If you sell big-ticket products and services, video sales letters need to be part of your sales and marketing strategy.
Here’s why.
Video sales letters bring together:
- A track record of proven success in direct response sales going back more than fifty years
- The capabilities of the latest technology for innovating with form and personalization
Pretty awesome, right?
Anybody looking to close $10k per month and upwards deals has traditionally been looking at long sales cycles, a lot of relationship-building, and meeting after meeting with stakeholders.
Since Covid-19 hit, that’s been hard to do - especially at scale.
But video sales letters provide an incredibly simple and efficient way to streamline that process.
In this blog, we’ll show you how and provide our top tips for creating amazing high-ticket video sales letters of your own!
- What is a video sales letter?
- Why use video sales letters for high-ticket products and services?
- Using video sales letters in B2B sales funnels
- Sendspark’s top tips for killer video sales letter campaigns
- Get started with video sales letters today!
What is a video sales letter?
A video sales letter is the 21st-century version of the 20th-century advertising staple, the direct response sales letter. Although they have their roots in ads like this...
… long-form sales letters inviting readers to buy, sign up, or express their interest now are still thriving in many sectors and territories around the world.
Typically, they follow a very clear, tried-and-tested formula:
- Start by discussing a problem the audience member has and present them with familiar situations where that problem causes pain of some kind
- Show how your product overcomes that problem in a way no other alternative does
- Pile on as much evidence of success from other people’s cases as possible!
Now: imagine that “learn to play the piano” ad as a video - with the teacher talking directly to you and showing you the techniques in action.
A lot more impact, right?
Next: imagine that video tailored to your specific needs. Using your own name. Reflecting on your previous interactions with the piano teacher. Addressing your concerns and questions.
Finally: imagine the booking form being a single click away from that video, with a personalized “thank you” message ready to be sent out immediately when you fill it in.
And all that without a single face-to-face meeting with your new piano teacher!
That’s what video sales letters can do for anybody who has a screen recording app and the ability to send video messages to their prospects.
If you’re already sold on the idea, sign up for a free Sendspark account right now!
Just make sure you come back to read up on why this is such a powerful technique for selling and marketing high-priced products and services...
Why use video sales letters for high-ticket products and services?
There are some pretty compelling reasons for using video for selling anything:
- 59% of executives prefer to consume video content than any other medium
- 64% of consumers are more likely to buy after watching a video
- 80% of video marketers say that video campaigns have led directly to more sales
I could go on, but we’ve written a whole blog on video marketing stats - so hop over there if you need more evidence!
But in this blog, we’re looking specifically at $10k per month and bigger deals.
What makes video sales letters so perfectly suited to products and services in this price bracket?
#1 They take the labor intensity out of the selling process
Salespeople can spend huge amounts of time cold calling prospects, booking meetings, traveling to those meetings, and demonstrating what they have to sell.
With a video sales letter, you have your pitch and demo pre-recorded and available to be viewed by anyone at a time that suits them.
Your sales team doesn’t need to do anything at that traditionally labor-intensive top of the funnel phase.
And if you push your video sales letter out to a long list of prospects by email using the automation platform of your choice, you can eliminate whole sections of your funnel in one go.
#2 No more playing phone tag or languishing in the inbox backlog
High-value sales usually mean:
- Multiple touchpoints
- A long cycle
- Multiple stakeholders
Trying to get feedback from or book a meeting with everyone you need can turn you into a phone pest! Alternatively, you’ll be sending out emails in the vain hope that everyone involved sees them in time.
Video messaging combines the personal touch you can provide on the phone with the asynchronous advantages of email.
Record and send a quick, tailored video message with Sendspark whenever you need to touch base with a stakeholder, and you’ll keep your face front of mind!
With no-show rates for video appointments around 40%, reminding your prospects that you’re a real person who cares about them and their needs can have a big impact on their engagement with your process.
Video sales letters plus quick video messages can help your sales team concentrate their efforts where they can have the biggest impact.
#3 Different video sales letters for different use cases
It’s easy to produce lots of different versions of your video sales letter and then push the most relevant one to prospects based on their use cases.
Using a basic survey form, you can get leads to tell you what they would use your product for and then right away fire across a pitch and demo directed precisely to their needs.
There’s no need to be one-size-fits-all!
Using video sales letters in B2B sales funnels
That last point brings us to the concept of video sales funnels.
The old-school sales letter was a one-and-done, “send the form back along with your check” affair.
Great if you’re selling magazine subscriptions, but not so great for complex, B2B sales.
Many of us in the sales, marketing, and SaaS worlds are familiar with sales funnels - where prospects are driven through multiple stages of an online buying process which automatically and contextually serves up the right information and prompts at the right times to move them closer to purchasing.
Video sales letters enable you to turn part of your conventional B2B sales cycle into funnels:
- By putting your pitch and demo video on your home page
- By sending pre-recorded specific use case video explainers out on demand
- By sending “thank you” and “next steps” messages to new sign-ups
- By sharing upsell or “one time offer” videos to interested parties when they hit behavioral triggers in your workflow
- By keeping cold prospects engaged and aware of you and your product until they are actively seeking a solution you can offer
But the longer a sales cycle is, the more likely any given prospect will be to stray off the predetermined pathway.
And this is where short, personalized video messages - over email, LinkedIn, or other channels tailored to their preferences - can help nudge them back on track.
Sendspark is ideal for both these kinds of messages:
- Video sales letters tend to be quite long, especially in B2B sales. There is no limit on the length of your videos with Sendspark, even on the free tier!
- Sendspark makes it really simple to send one-off, off-the-cuff messages but also helps you build out video messaging campaigns - by enabling you to save or upload video templates and by supporting really easy integration with marketing automation platforms.
- Our unique Request Video feature lets your prospects send videos back to you without downloading any software, turning it into a truly conversational medium.
Sendspark’s top tips for killer video sales letter campaigns
#1 Stay authentic and chatty
It’s a good idea to have a script - good sales letters are carefully structured. But unless you’re a terrific actor, it’s better not to read it out word for word.
Know what you want to say and in what order, but try to be as chatty as possible. A few “ums” and “ahs” will give you an air of authenticity and spontaneity, and make your recording seem more like a live experience!
#2 One big idea
“Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night”, said advertising legend, David Ogilvy.
Don’t overcomplicate things. Focus relentlessly on one use case per video sales letter.
Don’t try to be all things to all people because you’ll lose your audience when you talk about features and benefits they don’t care about.
#3 Front-load the good stuff
One-third of everyone who starts watching your video will stop within 30 seconds! By 120 seconds, you’re likely to have lost 60% of viewers.
So you must grab your audience’s attention from the first instant. Show them why this matters to them right away!
#4 Personalize it
Even if your video sales letter itself is the same for all potential buyers, you’ll win trust and build personal rapport the more you personalize the offer.
That could be a tailored intro video leading into the main content, a personal call to action at the end, or a message copy accompanying the videos that has been written bespoke.
One great way to show that you’ve made a video just for them is to use your prospect’s logo in the messaging. Sendspark lets you add just that to your animated email thumbnails for video messages!
#5 Talk about them, not you
As Dale Carnegie said: “Talk to someone about themselves, and they'll listen for hours.”
That’s as true for video sales letters as anything else.
Your product should only feature as the best way for your audience to solve their problems. That means knowing your prospects, what bothers them, and how they work: that is, communicating clear Product-Market Fit.
#6 Keep the landing pages simple
Once somebody has watched your video sales letter, make it as easy as possible for them to take the next step by including just one call to action.
If the next step is booking a meeting, have one big button under the video enabling viewers to do just that!
Sendspark lets you build beautiful, branded landing pages for your video messages, complete with calls to action that pop. Link your landing pages to your Calendly or another booking platform to make it super easy for prospects!
#7 Nudge users along with quick personal videos
Like we said earlier, don’t just leave it up to your leads to take the next steps.
Keep engaging and keep yourself front of mind with quick video messages. Track those engagement stats to see who’s watching and when!
#8 Drive traffic to your video sales letters
You’ll need to kiss a lot of frogs to find the princes out there.
Only a small percentage of your potential buyers will be aware of you at all. And only a small percentage of them will be looking to buy now.
You need to get your video sales letter in front of as many of the right people as possible to get enough prospects into your funnel. So:
- Build your video sales letter into PPC landing pages and social media ads
- Promote it through your email newsletters
- Make sure it’s well-signposted all over your website
Get started with video sales letters today!
Sendspark really is the ideal tool for creating video sales letters and for integrating personalized video into your sales funnel.
Sendspark makes it easy to create or import videos and distribute them across email, social, and the web. Sign up now if you want to start recording and sharing videos for free.
