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Demo Videos and Pitch Decks

Practical guidance on demo videos and pitch decks for Shopify app founders.

Partner Onboarding · ~5 min read

Some partners — especially agencies and consultants pitching your app to a client — need more than a link and a paragraph. A short demo video or a simple pitch deck gives them something credible to put in front of a merchant. But these are higher-effort assets, so build them only when your partners are actually selling your app in a room, and build them to be shared as-is, not admired by you.

When you actually need these

A demo video or deck earns its cost when partners make considered recommendations to merchants — agencies proposing a stack, consultants advising on tooling, anyone selling your app in a meeting rather than dropping a link to an audience. If your partners mostly share links to a broad audience (creators, affiliates), a pasteable description and a demo link do more than a polished deck. Build the heavy assets for the partners who present; don't build them by default.

The demo video

Keep it short — a couple of minutes — and focused on the outcome, not a feature tour. Show the merchant's problem, your app solving it, and the result. A partner will share a tight, benefit-focused demo; a fifteen-minute walkthrough of every setting helps no one. Make it easy to send (a link, not a file), and keep it current so it never shows a UI that no longer exists.

The pitch deck

A partner-usable deck is a handful of slides they can drop into a client conversation: the problem, what your app does, the outcome for the merchant, and the offer. Leave room for the partner to add their own framing — they know their client better than you do. A deck that's all your branding and no space for theirs feels like an ad they're forwarding; one they can co-present feels like their recommendation.

Build them to be shared, not to impress

The measure of these assets is whether partners actually put them in front of merchants, not how polished they look to you. That means: easy to send, easy to customise lightly, short enough to hold attention, and current. A modest demo that partners share every week beats a beautiful one that sits unused because it's too long, too locked-down, or out of date.

Practical checklist

  • Built only if partners present/pitch your app to merchants (not just share links)
  • A short (~2 min) demo video focused on outcome, not a feature tour
  • A few-slide deck: problem, what it does, merchant outcome, the offer
  • Room in the deck for the partner to add their own framing
  • Everything shareable as a link, current, and short enough to actually get used

Common mistakes

  • Building a deck and video before you have partners who actually pitch your app
  • A long feature-tour demo instead of a short, outcome-focused one
  • A locked-down, all-your-branding deck partners can't make their own

FAQ

Do I need a demo video and pitch deck for my partner program?+

Only if your partners pitch your app to merchants in a considered way — agencies and consultants presenting a recommendation. If partners mostly share links to an audience, a pasteable description and a demo link do more. Build heavy assets for presenters, not by default.

How long should a partner demo video be?+

Short — around two minutes — and focused on the outcome: the merchant's problem, your app solving it, the result. A tight benefit-focused demo gets shared; a long walkthrough of every feature doesn't. Keep it current so it never shows an outdated UI in front of a client.

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