Key Takeaways:
- We analyzed more than 100K product demos to find the most productive days and times.
- Thursdays between 2-4 p.m. have the best chance of a completed demo.
- Fridays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. are 2nd best.
- Thursdays are the best overall day for a completed demo.
- 2-4 p.m. Eastern is the best two-hour time window.
Best Demo Days & Times: Here’s What the Numbers Say
If you sell software, you know how persuasive product demos can be as a sales tool. When your solution can literally change the trajectory of an entire business, seeing is most definitely believing — if you can seize that chance and actually book a demo.
So what’s the most effective day and time to schedule a virtual product demo?
We analyzed some 130,000 sales meetings to identify the specific times and days when salespeople complete the most product demos.
Our Methodology
To determine the best times to schedule these crucial meetings, our analysts calculated the completion rate of new business product demos scheduled across days of the week and specific hourly windows. This allows us to identify trends in demo activity, including peak times for demo meetings and optimal periods for demo completion.
All times are Eastern Time, and data analysis was confined to the Americas.
What’s the Best Time of Day to Schedule Software Demos?
According to ZoomInfo data, the best time of day to schedule software demos is between 2-4 p.m. Software demos conducted between 2-4 p.m. had a completion rate of 77%, the highest of any time period.
Completion rates remained strong, albeit slightly lower, throughout the late afternoon after that two-hour peak, at 66% between 4-6 p.m., suggesting sustained engagement after lunch.
Predictably, demo completion rates begin to fall in the early evening, coinciding with the end of the conventional workday on the East Coast. That said, ZoomInfo’s data indicates many salespeople are indeed doing everything they can to gain an advantage in a tough market, with demo completion rates of 45% observed between 6-8 p.m., likely as a result of necessary overlap with Central and Pacific time zones.
Midmorning Offers Strong Demo Opportunities
Although mid- to late afternoon saw the highest demo completion rate by a significant margin, midmorning also proved to be a highly productive time for software demos.
Activity picks up significantly in the midmorning period, however, with demo completion rates increasing to 63% between 10-11 a.m. While this is good news for salespeople who prefer to frontload demos in their workday, productivity during the midmorning still lags behind the midafternoon window considerably.
Early Mornings Weakest for Demos
While not terribly surprising, we found strong confirmation that demos are typically not how prospects want to start their days.
According to ZoomInfo data, the early morning period from 8-10 a.m. saw completion rates of just 27%, making it the least productive time of day to schedule software demos during typical working hours.
So, what are the best days of the week for sales demos? We took a look at the data.
What’s The Best Day of the Week to Schedule Software Demos?
According to ZoomInfo data, the best day of the week to schedule software demos is Thursday.
This is a case where being a close second in two important categories adds up to being first overall. Tuesdays have slightly higher volume of completed demos than Thursdays, and Fridays have a slightly higher completion rate, at 68% vs. 65%.
But the combination of a strong efficiency metric and a significant edge in volume makes Thursday the standout in our analysis.
Slicing the data even further, the two-hour window with the best completion rate all week was Thursdays between 2-4 p.m., which had a completion rate of 82% — significantly higher than the next-best window of 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Fridays, when completion rates were 68%.
It’s important to note that the type of software you’re demonstrating may also have an impact on the best times of day to schedule software demos. It may take longer, or be more difficult, to get to that “wow” moment with complex software products, even if the value proposition is meaningful, which could impact the best times to demo.
Taking Action: Demo Scheduling Pro Tips
Now it’s time to put the data into action. Remember that sales is part art and part science — at the end of the day, you’re trying to connect with real people who have real problems to solve. So try to get your ideal windows lined up with theirs.
ZoomInfo SVP of Sales Development Brian Vital says sellers should always ask for the soonest meeting possible while respecting the prospect’s time. For example, if a prospect offers to meet on a Tuesday at 3 p.m. two weeks from now, you should come back with that day and time, but no more than a week out.
“We have a lot of numbers that show anything outside of five working days is almost not worth booking, because the completion rate just drops so dramatically,” Vital says. “Always meet in the middle with your prospect to increase your show rate.”
It’s also worth considering the institutional wisdom of your sales team. For instance, reps in ZoomInfo’s SMB business team find that prospects will often make same-week decisions, meaning that Thursday and Friday meetings can lead to quick wins if our solution is a strong fit. That won’t be the case for every business, however. If your most experienced reps say Wednesday afternoon is the time to demo, it might be worth giving it a try.
“If you’re setting a meeting where a new executive or economic buyer is joining, I really like the Friday meeting, especially if there’s a chance to close the deal,” ZoomInfo VP of New Business Lou Wolf says. “That said, consider what type of company you’re dealing with. If it’s a growth company, Friday meetings tend to stick. If it’s a lifestyle business, we may get canceled and tend to shoot for Thursday instead.”
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