Interactive demos are powerful tools. They give your prospects a firsthand experience of how your product can solve their problems, even before scheduling a demo call.

But wouldn’t it be better to know who’s engaging with your demo? After all, someone watching your demo is likely interested in what you’re offering.

So, what’s the best move here? Should you put up a form and capture their details? Or let every visitor explore your product freely?

This debate about gating versus not gating demos has been around for a while, and both sides have valid arguments. Each approach works differently depending on your goals and audience. Let’s break it all down and explore the pros, cons, and potential use cases.

Gating Demos:

In this scenario, you’ve set up an interactive demo on your website, but you want some basic details from your prospects before they can access it. So, what are the benefits and potential downsides of this approach? Let’s take a closer look.

Pros:

Capturing High-quality Leads:

When a prospect takes the time to fill out a form to access your demo, it’s a strong signal that they’re genuinely interested. These aren’t just casual visitors—they’re the ones with potential buying intent. This makes gating a great way to filter out the window shoppers and prioritise high-quality leads.

Understanding Prospect’s Behavior:

‍You’ll not only know who’s viewing your demo but also how they interact with it. By tracking the features they explore, you can understand what’s important to them and where they see the most value in your product.

Enables personalization:

Insights gathered from a prospect’s demo interaction let you personalise follow-ups. In email campaigns, you can highlight the features they explored, making your messages more relevant. For sales teams, this data is a goldmine—AEs can enter the call knowing exactly what matters most to the prospect.

Cons:

Higher bounce rate & Limits engagement:

You want as many visitors as possible to check out your product. But if you gate the demo, you’re asking them to share their details first. This might put some visitors off, resulting in higher bounce rates and lower engagement.

When to Use Gated Demos

Building a Qualified Pipeline: Gated demos are a great strategic asset if your aim is to build a more qualified sales pipeline. They help capture high-intent leads, and your sales team can then follow up with personalized content based on what the prospect is interested in.

When you have a complex product: If your product is complex, gating the demo helps you connect with serious prospects who are ready to dive deeper into what your product can offer, rather than just browsing casually.

Ungated Demos

By adding demos to your website, visitors can check them out immediately without needing to fill out any forms.  So, what are the pros and cons of this approach?

Pros:

High Engagement Rate: With no form to fill, more visitors will take the time to interact with your product, ultimately increasing the engagement rate.
Builds Trust: Instant access to your product shows transparency. Visitors can explore it without feeling pressured to share their details, which helps build trust early on.

Cons:

‍Drop-Off in Lead Generation: With ungated demos, you miss the chance to know who’s interacting with your product. This reduces the number of qualified leads in your pipeline when compared to gating your demo.

When to Use Ungated Demos

• Educate Prospects: When your goal is to raise awareness and educate potential customers before they engage with the sales team, ungating your demo can be an effective strategy.
• Increase Engagement: Avoid gating your demos if you want more website visitors to engage with your product. By removing the sign-up barrier, you allow people to explore without any commitment.

Partially Gated Demos

Partial gating of demos offers a middle ground by allowing limited access upfront while requiring user information for full features.
For instance, If prospects can choose their demo journey, you could add a form right after they select the specific demo they’re interested in. Or, place it at the end to invite them to stay connected after viewing valuable content.
This approach minimizes the friction while giving you the details of those who went all the way to watch the full demo. The key is to strategically choose which part of the demo to gate.
Now, let’s break down the positives and challenges of partial gating.

Pros:

Best of both worlds: Partial gating captures leads while still engaging users who might not otherwise sign up.

Segmentation opportunity: Insights from partial engagement can help segment curious browsers from serious prospects. Offering different levels of access can also address the varied needs of visitors.

Cons:

Frustrates Visitors: When users get a preview of the demo but are then hit with a sign-up request, it can lead to frustration.  If the gated section isn't compelling enough, they might leave before completing the sign-up.

When to Use Partially Gated Demos

Providing a Sneak Peek of Complex Features

If your product has complex features, partial gating lets you give users a preview without overwhelming them, showing some features upfront while requiring sign-up for more detailed content.

Creating a Sense of Exclusivity: Partial gating is a great strategy if you want to make certain features exclusive. It offers a glimpse while reserving the most valuable content for those who sign up.

So, should you gate, ungate, or partially gate your demos?

‍The choice between gating, ungating, and partial gating ultimately depends on your business goals and audience.

If lead generation is your top priority, gated or partially gated demos can help capture high-quality leads. On the other hand, if your aim is to boost awareness and engagement, ungated demos are the way to go.

Now that you understand how each approach works, choose the one that best aligns with your business strategy. Be sure to regularly analyze the impact of your interactive demos and optimize them accordingly.