quality tour using different resources. And all of this without forgetting the importance of having a product tour in customer education!
With all this information ready to use in your company, you'll surely feel that your customers' relationship with your products has improved and, with it, your company's image too!
WHAT ARE A PRODUCT DEMO AND A PRODUCT TOUR?
A product demo and product tour is an introduction to your product, a guided visit through the main qualities and functions it offers. Whether it's a product like software or something more physical like a phone, a good product tour is indispensable for your customers to get the best out of it. It can take many forms, but the most common are dialog bubbles, like when you sign up for new software, or video tutorials.
A product demo and product tour is your customer's introduction to the product. It's a way to present, in a playful way, a new interface or some features different from those in previous products.
An example is phone system updates. When an update happens, usually the first screens are a series of instructions on how to use the features that were improved or added. Those instructions can be understood as the tour of the new update.
The better the demo or tour, the better your experience with the updated phone.
The difference between the two terms, product demo and product tour, is that the demo is used during sales, to show things in practice. The product tour, on the other hand, is your customers' onboarding. It's the moment when you can not only present your product but also show all of its value. Since a demo has a somewhat stronger sales bias, we'll focus more on the product tour, as it reflects the customer education strategy.
THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD PRODUCT TOUR IN CUSTOMER EDUCATION
You've probably noticed that your product's success is directly tied to how it is presented and how well it is accepted by your consumers. That makes the product tour a very important step toward selling more.
Here are some points to consider when creating a tour, along with tips for those who already have a product tour but want to improve it.
With that in mind, this section of the article is all about making a top-quality tour. To understand what's important to include when presenting products, take the product you want to present and look at the main characteristics you want your consumers to notice.
Making a detailed list is very important for your tour to be complete. So write down all its qualities and how those qualities will help users in their day-to-day.
With that list ready, try to make a tour that is interactive and that your consumers can learn from in practice. That helps engage them and also makes them actually pay attention to the instructions for the best use of the tools.
- Convenience. A good tour is one that, besides giving specific information clearly and practically, also teaches users how to access that information whenever they need it. So you don't need to build a heavy, long tour, but try to pick key moments so they can start exploring and, as they advance in using your product, deepen that knowledge.
- Think of the novice user. The tour should be designed for all audiences, from people who are avid consumers of your brand and already know how your products work to those trying it for the first time. The focus of the tour, as a rule, is the person who is just starting with the product.
- Simplicity. Make the hints and tips quick and easy to understand. There's no need for so much theory. The focus of the tour is teaching the user to take advantage of the platform and understand its features. Leave the theory for another time. The secret of a good tour is keeping it simple.
- Fluid navigation. Closely related to usability and interface design, it's important that your tour is accessible and intuitive. This greatly improves the user experience and makes your content pleasant to learn from. So always have a UX person advising on the design.
- Writing. Another branch within UX is copywriting, or UX writing. It's essential to have a professional focused on writing so there's no confusion between terms. To the general public, saying receipt, bill or invoice may sound like similar terms, but during a product tour, using them interchangeably will cause a lot of confusion. Standardize your terms and make sure all text conveys your brand's personality.
These are some points to make your tour a high-quality one. But don't stop there! Personalize and use creativity to give your company a unique tour, never forgetting to keep it simple and informative.
WHAT FEATURES DOES A TOUR OFFER?
As presented earlier, your tour can be customized in many ways, so it will have different features depending on who it's aimed at. But thinking in general terms, a tour should have a quick welcome introduction, some way of classifying your consumers and, finally, it needs to be intuitive.
Starting with the welcome message. It can be sent through different channels such as email or shown directly when opening the site. At this moment you should show a friendlier interface to your customer. Welcome users by name and introduce the company and the product's main qualities. Quick and easy! Just to start the tour in a more human way.
Another important point is being able to classify users according to their expertise. Remember we mentioned there could be people very familiar with your products and others having their first contact? Well, at this moment you should map each person's familiarity so you can also think about the tour's strategies at a second stage.
If your users are almost all beginners and your tour is too advanced, it can be an obstacle to them continuing to use your product. So this mapping is essential to get a general idea of who is actually using the tour.
Another interesting feature of tours has to do with interactivity. Try to use checkpoints so users can follow what has been done throughout the tour. That makes them follow the main steps of your tour more visually. It can be linear, meaning always a specific route, or open for each person to learn what matters most to them at that moment.
WHY DOES A PRODUCT TOUR IN CUSTOMER EDUCATION MAKE SENSE?
Both customer education and a product tour are continuous processes in the customer's life. It's not something isolated that happens only once. So it's only fair to have the two working together.
A well-made product tour is a great way to teach your consumers how to get the best out of your product. And that is customer education at its best. The product tour can be a more practical, visual way to implement customer education in your operations.
That's because users can not only see where each of the tools is, but can also be introduced to those tools through small basic tasks to get familiar. Learning to use your product by doing small projects.
Implementing customer education in your product tour is great for both processes and, above all, for your company. It brings two activities together into one, making life easier for your users, who won't need to visit two different places or read two different materials.
START WITH THE BASICS: WHICH TASKS DO YOUR USERS FIND MOST DIFFICULT?
A product tour is a great way to introduce your customers in a playful way that is much simpler than an instruction manual. Always think about making it as accessible and intuitive as possible. The important thing about a good product tour is to do just what the name indicates: introduce the product to consumers so they can see the value in practice.
The first step, then, is to reflect on your company's most common tasks that cause difficulty and the ones that are most important for your customer to perform correctly, such as sending documents, for example. Then you can hire a company to do the instructional design of the lessons or try to record a short video tutorial yourself, performing the task.
So don't forget to link this tool with what you've already learned about customer education. Make your tour unique and top quality, really teaching users to get the best out of your products!
