Playbooks
Awareness
SDRs
Email campaigns

Storylane for
Sales outreach

Improve outbound efforts with demos that spark those "aha” moments
Who’s it for
Sales reps, BDRs, Account executives
Where it works
Email campaigns, LinkedIn outreach, follow-up sequences
What you’ll achieve
Higher response rates, more booked meetings, accelerated deals

Why it matters

Skip the "Can I show you a quick demo?" dance. With Storylane, your prospects get instant, personalized product experiences right in their inbox. No scheduling, no small talk—just immediate value that turns sales outreach into warm conversations and qualified leads.

I’ve seen a lot of feedback from leads saying “I love this, no one else is doing this. I want to schedule something."
Melany Hallgren
Sales Manager, Campminder

Key takeaways

  • Use micro-demos - Keep outreach demos to 4-6 steps for maximum impact without overwhelming recipients
  • Lead with GIFs - Include demo preview GIFs in emails to catch attention and increase click-through rates
  • Personalize with presenter content - Use AI avatars, voiceovers, and tokens to create relevant, human connections
  • Track engagement signals - Monitor demo interactions to prioritize follow-ups and identify high-intent prospects

Implementation guide

Micro-demo structure

  • Step 1: AI Avatar intro from the SDR explaining who they are and what to expect
  • Steps 2-4: Showcase top value props using zoom-ins and overlays (avoid technical how-tos)
  • Steps 5-6: Include social proof and strong CTA to book a meeting

Problem-solution narrative

  • Quickly establish the prospect's likely pain point
  • Demonstrate how your solution addresses the specific challenge
  • Show outcome with relevant metrics or customer testimonials

Personalization elements

  • Use presenter videos and AI voiceovers for human connection
  • Include prospect company name and relevant industry examples
  • Reference specific challenges mentioned in research or previous interactions

Email campaigns

  • Lead with compelling demo GIFs to increase open and click rates
  • Create unique tracking links per campaign for performance measurement

CRM integration

  • Use native HubSpot and Salesforce apps for seamless workflow integration
  • Generate personalized links directly from prospect records
  • Track engagement data within existing sales processes

Social platforms

  • Share demo snippets as GIFs on LinkedIn with links to full experiences
  • Include in multi-touch sequences across email, social, and phone outreach
  • Adapt content for platform-specific audience expectations

Unique link strategy

Example URL Structure: storylane.com/demo/sales-outreach?campaign=linkedin storylane.com/demo/sales-outreach?campaign=cold-email storylane.com/demo/sales-outreach?prospect=acme-corp

Real-time notifications

Set up Slack alerts when high-value prospects engage with demos to enable immediate follow-up while your solution is top-of-mind

1. Create 

A few pointers to keep in mind when building demos for sales outreach:

  • Keep it relevant: As with any sales communication, it's best to avoid being too…well, salesy. Set context in the demo title and within the first couple of steps, ensure your guide copy is helpful (not pushy), and try to curate demo narratives to specific buyer personas and industries.
  • Put a face to your demos: Storylane supports a range of features (presenter videos, voiceovers, variable tokens, etc.) to help you quickly personalize demos to prospects. A personalized demo + thoughtful email/message makes for a great one-two combo to land meetings and conversions.
  • Encourage next steps: Prospects who make it deep into your demo (which you can track with Storylane's analytics) clearly express a degree of intent. Pepper your guided demos with case studies, statistics, and clear CTAs ("talk to us", "start for free", etc.) to encourage next steps.
  • Keep it brief: For cold outreach, consider using micro-demos (4-6 steps) that deliver immediate value without overwhelming recipients. Save longer demos for prospects who've already shown interest.
  • Problem-solution narrative: Structure your outreach demos to quickly establish the problem, demonstrate how your solution addresses it, and showcase the outcome with relevant metrics or testimonials.
“Our message can be very hard to articulate verbally — but once our prospects see the technology, there’s this light bulb moment where they go: ‘oh now I get it!’” - Stephanie Madsen, Director of Product Marketing, People.ai. 

2. Share 

With your demos ready to go, here are a few ways to reach out to prospects:

  • GIFs and links: Consider Storylane GIFs to catch attention in early-stage emails. When using demo links, use compelling CTAs to drive engagement: “See in Action”, “Try Yourself”, etc.
  • Email provider: Storylane supports 15+ different email providers to choose from. You may also send demo events to your CRM, MAP, or your Data warehouse. See all integrations.
  • CRM apps: Storylane is the only demo automation tool to support native CRM apps. Measure engagement and send personalized demos straight from HubSpot and Salesforce, enabling reps to work within their existing workflows.
  • Gmail plugin: Storylane also supports a nifty little Gmail plugin allowing you to browse through and select demos straight from Gmail, perfect for personalized one-to-one outreach.
  • Social platforms: Share snippets of your demos as GIFs on LinkedIn, Twitter, or other relevant platforms where your prospects spend time, with links to the full interactive experience.
  • Multi-channel sequences: Incorporate demos into multi-touch outreach sequences across email, social, and phone touchpoints to reinforce your message across channels.

3. Track 

Here's how to track demo engagement (and intent signals) without gating your demos:

  • Unique links: If you're using one demo across multiple campaigns, create a new link for each campaign. This allows you to measure analytics independently for each email campaign/user. 
  • Intent signals: So far, we've discussed sending demos as part of cold outbound. On the flip side, consider tracking demo engagement with, say, the product tour on your website, analyzing which parts of the demo a certain account cares about most, and personalizing outreach based on collected intent signals.
  • Notifications: Setup real-time Slack notifications to stay on top of high-intent prospects as and when they engage with your demos. This may further inform your follow-ups and retargeting.
  • Engagement scoring: Develop a scoring system based on demo interactions (steps completed, time spent, features explored) to prioritize follow-up and identify the most promising prospects.
  • A/B testing: Create different versions of your outreach demos to test which messaging, features, or use cases resonate best with your target audience.

4. Best practices for follow ups

Turn demo engagement into meaningful conversations with these best 

  • Timing matters: Follow up within 24 hours of demo engagement when your solution is still fresh in the prospect's mind.
  • Reference specific interactions: Mention particular sections or features the prospect spent time on to make your follow-up relevant and contextual.
  • Address unanswered questions: If analytics show the prospect dropped off at a particular step, address potential concerns or questions they might have had at that point.
  • Progressive disclosure: For prospects who completed an initial demo, offer a more in-depth demo of specific features they showed interest in.
  • Multi-stakeholder approach: If tracking shows the demo was shared internally, offer role-specific demos for different stakeholders in the buying process
  • CTA asks: End with a soft CTA to encourage engagement without overwhelming the recipient. Asking for a 30-minute demo call too soon might result in rejection or ghosting

Advanced strategies

I’ve seen a lot of feedback from leads saying “I love this, no one else is doing this. I want to schedule something."
  • Enable Convert CTAs with calendar links and UTM tracking for direct meeting bookings from demo experiences
  • Create personalized links before sending - Toggle on "Your Demo Links" in profile settings for email alerts and tracking
  • Use separate links per channel - Different tracking for LinkedIn vs email vs sequences for better attribution
  • Time follow-ups strategically - Reach out within 24 hours of demo engagement for maximum impact