Natalie Marcotullio is the Head of Growth and Operations at Navattic. She focuses on helping SaaS companies give their prospects a better buying experience. 

She has a background in SEO and digital marketing for B2B sales and marketing SaaS. 

Over the years, her focus has shifted to full-funnel marketing, GTM strategy, and improving the digital buyer experience.

Join us to learn the different ways and methods you can incorporate product-led content. Discover how to increase the quality of your conversions with interactive product demos.

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Key Topics Discussed in This Podcast Episode with Natalie Marcotullio

• (2:20) What is product-led growth?

• (5:02) How can SaaS B2B businesses use interactive demos?

• (7:19) How can interactive demos increase the quality of your conversions?

• (10:32) When do you need an interactive product demo?

• (13:18) How to drive product-led growth with interactive demos in 7 days

• (14:40) What are the benefits of interactive demos for customers?

• (22:01) Has content marketing shifted from blogs to LinkedIn?

• (30:36) How Navattic became a leader in the “interactive demo” category

Show Notes: Revolutionizing the Way You Showcase Your Products with Interactive Product Demos 

The definition of product-led growth (PLG) has traditionally been limited to the presence of a free trial, but thought leaders in the PLG space are trying to expand this definition. PLG is viewed as a way to showcase the product in an educational and helpful manner throughout the entire customer journey, making it easy for customers to experience it hands-on. 

According to Natalie Marcotullio of Navattic, the goal of PLG is to highlight the product, not just list its features, and avoid using overly technical language.

Navattic is an interactive demo platform that offers its own interactive demo experience on its website. This allows potential customers to explore the software themselves from the website, email, or a link, giving them a taste of the product without having to go through a free trial or a sales call. 

In B2B SaaS, there are two types of growth motions: product-led growth (PLG) and sales-led growth. Running a PLG organization typically involves a free trial or freemium model where users sign up and start using the product. 

The other motion includes talking to sales or requesting a demo. 

Navattic takes advantage of using the demo, but it allows its users to go straight into using the product before the sales call.

The Benefits of Interactive Demos in Product Marketing

In the episode, Natalie shares that driving PLG with interactive demos does not require an engineering team to build a free trial or freemium model. The data is already set up, allowing users to see the best moments of the product without having to figure it out themselves.

“I think the most important thing to remember about these interactive demos is they’re not supposed to replace that highly customized call,” says Natalie, but rather to give prospects a taste of the product before going into a personalized sales call. 

The addition of the interactive demo to Navattic’s website did not result in a huge increase in conversions, but it did improve the quality of the leads. For Navattic, almost 50% of those who take a meeting from the interactive demo turn into opportunities. The interactive demo is important and is front and center on the website to give prospects a better understanding of the product before their first call.

Navattic focuses on providing a delightful experience for customers and prioritizes high-quality, real reviews. They have seen success in this approach, and that’s why they became a leader in the pre-sale software category on G2. This success is attributed to their customers taking the time to write high-quality, longer reviews, rather than the company just focusing on incentivizing as many people as possible to write a review.

Which Industries Can Benefit from Having an Interactive Product Demo

Natalie believes interactive demos can be beneficial for any software or SaaS product, especially if the product is complex with multiple use cases and features. Interactive demos are HTML front-end copies of your product, so you need a SaaS platform to build them. They serve as educational tools, but they are not a replacement for a free trial. Companies can use both interactive demos and free trials together. For example, they can have a call-to-action at the end of the interactive demo leading to a free trial.

Interactive demos can be used to showcase different ways a product can be used for different personas or roles in an organization. Companies can create multiple demos for this purpose. The product can also have a checklist feature to allow users to quickly access specific parts of the product.

Interactive demos are suitable for more complex products that require a hands-on demonstration to understand them. Industries such as FinTech and security software can greatly benefit from them because they present a way for users to understand the product without the need for setup. These demos can be especially helpful for mid-market to larger companies that have multiple product features, use cases, and personas, as they can have multiple interactive demos to showcase each aspect of their product. 

Interactive demos allow users to get a sense of the product without having to enter sensitive information, like bank account information, making them a useful tool for building trust and getting users ready for a free trial.

How to Go PLG with Interactive Demos in 7 Days

Natalie explains the steps needed to build an interactive product demo. Since interactive demos can be deployed by marketing teams in a short amount of time, it could take less than seven days to go PLG. The deployment process of the interactive demo is no-code, so it doesn’t require the involvement of the engineering team, and it can be completed within 30 minutes to an hour. 

According to Natalie, the hardest and most time-consuming part of the process is figuring out what to show from your product and getting internal approval. The final step is to add an iframe embed or link to the website, and your interactive demo setup will be completed.

Has Content Marketing Shifted from Blogs to LinkedIn

Apart from her experience at Navattic, Natalie has a background in organic marketing, which led to an insightful discussion about the shift in B2B content marketing from blogs to LinkedIn posts and articles. Natalie shares that she no longer recommends reading blogs to people but suggests following certain individuals on LinkedIn. However, she expressed her concern about the increasing trend of posting controversial content on LinkedIn, which might move away from highly vetted editorial content, similar to what is seen on Facebook.

LinkedIn has become the center of B2B content marketing, replacing blogs. Natalie notes that what differentiates LinkedIn from blogs is that the content on LinkedIn is written for people with a more personal and educational approach.

“And I wonder if everyone just got so sick of the Google blog content that was clearly repurposed from other blogs, keyword-stuffed, very written for a robot and not a person – that that’s how LinkedIn was able to really take over and become a blogging platform,” says Natalie.

A final takeaway from the episode is that interactive product demos are a valuable tool for businesses looking to showcase their product to potential customers. They provide a hands-on experience that allows users to understand and get comfortable with a product before committing to a free trial or purchase.

Are you looking to enhance your product’s marketing strategy and increase customer satisfaction? Consider incorporating interactive product demos into your approach. If you want to take the next step in your product marketing, listen to the full episode with Natalie Marcotullio to understand the impact an interactive demo can have on your customers.