There is a war raging over who has better “hover states” in their product tours. At ROIpad, we believe you are fighting the wrong battle. Here is the critical difference between showing a product and closing a deal.
The Great “Demo Wars” of 2025
If you are building or buying B2B SaaS right now, your LinkedIn feed is likely dominated by a debate over “interactive demos.”
There is an arms race happening between platforms like Navattic, Storylane, Supademo, and Walnut. They are arguing over the nuances of capture technology: Is HTML better than video screenshots? Whose scrolls feel more realistic? Who captures the live UI code better?
Recently, an employee at one of these leading platforms perfectly summarized their battleground:
“HTML-first platforms… actually copy your live UI code to make a sandbox that looks and acts real, with hover states, scrolls etc… takes a bit more setup, costs more, but when you want your demo to feel like your product it’s night and day.”
The “Test Drive”
Fidelity without Context
They are doing incredible engineering work to solve a very specific problem: Fidelity. They want the demo to look exactly like the real thing.
At ROIpad, we applaud that effort. But we also know a hard truth about B2B sales: Fidelity doesn’t sign contracts. Context does.
If you are confused about where ROIpad fits in this noisy landscape, you are asking the right questions. Are we competitors? Are we doing the same thing?
The short answer is no. They are building the Test Drive. We are building the Dealership.
Here is the breakdown of why that distinction matters to your revenue.
The Fundamental Difference: “Show” vs. “Close”
The current wave of demo automation tools is obsessed with the “What” and the “How.” They are fantastic for Marketing teams who want to replace a “Book a Demo” button on their homepage with an ungated product tour.
But what happens after the prospect takes the tour?
The tour has no pricing strategy. It has no risk mitigation. It has no competitor comparison. It doesn’t know if the CEO approves of the budget.
A product tour is not a sales pitch.
ROIpad is not fighting the war for fidelity. We are fighting the war for Intent. We don’t just want to show them the buttons; we want to align their stakeholders, justify the ROI, and get the deal done.
Here is the comparison matrix for the modern sales stack:
| Feature | The Demo Platforms (Them) | The Deal Engine (ROIpad) |
| Primary Asset | The Product Tour (The “What”) | The Deal Narrative (The “Why”) |
| The Goal | “Let them see how it works.” | “Get the contract signed.” |
| The User | Marketing / Product Marketing | Account Executives / VP of Sales |
| Stakeholders | Single Viewer (Anonymous) | The Buying Committee (CEO, CFO, Tech Lead) |
| The Weakness | Great fidelity, zero business context. | Needs their assets for technical proof. |
The Missing Layers: Why ROIpad Exists
If you just send a prospect a naked link to an interactive demo, you have lost control of the narrative. You are hoping they figure out the business value on their own.
ROIpad was built because the “product tour” is only 20% of the B2B sale. We provide the missing 80% the infrastructure required to actually navigate a complex deal.
1. The Consensus Map (Who is buying?)
Demo platforms track anonymous clicks. ROIpad tracks organizational buy-in. We visualize the buying committee so the AE knows: “The CTO watched the technical demo, but the CFO hasn’t touched the ROI calculator yet.” You can’t close a deal if you don’t know who is blocking it.
2. Intent-Based Routing (The Logic)
A standard demo is linear: Step 1 leads to Step 2. ROIpad journeys are intelligent. We ask the prospect upfront: “Are you technical or business-focused?”
- If they say Technical, we route them to an API deep dive.
- If they say Business, we route them to a customer testimonial video and value propositions.
3. The “Split-Stage” Media Engine (The Context)
Sometimes, HTML isn’t the right medium. Sometimes you need a 30-second video from your founder to build trust. Sometimes you need a PDF case study. ROIpad allows you to mix media into a single, coherent narrative flow.
Closing a deal requires more than just high-fidelity screenshots or a polished product tour; it requires a strategic alignment of business value, stakeholder consensus, and psychological intent. While traditional demos show how a feature behaves, they fail to answer the critical “Why buy now?” question. ROIpad is essential because it wraps your product in a comprehensive deal narrative, providing the infrastructure to quantify ROI, visualize stakeholder buy-in, and guide prospects through a personalized journey that leads directly to a signature.
The New Paradigm: Don’t Compete, Contain.
So, should you use Storylane, Navattic, or Supademo? Absolutely.
They are incredible tools for creating the “technical proof” layer of your sale. But they should not be sent out alone.
Think of ROIpad as the operating system for your deal.
- Slide 1 of the ROIpad Journey: A personalized video greeting from the AE setting the stage.
- Slide 2: An embedded Supademo/Storylane tour letting them click around.
- Slide 3: An interactive pricing module and business case justification.
We don’t want to build a better screenshot tool. We want to provide the container that makes those screenshots actually convert into revenue.
Stop just showing your features. Start guiding the journey.
