Interactive Presentations: The Simple Solution for Complex Products

Are your products too complex to explain to your customers? 

This is a familiar story for businesses in advanced manufacturing, engineering and MedTech.

Fortunately, there is a solution. Interactive presentations are a refreshingly simple way to help customers make sense of what you do. Not only that, but they also allow you to WOW customers while you take them on that journey.

Read on to find out how interactive presentations can completely transform the customer journey in your organization, with benefits, examples and tips on embracing this strategy.

But first, what’s wrong with traditional presentations?

Traditional presentations have been a sales staple for decades and – for many businesses – they still do a reasonable job. Of course, they have their problems. It’s hard to WOW customers with a basic PowerPoint presentation.

And it’s different for brands with complex products or services. They have the added challenge of explaining something exceptional. That requires an exceptional presentation tool.

We’ll get onto why interactive presentations are exactly that. But for now, let’s be clear why standard presentations aren’t:

👴 Mismatches: With no central source of truth, the information included in them can easily become outdated or vary across different presentations.

🧩 Generic: Presentations become generic with no way to adapt them to different audiences.

🔍 Product-focused: This also means that they’re product-focused, without mentioning the customer and their pain points.

🏋️ Overload: They’re too content-heavy – saying too much in the same way, which overloads your audience.

❓ Lack of insights: Without advanced analytics, understanding audience engagement is guesswork.

🔌 Poor integration: If your presentations don’t integrate with DAMs, PIMs or CRMs, this can hinder sales and marketing alignment, and ultimately winning business.

Do any of these issues sound familiar? See how your presentation measures up in our checklist: 6 Ways to Tell if Your Sales Pitch Presentation is No Longer Fit for Purpose

Are interactive presentations any better?

You might be wondering how interactive presentations differ from those we’ve talked about above.

With an interactive presentation, buyers can drill into specific areas that matter to them and explore them further. As a result, every presentation can be personalized in real time to the buyer’s needs. No two experiences are the same.

For example, look at this interactive experience for JSP – Europe’s leading independent manufacturer of ‘above the neck’ Personal Protective Equipment. The presentation starts with the five top-level categories for head protection, from which you can drill down into specific sectors, product types, standards and more.

There are hundreds of unique products in this experience, each with a multitude of product variations. However, the buyer only sees what’s relevant for them. What could be information overload, is simplified and 100% applicable to the buyer.

The differences don’t end there though. For example, with the POPcomms platform, there is a single source of truth behind your interactive presentation for your entire organization. That means everything can be kept consistent, up-to-date and connected via the Experience Management System.

Still not convinced? Check out these three reasons why you need persuasive interactive sales presentations.

How sales and marketing is changing

The switch from traditional to interactive presentations isn’t without good reason. It reflects a shift in customer demand, with 91% of B2B buyers preferring interactive and visual content to static content.

Businesses that make the move see impressive results. For example, interactive content generates twice as many conversions and five times the number of page views compared to ordinary content.

It’s no surprise that marketers advocate for these kinds of presentations. Interactive content helps 88% of marketers stand out from their competitors, with 79% saying that it can be used over and over again.

Most importantly, 93% of marketers agree that interactive content is somewhat effective or very effective at educating buyers. That’s the deal-clincher for manufacturers, engineers and MedTech businesses trying to make the complex simple!

Need more proof? Find out more with these compelling interactive content statistics and what they mean for you.

What does interactivity look like?

At this point, you’re probably ready to jump on board with interactive content and presentations. We don’t blame you! But as you might expect, there’s more than one route.

Here are some of the different avenues available:

🗂️ Silos: Navigation pages or ‘hotspots’, allow you to break down content into sections.

↔️ Navigation: Built-in navigation at the bottom of slides, so you can skip between different topics or sections when needed.

🎮 Scenarios: Interactive scenarios, walking through a customer’s challenges to show how your solution fits in.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Personalization: Different types of content, depending on which audience is present. That can apply to different types of customers or different stakeholders within an organization.

🧊 Visualization: Interactive diagrams and 3D models, so you can talk through your solution layer by layer for better clarity.

Want to dig deeper into these options? Find out what your options are for creating persuasive presentations and the next steps for your business.

Factors to consider when creating an interactive presentation

There are lots of factors to consider when you create any presentation. These include:

• Weighing up what works and what doesn’t from existing presentations.
• Considering where you are in your buyers’ process.
• Listing which key messages you need to pinpoint.
• Planning the journey you want to take your audience on.
• Having a tried-and-tested argument.
• Ensuring all the information is up to date.

We’d also like to throw in our three golden rules:

1. Remember that the sole purpose of your presentation is to inspire action.

2. Make your presentation relevant to your audience.

3. Ensure it’s engaging and memorable to make a lasting impression.

Interactive presentations make it easier to inspire action, personalize your presentation, and make it both engaging and memorable. But they also come with their own set of considerations to ensure you get the most from your new presentation tools.

Want to find out more before you dive in? Here are seven considerations when creating captivating and immersive interactive user experiences.

6 brands that have embraced interactive presentations

We’re all about making the complex simple. To help simplify the world of interactive presentations, we’ve got plenty of examples. Below, you’ll find all kinds of interactive presentations from specialized industries like manufacturing, engineering and medical technology:

• Canpack’s customer experience center allows customers to virtually explore Canpack production facilities and compare their wide range of products side by side.
• National Highways’ stakeholder engagement touchscreen showcases their proposed highway upgrade by presenting the current situation, presenting the transformational alternative, and addressing some of the challenges.
• Fujitsu’s interactive sales presentations visually articulate its cybersecurity credentials and value proposition, and allow their team to tailor messages to whoever’s in front of them.
• ABB’s customer experience center uses a 3D CAD model of the factory, allowing customers to dive into different areas and explore deeper content, depending on their interests.
• GSMA’s interactive touchscreen experience acts as a digital hub, letting people access PDFs, videos and interactive data tools at any conference, anywhere in the world.
• Arm’s touchscreen experience features gamification to introduce people into their world and educate them about the complexities of their development process.

Which types of interactive content should feature in a presentation?

Interactive presentations open the door to a whole new world of interactive content. Gone are the days when you were limited to images, videos and some workaday graphics. You can now incorporate:

• Interactive dashboards to break up and drill down into specific content
• Key visuals to anchor content and allow you to navigate into different sub-topics.
• Interactive diagrams that break down into different sub-areas.
• A day in the life walkthroughs to show the impact of your product on a customer’s world.
• Realistic 3D models to showcase products to customers more accurately.
• Pop-up images where more information is accessed by clicking on different graphics.

The key is to make sure your content is simple enough for your audience to engage with, memorable when they do so and provides just the right level of information.

This is discussed in more detail in this guide: What Types of Interactive Content Will Your Customers React Best To?

The role of visual storytelling in interactive presentations

As well as different types of interactive content, it’s worth noting the different methods you should use in your presentation. Chief among these is visual storytelling, where you build a narrative throughout your pitch and back it up with a series of images. In fact, not creating a visual story is among the most common errors made in interactive presentations.

It can be as simple as using interactive annotations on a relevant image that resonates with your audience. Or you can build up an image step by step, demonstrating the many stages of a process or layers to a solution. Doing so makes it easier to understand and remember.

One of our favorite visual storytelling techniques is the ‘a day in the life’ scenario. This is where you illustrate your product’s value through the lens of a customer’s own scenario and perspective. It demonstrates how your solution can make their life easier, improve what they do, or save them money.

See for yourself in our guide: A Simple Visual Storytelling Technique to Bring Your Presentations to Life

Should you use an interactive touchscreen display?

One of the key benefits of interactive presentations is self-service. With the presentation itself acting as an immersive, informative tool, you don’t necessarily need a sales representative to guide potential customers through your presentation.

This makes it ideal for an interactive touchscreen display. So, should you utilize this format? There are several plus points:

• It differentiates you from competitors.
• It allows the audience to lead the conversation.
• Your presentation is automatically tailored to each user.
• It’s a great way for multiple stakeholders to learn about your solutions together.
• It entices people when used at tradeshows and other events.
• It saves you time too!

Of course, there are also some additional requirements. While you can put practically anything on a touchscreen, you’re missing out if you just put a bland, linear presentation on there.

Our guide to interactive touchscreen displays tells you everything you need to know: Can You Use Your Presentation on an Interactive Touchscreen Display?

5 ways to demonstrate digital marketing ROI

We’ve covered the many benefits of interactive presentations in the here and now. But it’s important to see interactive presentations as a long-term investment that can be continuously reused and even refined to better suit your customers as time goes on. Here’s why interactive presentations continue to deliver a return on your investment:

❤️ Purchase influence: Interactive presentations help buyers make emotional connections to your products or services. Resonating with them in this way can influence their decisions and complement your messaging.

🌟 Market differentiation: You’ll be able to make the most of the short amount of time you have with buyers and immediately differentiate your business from the competition.

🧠 Sales strategy: In the process of developing an interactive presentation, you’ll be able to evaluate your business and messaging as a whole and fine-tune your sales strategy.

🏆 Brand credibility: Building a consistent brand experience will increase your brand’s credibility, resulting in better brand loyalty over time.

🤗 Customer experience: You’ll improve the user experience and increase satisfaction for both new and existing customers.

If you’re looking to convince stakeholders to make the switch, dig deeper into these advantages in this guide: How to Measure Digital Marketing ROI of an Interactive Presentation or Digital Sales Tool.

Bring your presentations to life with POP!

If you want to WOW customers and help them make smarter, faster buying decisions, an interactive presentation is the answer. It doesn’t just engage buyers with a memorable experience, it helps them make sense of what you do. That’s practically invaluable in advanced manufacturing, engineering and MedTech, where solutions can be so intricate and complex.

But if you’re just finding out about this new technique, embarking on your own interactive presentation journey might feel like diving in at the deep end. That’s where POP can help. Our no code intuitive interactive content platform that makes it easy to rapidly create bespoke presentations and touchscreen experiences for your audience.

We don’t leave you on your own. Our Customer Success Blueprint guides you through the creation process and beyond, ensuring you get the absolute most out of your investment – now and long into the future. Expect compelling sales presentations, fully equipped sellers, and empowered buyers who can make confident decisions about your products and services.

Find out more in our eBook on touchscreen experiences or book a demo today.