If you’ve ever wasted hours cobbling together a demo for each new prospect, you know the pain: messy environments, last-minute bugs, and that awkward moment when your “live” demo breaks. This guide is for sales or product folks who want clean, repeatable demos without a ton of manual work. We’ll walk through how to use Demostack templates to automate demo creation—step by step, no fluff.
Let’s get into it.
Why Automate Demo Creation?
Before we dive in, let’s be clear about what’s actually worth automating.
Automating demo creation makes sense if: - You run lots of demos with similar flows. - You want to personalize demos fast (think: customer logos, use-case tweaks). - You’re tired of broken staging environments.
It’s probably overkill if: - You only run a handful of demos a month. - Your product changes daily and you can’t keep templates updated.
If you’re in that first camp, keep reading.
Step 1: Get Set Up with Demostack
First things first: you need a Demostack account. If your company’s already signed up, get access from your admin. If not, you’ll have to request a demo or trial—there’s no self-serve signup as of this writing.
What works:
- Demostack’s onboarding is pretty straightforward; they’ll usually set up a kickoff call and help you get started.
- You don’t need to install anything in your production environment.
What to ignore:
- Don’t waste time trying to hack together a similar system with screenshots or slide decks. It’s not the same.
Pro tip:
- Ask your Demostack rep for demo templates or best practices—they see what works for other customers.
Step 2: Capture Your Product as a Template
Demostack’s “secret sauce” is its ability to clone your web app’s front end in a sandboxed environment. Here’s how to do it:
1. Launch the Demostack capture tool
- Log in to your Demostack dashboard.
- Click “New Template” (or similar—names may vary, but you’re looking to create a new demo environment).
2. Enter your product URL
- Paste the URL of the live environment you want to demo (usually your production app).
- Demostack will start capturing the app’s UI.
What works:
- This tool is surprisingly good at grabbing most web app UIs, including data tables and interactive flows.
What doesn’t:
- If your app relies heavily on browser extensions, local storage, or non-standard authentication, the capture might miss pieces.
- Highly dynamic single-page apps (think: React dashboards with lots of real-time data) can sometimes trip it up.
Pro tip:
- Start with a “clean” state. Log in as a demo user with dummy data loaded, so your template looks realistic but isn’t tied to real customer info.
Step 3: Clean Up and Customize Your Template
Once Demostack finishes capturing, you’ll have a copy of your product UI you can tweak without affecting production.
1. Remove or hide sensitive data
- Use the template editor to swap out any customer names, emails, or numbers.
- Replace real data with plausible—but fake—examples.
2. Tweak copy and visuals
- Update headlines, product names, or images to fit your most common use cases.
- Drop in generic company logos (“Acme Corp”) as placeholders.
3. Set up demo-specific flows
- Remove features you don’t want to show.
- Pre-fill forms, shopping carts, or dashboards with data that tells your story.
What works:
- The editor is drag-and-drop, and most changes don’t require coding.
- You can make templates for different verticals or use cases—finance, healthcare, whatever.
What to ignore:
- Don’t bother making a perfect “all-purpose” template. It’s easier to clone a base template and tweak it for each new demo.
Pro tip:
- Save your cleaned-up template as a “base” version. Use this as your starting point for all future demos.
Step 4: Add Personalization Tokens
Here’s where the automation magic really happens.
Most prospects want to see their company name, logo, or specific features. Demostack templates support “tokens” (think: variables) you can swap out without rebuilding the demo each time.
1. Identify fields to personalize
- Company name in the UI
- Logos or avatars
- Industry-specific language
- Pre-filled data (e.g., customer orders, user lists)
2. Insert tokens into your template
- In the editor, highlight the text/image you want to swap out.
- Add a token like
{{Company Name}}or{{Logo}}.
3. Map tokens to data sources
- When generating a new demo, you’ll input values for each token.
- Some teams connect this to their CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot) for auto-filling.
What works:
- Simple tokens are easy—even for non-technical users.
- Bulk demo creation: upload a CSV with a list of companies, and Demostack spins up hundreds of personalized demos at once.
What doesn’t:
- Overcomplicating personalization. You don’t need to fake full activity histories or real data for every demo. Most prospects just want to feel like you did something for them.
Pro tip:
- Set reasonable defaults for tokens. If you forget to fill one, you don’t want an empty space or “{{Company Name}}” showing in your demo.
Step 5: Automate Demo Creation (for Real)
Now you’ve got a polished, tokenized template. Time to generate demos without lifting a finger.
1. Manual: Create on demand
- Go to your template, click “Create Demo,” and fill in token values for each prospect.
- Demostack spins up a unique demo URL you can send right away.
2. Bulk: Generate demos in batches
- Upload a CSV of prospects with columns matching your tokens.
- Demostack creates a unique demo environment for each row.
3. Integrated: Connect to your CRM or workflow tools
- Some teams set up integrations so that when a new deal hits a certain stage, a demo is auto-generated and sent to the rep.
- This takes a little setup (API keys, field mapping), but it’s not rocket science.
What works:
- The bulk and integrated options save huge amounts of time for SDRs and AEs.
- Tracking: Demostack gives you analytics so you know who’s opened and clicked the demo.
What to ignore:
- Don’t waste time setting up automation for tiny one-off demos. Manual creation is still fast for small numbers.
Pro tip:
- Test every new template yourself before sending to prospects. Broken tokens or weird data stick out immediately.
Step 6: Share, Track, and Iterate
You’ve got a demo URL—now what?
1. Share the link
- Send the demo link in your outreach emails, calendar invites, or follow-ups.
- You can embed it in a landing page if you want more context.
2. Track engagement
- Demostack shows you who opened the demo, how long they spent, and where they clicked.
- Use this data to tweak future demos or follow up with hot leads.
3. Gather feedback
- Ask your sales team: Did the demo help move the deal forward? Was anything confusing?
- Keep notes on what prospects ask about or where they get stuck.
What works:
- Tracking is genuinely helpful for prioritizing follow-ups.
- You can quickly spot broken flows or missing features based on where people drop off.
What doesn’t:
- Don’t obsess over every analytic. Focus on big patterns, not one-off behaviors.
Pro tip:
- Update your base template regularly as your product evolves. An outdated demo is worse than no demo at all.
A Few Honest Limitations
- Not everything can be automated. Some products are too complex, or rely on integrations Demostack can’t clone.
- Demo ≠ Real Product. The demo environment can’t always mimic every backend process or real-time feature.
- Security: Double-check you’re not exposing real customer data or credentials, even in a sandbox.
Wrap-Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Automating demos with Demostack templates isn’t magic, but it’s a big step up from the “wing it and hope” approach. Start with your core use cases, personalize just enough to make prospects feel special, and don’t sweat perfection. The best demo is one you can actually deliver—reliably, every time.
And remember: if your first pass is clunky, that’s fine. Tweak, test, and learn. The goal is to save your team time and put your product’s best foot forward, not to win awards for demo artistry. Good luck.