Buyers are more proactive than ever in testing live products to determine if they're a good fit. While free trials are beneficial, on-demand sandbox demos can elevate their experience to a whole new level early in the buying journey. Guided and interactive sandbox demos offer an equally rich experience but guide the buyers quicker towards the 'Ah-ha!' moment with your product.

On-demand sandbox demos also offer a perfect way to let the buyer touch the Proof of Concept demo you presented live. We know that nothing beats the dedicated and personalised POC demo. But how about strengthening your pitch through sharing the access to the demo environment accompanied by your narrative? All that is what an on-demand sandbox demo offers. 

The traditional enterprise sales process often unfolds like this: A buyer researches a solution and requests a demo on the website. They then find themselves on a call with an SDR, who verifies their budget, authority, need, and timeline. If they meet the BANT criteria, they schedule a call with an AE, who they believe will demonstrate how the product works. However, the second call involves more discovery questions to ensure the solution presented in the next call meets their needs.

That's a minimum of three calls before your prospect even gets a glimpse of the product, let alone a chance to try it out. But that's not what the buyers want. Their expectations have evolved. They want immediate access to the product to determine if it meets their needs. Let's dive into how sandbox demos can meet these changing expectations and boost your sales process.

In this article, we'll delve into everything you need to know about sandbox demo environments. We'll also explore how they can empower your sales team to close more deals.

What is a Demo Sandbox Environment?

A sandbox is a virtual playground where users can test your product without impacting your application, system, or platform. It’s a secure, isolated environment where sales teams can demonstrate their product in action, free from concerns about compatibility issues or real-time changes triggered by other background programs.

Why Use a Demo Sandbox Environment?

A sandbox demo environment is a controlled environment, often separated from your live environment, that sales teams can use to showcase a software product in action. The interactive sandbox demos are hosted in the cloud of the demo tool providers and can be shared with the prospects on demand or even embedded directly on your website. It offers your prospects a structured and guided way to explore your product, with no strings attached! 

The Power of First-Hand Experience

Such an environment helps buyers explore the tool in a controlled manner and get a first-hand experience of the various product benefits. It’s like giving them the keys to a test drive, where they can feel the power of the engine, the smoothness of the ride, and the comfort of the seats, while being assisted by the sales person sitting in the passenger seat. In contrast to free trials, sandbox demos invite the prospects to a demo environment filled in with data and accompanied by a narrative. They are not overwhelmed by a multitude of options in a tool they don’t know. Rather are guided by the hand to discover their A-HA moments. 

Choosing Safety over Disorder 

On-demand sandbox demos are clones of the front end of your product and are disconnected from the back-end. That’s why they are always stable and immune to crashes or mishaps. It’s like having a safety net, ensuring that your prospects can experiment freely without any fear of causing damage.

How to Create a Sandbox Environment

Embarking on the journey of setting up a sandbox environment? The setup largely hinges on your intended use.

Historically, sandbox environments were constructed on virtual machines, which emulate a computer system.  Virtual labs mirror your environment in a safe way to the prospect. From a vendor point of view, they were more reliable and cost effective than maintaining live sandbox demo environments. Those demos could, however, be shared with the prospects. 

In some instances, the Research & Development (R&D) team would construct these environments for the Go-To-Market (GTM) team to utilize.

Recently a new era of sandbox demo environments were introduced by providers such as Demoboost. These platforms allow you to build replicas of the front end of your product and hose them in their cloud. The demos themselves can be guided, narrated and shared with prospects. Just a thought!

What can you do with a sandbox environment? 

Once your sandbox environment is up and running, the possibilities are endless. Here are some ways you can leverage a sandbox environment:

Let your prospect into the product earlier in the buying journey 

On-demand sandbox demos offer a refreshing alternative to traditional free trials, which often struggle to convert more than 10% of users due to their inherent complexities. Unlike free trials that throw users into a labyrinthine tool without much guidance, sandbox demos provide a structured and guided experience that curious buyers crave. By offering a narrated walkthrough and a click path, these demos not only hold the prospect's hand as they explore the platform but also paint a vivid picture of its capabilities. Furthermore, sandbox demos explicitly articulate the benefits, sparing users the need to decipher value on their own. In essence, they offer a more engaging and informative approach, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and satisfied customers.

Enhance Your POC: Let Buyers Experience the Solution Hands-On with On-Demand Sandbox Demos

On-demand sandbox demos serve as a powerful reinforcement for Proof of Concept (POC) demos, enhancing the impact of these crucial presentations. POC demos are where the solution engineering team shines, meticulously crafting a tailored solution after listening intently to the buyer's needs. However, by supplementing this with an on-demand sandbox demo as a leave-behind, the engagement is significantly deepened. This approach allows buyers not just to visualize but also to interact with the proposed solution firsthand. The tangible experience of navigating the platform at their own pace helps to cement the benefits and functionalities discussed during the POC demo, making the solution more tangible and memorable. This strategy not only reinforces the initial pitch but also increases the likelihood of a successful partnership by making a lasting impression.

Leveraging Analytics to Boost Success

Leveraging analytics within on-demand sandbox demos can significantly enhance their effectiveness throughout the sales cycle, whether used early on or as a follow-up to the Proof of Concept (POC). These demos are invaluable for gathering insights into buyer behavior. By tracking interactions within the demo, you can discern which features or journeys buyers are drawn to, providing a clear map of their interests and needs. Once deployed, these demos also encourage virality; participants often share the accessible, interactive demo with other key stakeholders who did not attend the initial presentation. This not only deepens your understanding of what resonates with the buying organization as a whole but also allows insights into the preferences of individual decision-makers. This strategic use of analytics not only informs your sales strategy but also amplifies your outreach within the target organization.

Key Metrics to Monitor

Here are some metrics you can measure to gauge the effectiveness of your demos:

1. Top-performing areas of your platform: Identify which features attract most interest and resonate strongest with your prospects. These are the ones that you should be diving deeper into in the following meetings.
2. Decision stakeholders maps: Monitor who is engaging with your demons and what role they play in the buying organization.
3. Lead’s engagement: Identify the areas of interest of every specific stakeholder is interested in and craft your pitch accordingly 

These insights will allow you to identify which parts of your demo captivate your prospects, and which parts might need some fine-tuning. By continuously improving your demo, you can enhance your demo performance and boost your sales success. Remember, data-driven decisions can be a game-changer in your sales strategy!

Improve Feature Discovery. Discover Deal-Winning Patterns.

One of the most exciting aspects of sharing a leave-behind is the wealth of insights you can gain. With the right sandbox environment, you can track who’s viewing what, identify the features that are most important to them, and even discern who might influence the buying decision.

Consider it as a form of ‘digital discovery’ that prepares you for your next call. By understanding who’s involved and what’s most valuable to them, you can tailor your conversation to address their specific interests and concerns.

For instance, if you notice a prospect spending a significant amount of time exploring a particular feature, you can highlight this feature in your next discussion. Or, if multiple stakeholders from the same company are interacting with your demo, you can customize your pitch to address the needs of a broader audience.

In essence, a sandbox environment not only provides a hands-on experience for your prospects but also equips you with valuable insights to make your sales pitch more targeted and effective. 

It’s about turning data into deal-winning strategies!

Free Trial or Sandbox Demo: Let’s Settle!

Free trials can be a powerful tool in the sales process when executed correctly. However, if the trial feels like an empty shell of your product, your buyer may become lost or confused. Confusion often leads to a “no,” so if your trials aren’t converting to closed wins, it might be time to reconsider how your product is presented at that stage of the deal.

Here at Demoboost, we often emphasize the importance of storytelling, and sandbox demos are no exception. In fact, a compelling product narrative in an on-demand demo might be even more crucial than in the live demo, since you won’t be there to guide the prospects through what they’re seeing on their screen.

On-demand sandbox demos can be curated to align with your buyer’s industry or persona. 

This way, they can immerse themselves in a product experience that directly addresses their specific challenges, rather than navigating an empty skeleton. When the experience is relevant to their situation, the value of your product becomes self-evident.

All these benefits boil down to one core idea: buyer enablement accelerates your deal cycle. By making it easy for them to experience the product and understand its value faster, you can significantly shorten your sales cycle. 

A shared sandbox demo allows you to maintain the momentum of an impressive demo, bringing that value story home, even long after you’ve ended the Zoom call.

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