If you sell big-ticket products and services, video sales letters need to be part of your sales and marketing strategy.
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.
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?
A video sales letter is the 21st-century version of the 20th-century advertising staple, the direct response sales letter.
These long-form sales letters invite readers to buy, sign up, or express their interest. 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 instead of a letter, it was a video where the salesperson was speaking directly to you, the video was tailored to your specific needs, and the booking form was just a single click away.
That’s what video sales letters can do for anybody who has VSL software and the ability to send video messages to their prospects.
Why use video sales letters?
There are some pretty compelling reasons for using video for selling anything.
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.
No more playing phone tag or languishing in the inbox
High-value sales usually means:
- 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!
Video sales letters plus quick video messages can help your sales team concentrate their efforts where they can have the biggest impact.
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 fire across a demo targeted perfectly to their needs.
Using video sales letters in B2B sales funnels
The old-school sales letter was a one-and-done, “send the form back along with your check” affair. That's great if you’re selling magazine subscriptions, but not so great for complex, B2B sales.
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 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 or LinkedIn 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.
- 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 popular CRMs and marketing automation platforms.
- The Request Video feature lets your prospects send videos back to you without downloading any software, turning it into a truly conversational medium.
8 best practices for creating video sales letters
Video sales letters come is a wide variety of formats, from simple talking-head style to highly-polished mini-feature, but what matters most is creating rapport and trust, providing a clear call to action, and fitting the content to the funnel stage your video is aimed at.
Follow these best practices to create VSLs that convert.
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 will 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 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 custom-written message accompanying the video.
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.
Present your product as the best way for your audience to solve their problems. That means knowing your prospects, what bothers them, and how they work.
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.
Video sales letter examples
We bet you’re more than eager to start making your own video sales letters with the video sales letter software of your choice, but you might not be sure how to begin and could use some examples to give you inspiration.
Below, you'll find several top-notch video sales letter examples to help you get on track with creating your own. We’ll also explain what makes each of them work and where they can get a bit tricky.
Example 1: Simple and straightforward VSL
This type of video sales letter is our personal favorite as it’s the easiest to create — all you need is a good pitch and a webcam and you’re ready to go.
However, just because it doesn’t have any special visual effects does not make this kind of video sales letter any less efficient. Keeping it simple often goes a long way — and here’s why.
Why it works
A video sales letter that consists of you and your pitch alone is a golden formula for success.
This type of video sales letter is the next best thing to actual face-to-face contact with a prospect for several reasons:
- You can use non-verbal communication to persuade them more easily.
- Eye contact, gesticulation, and facial expressions are crucial for creating genuine rapport.
- You’ll appear more trustworthy — like you don’t have to hide behind fancy post-production and glitzy effects.
- You help prospects put a face to the brand, making it more human, likable, and approachable.
Keeping it clean and simple, with a clear focus on your product and the way it can address your leads’ pain points and an effective CTA at the end, is more than enough to drive more sales your way.
Where it can get tricky
If you’re camera-shy, creating a video of yourself can be a bit of an issue at first.
However, that’s not something that can’t be overcome. With some practice and goodwill, you’ll get comfortable in front of the camera in no time.
Example 2: Animation with voice-over VSL
Some businesses opt for this version of video sales letters, which include animated, stock, or kinetic text videos with a voice-over.
This type of video sales letter is usually not overly complex to make, and it can sure add some visual pizzazz to your sales strategy.
Why it works
Fun doodles or high-quality stock videos can make quite an impression on your target audience. And when you make an original and catchy video, with good voice-over and striking imagery that focuses on your product, magic is bound to happen.
Plus, you can let your imagination run wild here since you can make practically anything you want by adding fancy effects and playing around in whatever way you feel like.
Where it can get tricky
Just like with the previous example, there’s always a danger of your video sales letter drowning in the noise of similar videos that reek of ordinary ads.
Whenever you miss out on making that face-to-face, personal contact with your prospect, you often lose a crucial opportunity for steering them towards conversion.
Personalized videos are the best possible way of building trust and genuinely connecting with your leads, which further increases your chances of customer retention in the long run.
Putting a friendly face that customers have learned to trust and like to your product is always a good idea, especially when you’ve only just begun to create a brand and get it out there.
Example 3: A VSL for different funnel stages
Many businesses make one common mistake when it comes to video sales letters — they limit their use to just one stage of the sales funnel.
The truth is that there is no reason not to include videos in as many different stages of your sales process as you possibly can.
In fact, nothing is stopping you from creating an entire video marketing funnel, just like Chris did here, and you’ll see an increase in your lead count in no time.
Why it works
Making video sales letters part of different funnel stages — from first introducing your brand to the market, to prospecting, nurturing leads, and creating highly-personalized custom-made offers for a single lead alone — has never been easier.
You can do all that and more with simple several-minutes-long videos just like this one. All you need to do is make sure you personalize your offer for the one lead you’re making the video for by:
- Creating a custom landing page for them.
- Including your or your prospect’s logo in the video.
- Emphasizing all the vitals with options such as a camera spotlight that help with being more convincing and making a stronger impression.
- Including a nice, big CTA button at the bottom.
- Customizing your video thumbnail — you can even make it a GIF for additional sparkle.
Where it can get tricky
Once again, if you’re not used to being in front of the camera, the first couple of attempts at making these sorts of video sales letters can be a little awkward.
Example 4: One-time offer VSL
Videos are an awesome way of showing your product to the world without having to go door to door or organize conferences or live presentations.
What’s more, you can always take advantage of one particular aspect of human nature — the fact that we tend to covet the things that come in limited numbers and love chasing sales, discounts, and special offers like our lives depend on it.
So, why not make the most of it by creating a video sales letter that’s going to do just that — both showcase your product and edge people on to try it out by promising a one-time offer that’s been custom-made for them alone?
Why it works
As we’ve said, one-time offers or special deals that have been triggered by a specific action a lead took are bound to make an impact.
It’s hard to resist an offer that’s been tailored for you and you alone, especially when a product seems to solve your key problem or perform a task you need be done.
And since people are visual creatures — meaning that videos tend to engage us more than any other type of content — why not take the best of both worlds and use a video to both showcase your product and make an offer that simply cannot be refused?
Where it can get tricky
The only aspect where this approach can go awry is if you don’t have a good product-market fit or your pitch fails to hit the bullseye.
So just make sure to pinpoint the main issue your targeted audience has and proceed to show how and why your product is the best solution for it.
And don’t forget to include those one-time offers; they motivate people to make a purchase more quickly and smoothly, especially when the offer’s been properly customized for a specific lead.
Example 5: Social proof VSL
Another key component of a good video sales letter is social proof.
Potential prospects always value hearing about your product from someone other than yourself.
There’s no better ad than a testimonial from a happy customer who’s already had a chance to test and try out your product.
That’s why making customer reviews or testimonials part of your video sales letter is a step you should not overlook.
In fact, Sendspark’s special option for requesting videos enables you to ask your satisfied customers for an honest opinion on your product, which you can then use as social proof of your product’s value.
The best part is that they don’t have to install anything — all they need to do is click the link you’ve provided them with, make a short video with Sendspark, and it will become immediately available in your account.
Why it works
Your leads love hearing about your product from other people who’ve already purchased and used your product.
After all, it comes off naturally to have more trust in other customers over the person whose livelihood depends on selling the product in question.
Where it can get tricky
When it comes to social proof, there is literally not one downside to it.
Providing customer feedback is never a bad idea, particularly when it comes in the form of a video, as it conveys much more emotion and is more personal than any other type of content.
So if your product does the job it’s supposed to, you have nothing to worry about — request videos from your customers and watch as your sales letters become even better at converting.
Getting started with video sales letters
Video sales letters don’t have to follow a fixed format. While we have some examples here, and even more video scripts for sales prospecting here, the trick is to fit the content and the offer to the audience.
Start creating and sharing your own video sales letter right now with Sendspark. It really is the ideal tool for creating video sales letters and for integrating personalized video into your sales and prospecting funnel.
