Adding Guides

Overview

Guides are used to do just that, guide your demo viewer throughout specific sections of your product that you want to highlight. This allows for a clear path from A to Z, where the demo viewer can follow along easily, and not veer off course to a different portion of your product. Adding Guides is ideal if you're planning to create a Guided Demo of course, but guided demos are specifically useful for  website embeds for lead generation or product marketing, like showcasing product updates, or new product features. They can also be useful for tailoring a demo for a specific purpose, like how to set up an integration, how to add users to your account, or how to export or share reports. Whatever your use case is, let's walk through the options for adding guides to your demos!

Instructions

1. Capture your product's screens in which you wish to showcase for your guided demo.
2. Navigate to the templates section in the platform to edit the screens you just captured.
3. Open up the template you wish to add guides to, and click on a screen thumbnail to start editing.
4. In order to add any type of guide, you need to select an element to start. That element will essentially be the main focus for what you're planning to guide the user through. 
5. Once you click an element, you will see a toolbar appear with lots of options, click on the speech bubble icon with a plus sign to add your guide. 
6. After you click, you'll be asked to connect your guide, or select a new guide, this is so you can separate your flows more easily and organize them accordingly. 
   • If this is your first guide, select "Add new guide" and give it a name based on the flow you're looking to showcase. It could be as simple as "Introduction" for example, but you can always change it later as well. 
   • If you are working on a template which you have already added guides to, you can select a previously made guide from the dropdown. Keep in mind, all new guides will appear at the bottom of the section if there are already existing guides.
7.   Once you have established the guide flow, you'll see the navigation change on the left side of the screen to the Guides section. From there, you can create a new guide from the side menu, or click on the speech bubble with the plus sign again to create your new guide.

Types of Guides

There are actually three different types of guides you can choose from, the default option is the Tooltip, but you can also choose from a Hotspot, or Modal option depending on the purpose. In order to change the guide type, simply click on the speech bubble icon to bring up the different options. each option has different settings which can also help to determine the best option based on your demo goal. Let's do a quick breakdown of the three different guide options since it might influence your decision.

Tooltip

The tooltip option is essentially a speech bubble which is connected to a specific element or section of your product. This is the most common option to explain the purpose of a specific section in more detail, since you can add rich text to the speech bubble, including supplementary links, photos or videos to help get your point across. The tooltip also allows you to add an avatar with a name or role, include or remove a back or dismiss button, or dim the background to help the viewer focus on the annotation itself. Customizing the guide can be found under the settings icon, which looks like a gear.

Modal

The modal is similar to a tooltip, except it is not attached to a specific element. This allows for a text box to appear in the middle of your screen, and works well for an introductory or closing statement. it has similar settings to the Tooltip, but you can also customize the size of the modal within the settings. 

With both the Modal or Tooltip guides, you have the option to customize your next guide steps where you can navigate the user to the next step in your demo, or maybe allow for them to click a different button to get in touch with you, or send them to a different page within your website. There are several options but they are meant to be customized to your intended demo goal.

Hotspot

The hotspot option is similar to linking screens, except you are linking guides together. In the event that you don't need further explanation of the step, a hotspot is a great choice. In the guide settings, you can choose from two different styles; either a glow or a beacon. Either option will be connected to a specific element, and be clickable onto the next guide step. You can customize the look of the glow or the beacon by changing the color and opacity. 

FAQ

Can I have multiple guides on one screen?

Yes, you can! If you want to showcase multiple elements or sections all one one screen, simply be aware of the order in which you want them to appear. Whatever is first in the guide side bar menu will appear first, and then everything underneath it will determine the order of the guides sequentially. It is not possible to show multiple guides on screen at once, however you can customize your next guide steps to allow for adding a button to a specific guide flow.

How can I change the order of my guides?

You can change the order of your guides by hovering over one of the guides in your guide side menu on the left, and then dragging it to it's intended position. It is important to just hover to preview the guide, and then click and hold to drag, without clicking down on the guide. Clicking once will open up the editing panel to change the text, position, or settings of the guide, whereas simply clicking and dragging in a single motion will allow you to reorder the guides.

You can also create a new guide in between two guides, by hovering between the two. A line with a plus icon should appear and once you click, you will have the option to create a new guide on the screen by selecting an element, and creating your new guide.