Quick answer
A good short demo is 75–90 s: open on the outcome, show the shortest path to it on real data, and close with one ask. The beat-by-beat script is below.
The script: The 90-second product overview (75–90 s)
Use when: After a first call, or when someone asks "so what does it do?" and a call would be overkill.
Set up:
- Log in to a demo account with realistic (not lorem ipsum) data
- Open the screen that shows the end result first
- Close Slack, email and anything with a badge count
| Time | Show / beat | Say (fill the [blanks]) |
|---|---|---|
| 0–10 s | Outcome first | Hi [NAME]. This is [PRODUCT] doing the one thing you asked about: [OUTCOME, e.g. "turning a messy CSV into a clean invoice"]. Here is the finished result. |
| 10–25 s | The before | Normally this takes [CURRENT WAY, e.g. "an afternoon of copy-paste in Excel"]. Here is what you start with instead: [SHOW INPUT]. |
| 25–65 s | Three clicks | Step one, [ACTION]. Step two, [ACTION]. Step three, [ACTION]. That is the whole workflow. Notice [ONE DETAIL THAT MATTERS TO THEM]. |
| 65–80 s | What it is not | One thing it does not do yet: [HONEST LIMIT]. Most teams handle that by [WORKAROUND]. |
| 80–90 s | Next step | If this fits, the next step is [ONE STEP: "a 15-minute setup call" / "a free trial link below"]. Reply with a yes or a question. |
Why it works: Record the end result before the steps. Viewers decide in the first ten seconds whether to keep watching, so show them the payoff, then rewind to how.
Close: One reply-able question, never a list of options.
Plain-text version to copy
The 90-second product overview (75–90 s)
Use when: After a first call, or when someone asks "so what does it do?" and a call would be overkill.
Set up:
- Log in to a demo account with realistic (not lorem ipsum) data
- Open the screen that shows the end result first
- Close Slack, email and anything with a badge count
[0–10 s] Outcome first
"Hi [NAME]. This is [PRODUCT] doing the one thing you asked about: [OUTCOME, e.g. "turning a messy CSV into a clean invoice"]. Here is the finished result."
[10–25 s] The before
"Normally this takes [CURRENT WAY, e.g. "an afternoon of copy-paste in Excel"]. Here is what you start with instead: [SHOW INPUT]."
[25–65 s] Three clicks
"Step one, [ACTION]. Step two, [ACTION]. Step three, [ACTION]. That is the whole workflow. Notice [ONE DETAIL THAT MATTERS TO THEM]."
[65–80 s] What it is not
"One thing it does not do yet: [HONEST LIMIT]. Most teams handle that by [WORKAROUND]."
[80–90 s] Next step
"If this fits, the next step is [ONE STEP: "a 15-minute setup call" / "a free trial link below"]. Reply with a yes or a question."
Close: One reply-able question, never a list of options.Record the video part
Keep the script open on a second screen or a printed page, and record in one take; pause between sections instead of stopping. Bobbin is a free Chrome extension that records your screen, a window or a tab with your microphone and an optional webcam bubble. No account, no watermark, no time limit, and nothing is uploaded: the file stays on your computer.
- Click the Bobbin icon in Chrome's toolbar and choose Record screen, window or tab.
- Pick your microphone and turn on the camera if you want the webcam bubble.
- Press Start recording, choose what to share in Chrome's picker, and wait for the 3-second countdown.
- Pause with Alt+Shift+P, stop with Alt+Shift+S, then press Download to save the file.
Share a window or the entire screen so your webcam bubble is in the video (it doesn't appear in single-tab recordings). Bobbin saves MP4 where your browser supports it (Chrome 126 or newer), WebM otherwise, and tells you which it used.
File size: our 60-minute 1080p test came to about 246 MB (roughly 4 MB a minute) on a simple synthetic screen; busy real screens can be larger, so a 1–2 minute clip is usually small enough to attach.
From The Async Video Playbook
This is 1 of 52 scripts. The full playbook: 52 fill-in-the-blank scripts for demos, bug reports, onboarding and SOPs, sales, support, async updates and lessons.
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