SaaS Screenshots & Product Tours for Conversion

Website Design🕑 Reading Time: 7 Minutes

Every software company wants to drive either freemium signups, trial registrations or get demos scheduled.

The impact of screenshots, product visuals and product tours can be underestimated though. Even more misunderstood are the detailed strategies that make these visuals more impactful in driving conversions.

When building your SaaS Website, great effort should be made to get your visuals right.

Why Are Visuals Impactful For Conversion

Our goal is to increase actions and conversions on our SaaS or Tech site.

Whether you are converting PQLs ( Product Qualified Leads ) or SQLs ( Sales Qualified leads ), screenshots, product images and tours are an absolutely essential ingredient in getting someone to convert.

Product Visuals Say More Than Words

Ok, it’s a cliche that a picture is worth a thousand words, but when you are talking about communicating product features, it is true.

Studies show that a visitor that looks at an animated screen of a product compared to a list of features / functionality, that the visual is more easily comprehended.

Too much text often can be overwhelming and taxing on our brains – especially in the circumstance of a sales funnel.  It is different if the intention is education, but for visitors looking for a solution, we want to speed up the process of comprehension.

Product Visuals Build Trust

Everyone can be a bit skeptical.  It’s actually part of our DNA to be cautious since our ancestors needed to survive in the wild.

Visuals often build trust because they add confirmation to the things that we are reading. The combination of smart copy with visuals help visitors confirm and collaborate what they are learning.

Product Visuals Manage Expectations

In marketing, we believe that building trust ( which drives conversions ) is about managing a prospects expectations.

We all hate thinking or believing one thing to only be surprised.  With software purchases, this is often the case.  Visitors want to know if the software does what they need or will produce the outcomes that they want.

What Types Of Visuals Should SaaS Companies Use On Their Website

There are infinite ways to display SaaS product screens on a website. The latest trends combine abstracted screens, human elements, animation and on page movement to produce highly engaging visuals.

Here are just a few examples of SaaS screen displays.

Actual Screenshots

One of the more traditional ways and quickly dying is to display actual screenshots. Often this is done simply to keep budget and effort low while still providing a visitor with insight into the product itself.

SaaS Screenshots


Representative Screens

Representative screens typically take a whole interface or the most important parts and abstract them out as advanced illustrations of the products key functionality.

In this example below, what would be a complex calendar interface is simplified down to color coded calendar with a happy face.

SaaS Representative Screens


Collage of Screens

With either direct or illustrated screens, you can also display a collage of your SaaS product’s interfaces.

This one below brings a human element to it and actually changes the screens as it scrolls. Check it out here.

SaaS Product Collage


Real-World Images with Screens

The below example is actually from our own site and is a video of a person using an interface. This gives visitors context of use and makes it feel true to life.

Live Action SaaS Product Screens


Tabbed Product Tour

A great solution for any display of multiple SaaS features is to present as a tabbed tour. Usually these are highly visual and allow visitors to easily traverse a set of related SaaS product features.

SaaS Tabbed Product Tour


Feature Slideshow

Slideshows are very similar to tabbed interfaces, but often will have automatic rotation that forces the visitor to see multiple visuals.  This is good for a feature that may have slight variations that are important.

SaaS Slideshow


Product Real Life Videos

This example actually employs multiple of the strategies from tabs, to abstracted screen call-outs to video.

SaaS Video of Screens


Product Animations

Animation – particularly explainer videos – is often used to showcase a Saas software product. These do not always have to be playable videos with audio and can be autoplay videos that showcase the products interface.

Animated SaaS Screens

What Strategies Work Best For SaaS Screenshots & Product Tours

Design is art that leverages science and is targeted towards specific objectives.

What Are The Objectives Of Our SaaS Visuals?

Of course the primary objective is conversion, but we should break that down to determine what brings about conversion.

What Science of Design Is Best To Achieve Objectives

Design is science. Understanding human psychology and best practices to influence others to do what we want. Some best practices to consider for your SaaS Website graphics are:

Watch Our SaaS Website Conversion Episode on Screenshots & Product Tours

In episode 6 of our SaaS Growth Weekly Show, we explored tips around using screens and product tours.  The series is dedicated to how SaaS companies can improve conversion of their website.

Where Product Tours Fit In The Buying Cycle of Prospects

How To Leverage Explainer Videos

Using Demos in Your Funnel