Whether you are interested in creating video sales letters (VSL) for your business or questioning what video sales letters are, you have come to the right place. In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about this effective marketing strategy: what they are, why you need them, what they should contain, how to create them, and finally, we’ll give you some video sales letter examples that will inspire you.
What is a video sales letter?
A video clip sales letter is a video that advertises your product or service to a potential customer. Good video sales letters grab attention, address your target audience’s problems and pains, highlight your product as the answer to those pains, and inspire your target audience to convert. For added lift, video sales letters include social proof and evidence of your brand’s credibility. Can add a Video sales letter to your homepage, a separate sales page or landing page, used as a video ad, linked to in your advertising emails, and a lot extra.
Why use video sales letters?
Several reasons are why video sales letters are a fantastic enhancement to your marketing method. While standard sales letters are effective, video sales letters incorporate video marketing, which has grown in popularity and effectiveness in recent years. It’s no surprise that 88% of marketers say they will spend more money on video campaigns in the future (Social Media Week). And for a good reason: 69% of people say they would prefer to learn about a new product or service in a short video (Wyzowl).
Here are a few of the benefits of video sales letters that you’ll appreciate:
They’re compelling: Video sales letters make it easy to convey information that will move your target audience to action. Videos draw in potential customers so that text on a page can’t. Because tone isn’t left to the imagination, video letters allow you to showcase your brand’s personality and share important information about your brand.
They are visually appealing: While you can include images and use fonts and colors effectively in text-based marketing, videos have the advantage of motion. You can use this to show how your products are used in real-time and hold your audience’s attention more quickly than with text-based marketing.
They pack an emotional punch: With videos, your audiences don’t have to decide for themselves what you want to say to them; they convey the overall emotional intent of your advertising campaign.
What to consist in your video sales letters
Let’s take a minute to discuss what good video sales letters should include. While your video sales letter doesn’t have to include everything we’re discussing here, it’s essential to consider what you wish to achieve with your video and what you need to accomplish.
A solid message
Your video sales letters require a powerful message, and the best way to ensure this is to create a script for your video. Grab the viewer’s attention with relevant content. Here’s what your script needs to accomplish:
- State the problem or pain point
- Fuel the issue (how does this p turn up in the day-to-day lives of your prospective customers?)
- Offer your product or service as the service.
- Include social proof to inspire trust and build credibility
- State the advantages of your product or service
- Arouse urgency or FOMO (“worry of missing out”) to motivate action
- Consist of a call to action, so viewers know what to do next
- Clarify what sets you apart from your competitors
- Impressive images
Your video sales letters must contain engaging graphics and images that successfully convey your message, evoke emotions in the viewer, and provide additional information.
Creating Video Sales Letters Now that you know the benefits of video sales letters, you’re probably wondering how you can create a video sales letter yourself. For such an effective marketing tactic that involves only three steps (assuming you’ve already determined if your product fits the market).
Write your script
The script for your VSL should start with a hook. That can be an interesting question, a controversial statement, or a startling statistic. Anything that immediately grabs attention and is relevant to your product or service is appropriate. If you’ve only written text-based copy before, you can think of the hook as a headline.
After grabbing your audience’s attention, you need to draw them in with a compelling story. While you can certainly tell an entirely fictional story, you should use it if you have a story from one of your previous clients. The story’s purpose in your video sales letter is to present the problem figuratively. Then, once you’ve set the scene, go straight to the problems your product fixes.
From there, it is all about establishing yourself as the solution to those problems and providing social proof to your audience that you know what you’re talking about. You can share testimonials from other satisfied customers, let viewers know about your testimonials, and more to build your credibility. This part of your script aims to establish yourself as an authority on the subject and inspire confidence.
Produce your video
We’ve listed video manufacturing as a single step in creating a VSL; however, you probably already understand that video production is a multi-step process. Once you have completed your script, you need to produce your video sales letter. You can always work with a video production company to do this part for you, but many smaller brands have opted to produce their videos themselves to save time and have better control over the process.
The response, as with most things, is “it depends.” First, it depends on when and where you will use your video. If you create a landing page or sales page for the video sales letter or use it directly on your homepage, you need to make sure it looks good. If your VSL is shared on social media, you can be a little more relaxed about video production.
Beyond that, there is the question of whether or not you’ll be using all or part of your VSL for your email marketing. If that is the case, you will probably want to personalize parts of the video to target specific segments of your email advertising list.
You will also need to decide how you want the video to look and act, where you want to host it, and how much you can spend. Video production can get pretty expensive (we are talking over $50,000 here), but you can also spend anywhere from $50 to $350, depending on the answers to the questions asked here and the platforms you use to develop your VSL.
Promote
Once your VSL is ready, you need to promote it. We have found that three of the best ways to promote a video sales letter are to create a standalone landing page, create an email campaign, and use paid ads.
Landing pages are probably the most common method companies use to promote their video sales letters. It’s as simple as creating a page, adding a headline, embedding the video, and finishing it with a call to action. There are also platforms like ClickFunnels that allow you to create a complete advertising funnel for your VSL.
Email marketing is the next step after developing a landing page. Once your landing page is ready, you can incorporate it into your email advertising projects to drive web traffic to your landing page and your VSL. With email advertising, you have the added benefit of personalizing your subject line email body and even adding dynamic content for particular segments. And consisting of the word “video” in your email subject line can increase open rates by up to 6%!
Finally, do not be afraid to create Google or Facebook ad projects to drive web traffic to your VSL landing web page or use your VSL itself as a video ad.
Video sales letter examples
Here is some instance of video sales letters that we like. These VSLs are entertaining, engaging, and accomplish everything you want your VSL to do.
This example of a video sales letter from Squatty Potty is, well, pretty wild. However, it follows the format you’d expect from a VSL (problem, excitement, service), and with greater than 39 million views on YouTube, it is clear that this VSL hits the mark when it concerns entertaining viewers.
We especially like this video sales letter because of the great animations. When you watch the VSL, you’ll notice that it focuses on the target audience’s problems and how the book will help solve those problems.
This example of a video sales letter by Frank Kern is excellent because it’s not slick and polished, nor does it seem overly salesy. While the VSL consists of everything you would expect from an effective video sales letter, the video itself is a little harsh around the edges, making it a little more personal.
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