The Ultimate Video Sales Letter Guide

There is nothing SPECIAL about VSLs as different to good copywriting.
That's just the cold hard fact. Your best bet would be to study
infomercials--they are really fancy VSLs-- and you'll notice they
follow the same formulas.

There are just a few aspects unique to VSL because you are
talking rather than writing a letter--but even reading your
sales letter can work just as good.

The same applies to Webinar presentations. They are a
long sales letter presented in another way.

So you're on the right track.

-Ray Edwards

Of course the principles of good copywriting still apply! But to say that you can just take a regular text sales page and put into slides and expect people to listen to some guy read a letter for 40 minutes is misguided.

It's all in the presentation and how you structure it. If you go on Clickbank or look at some of Agora's offers, you'll see that the best ones have a news-story / documentary structure to them (especially financial and survivalism products). People will watch news-style content (if it's relevant to their problem). Point is, it has to be something valuable that they can take away and implement. Only then can you start introducing your offer. If it's clear from the start that you're pitching something, you'll only turn them away.

When you think what Jon was doing... he was "selling" the idea of using video sales letters
instead of text.

Well, what's one of the first things you need to do when you sell anything?

Find a uniqueness. Find a unique hook and angle.

So, that's what Jon did. He was "selling" sales letters... but his unique
hook was his approach of creating sales letters using his 3xVSL angle.

So, he did what everyone needs to do when selling... find a new and unique
way to present it.

And he did... he's known for bringing a lot of video sales letters to light.

Whether he was the first to use video, who knows. But he was the first to
really make it big with a certain formula for VSLs... his 3xVSL method.

Also known as the "Jon Benson" method.

So, my take away from this is, like any good sales person, you gotta
stand out, be different, and have a uniqueness.

Jon did that with video sales letters... in the way he presented his
formula.

Because I can tell you as sure as anything, people have tried using
video to sell stuff for a while. Back in 2005, I posted a 3 minute
video at the top of my sales, thinking it would help sell my fitness program.

It didn't... so I didn't stick with using them for a while.

But yeah, like Ray said... it still all comes down to the pitch.

I'll take a well written text sales letter over a poor video sales pitch any day.

But, like Agora does, and like someone mentioned above, why not
try and capture both... use VSLs, and Agora's black text on white powerpoint
still is being used, and does well.

Yet, give them the option of reading the text version too, upon exit.

This way, you double your chances of getting the prospect to stay and
absorb the pitch.

But again, my takeaway from the entire VSL formula by Benson is,
he did what any good sales person does.. he built a better mousetrap
and then marketed the heck out of it.

His unique angle and hook set him apart from all the others.. and
soon everyone was using them. That's the purpose of being
unique and different... is to stand out ;-)

Very nice analysis Shawn! (and yep, I now see what Ray was saying)

So what about traffic? What is the best traffic that converts on VSLs? Email lists? Is there a way to make Facebook Ads work with them?

I learned from a prospect that he was running direct cold traffic to a dating VSL and he was doing pretty good.

And then I hear someone say that Facebook Ads direct to VSL is suicide?

Can anyone shed some light here?

Yeah I know that it's going to depend on the market and so on, but from your experience, what was the best converting traffic source?

Hi Silvestru,

Interesting comments... and I have a few things to add to answer your questions.

I have several VSLs which are selling well and have been selling well on Clickbank for the last 2 to 4 years.

Most of my best sellers are in the health/weight loss, remedies, and survival niches.

If you want to know which ones PM me.

On the VSL outline you have 17 points, mine has 35 and goes much more in depth. I have created a hybrid video script template I use as a guide for all my high converting vsls and it does follow many of the ideas Agora uses in their video scripts..

My video script base is 3X Sellerator and I have added NLP suggestive copy to help drive the sale and get under the buyer's radar to help push the sale.

The 3X Sellerator Jon Benson sells is great, but you still need a savvy copywriter to create a dynamo hook and then weave that hook into the video script copy.

The reason why copy is critical. You want to hit all the dominant emotions to keep them watching and get them to slide down the slippery slide to the buy button (from Clayton Makepeace Copywriting training.)

Plus I use John Carlton's Marketing Rebel suggestive copy phrases here and there to spice up the copy and keep them interested all the way to the end.

On the FB ads - you may need to go to a pre-sell page or a survey page before the VSL or FB will not generally approve the ad.

I do have clients who send cold ppc to an optin page for a free report download.
They also use email (with the pain points from the video script) to help them click the link to hit the sales video.

Most don't go direct to a Clickbank video or if they do they do the use an Exit splash with an optin for a free report if the visitor backs out of the video page. Affiliates don't like this but that is the way it is now.

Most Clickbank vendors won't place their video script on the Exit Splash page anymore as it is too easy to rip it off.

I have worked with many top Clickbank vendors who are masters at marketing their products and many are moving away from Clickbank because of all the hassles.

They dislike the fact they need to add the Clickbank Badge which makes their video scripts/offers look like a Clickbank offer.

Many of my clients are spending huge wads of money to create their own traffic funnels and are no longer depending on Clickbank or Affiliates from Clickbank for the majority of their sales.

The higher level of competition for FB as is part of the reason for the rise in FB ad costs.

FB ads are expensive you might want to try a plain text ad going to a cheaper PPC provider when testing your video scripts and doing conversion improvement rewrites.

And then when your video script is converting high enough with PPC traffic to switch to FB traffic.

Good luck with your business,

Jennie Heckel
3X Sellerator Copywriter

Hi Silvestru

A very helpful guide. Thanks!

My brief 3 cents' input to this discussion...

1. The photo in your header seems to have no
connection to the theme of your letter.

One of the best practices of effective web page
design is to remove all page elements that fail
to aid the goal of the page.

2. I'd change "The Ultimate..." to "Your Ultimate..."
(You/Your are good words to add to a headline, if
possible).

3. Why repeat the headline a second time?

Also a good idea to avoid reverse type (light
type on a dark background) if possible, as
usability studies have shown this is tough to
read.

Kindest regards

Eldo

Another thought...

One of the basics of copywriting that works
is "specificity sells."

I'd change your headline to "17 Ways to Get
Your Video Sales Letter to Shoot Your Client's
Sales Through the Roof" ... or words to that
effect.

(This is also a more emotional, gut-wrenching
headline than your present one.)

The word "ultimate" is somewhat vague – it's an
abstract, and thus not a concrete, word.

The late legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz
used to speak about using "picture words," which
your reader can visualize.