# Real-time demo booking instead of email: 50% to 76% booked

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Demo request (SaaS)
- Elements: Instant booking
- Test run by: [Metadata.io](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/metadata-io/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://www.chilipiper.com/customer-story/metadata-io
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/gap-metadata-io-realtime-demo-scheduling/

Metadata.io replaced emailed time slots with live rep availability that prospects book in one step, and the share of demo requests that got booked went from about 50% to 76%. Metadata.io ran the change, and it was published as a Chili Piper customer story in December 2022. It is a before/after comparison, not a split test.

## Result

**50% to 76% booked**

- Demo requests booked: about 50% before, 76% after.
- Volume handled: around 100 demo requests a month before, 400+ after. Before the change, the team had paused campaigns because it could not keep up.
- No headcount was added, according to the story.
- No time window or significance test was shared. The lead mix also changed as volume grew, so the two periods are not a clean match.

## Control

Demo requests were answered by email, with reps typing out available times across time zones. Prospects often picked a slot that had already been taken by the time they replied.

## Variant

Prospects see real-time availability for everyone needed on the call and book in one step. Leads from LinkedIn ads go straight to a booking page instead of a 'we'll be in touch' page.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Live availability ends the email back-and-forth where good slots disappear before the prospect replies.
- Booking in one step lets prospects commit while they are still engaged.
- Sending pre-qualified ad leads straight to a calendar skips a waiting step that loses people.

## Caveats

Before/after comparison published by the scheduling vendor, with no sample size or dates for each period. Lead volume roughly quadrupled over the same time, so the before and after groups differ.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show prospects live rep availability and let them book a demo in one step, then more demo requests will become booked meetings because they no longer wait on email replies.
- Primary metric: Share of demo requests that become booked meetings
- Guardrail: Demo show rate
- Guardrail: Qualified pipeline per booked demo
- Guardrail: Time from request to meeting
- Who should test it: SaaS teams that still schedule demos by email, especially with several reps per call or buyers across time zones. Teams already using instant booking will see little change.

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Credit: Metadata.io ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/gap-metadata-io-realtime-demo-scheduling/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.