DemoRiff
The Riff

Field notes on explaining software well

Research from 94 million demo views, engineering write-ups from the pipeline, and practical craft advice for anyone whose job involves making a product make sense.

ResearchSeptember 2, 2026· 11 min read

The anatomy of a product demo that actually converts

We analysed retention curves across 41,000 published demos. The videos that convert share five structural properties, and almost none of them are about production quality.

PRPriya Raman · Head of Content
Strategy9 min

Your help center is lying, and everybody knows it

Documentation drift is the silent tax on every software company. Here is how to measure it, and why the fix is structural rather than editorial.

Mika Lindqvist · August 19, 2026
Engineering13 min

How automatic zoom actually works (and why most implementations feel wrong)

A technical walkthrough of framing a zoom on intent rather than on coordinates, and the easing decisions that separate a camera operator from a slideshow.

Tom Aldridge · August 5, 2026
Strategy8 min

Personalized demos, without a personalization team

Why one master recording and seven generated variants beats seven separately recorded demos — and how to structure the master so the variants work.

Daniel Okafor · July 22, 2026
Product5 min

Why we don't meter documentation

A product decision that costs us money and we would make again. Metering docs creates exactly the wrong incentive.

Sofia Benali · July 8, 2026
Strategy7 min

Localization is an operations problem, not a translation problem

Producing one localized video is easy. Keeping eleven of them current through a year of product changes is where every team gives up.

Renata Alves · June 24, 2026
Craft9 min

Recording your product when the screen is full of customer data

A practical guide to demo environments, masking policies and the things that get accidentally published.

Tom Aldridge · June 10, 2026
Craft6 min

When to use an interactive demo and when to use a video

They are not substitutes. Different funnel stages, different viewer intent, and a straightforward rule for choosing.

Priya Raman · May 27, 2026

One considered email, every other Tuesday

No product announcements, no drip sequence. Research, craft notes and the occasional uncomfortable finding from the data.