Question for WSO buyers and sellers

I am personally turned off by videos. I prefer to read material myself than have a video explain things. Then I can reread it and understand it more clearly.
I generally click off videos very quickly.

You are in a very crowded marketplace when selling a WSO. People are usually contemplating the purchase of a number of different WSO's at any one time. By having a video you are making the decision to purchase your product harder for them so they are more likely to move on elsewhere. If you are going to use a video then I would also be sure to have a text version of the sales page available as well.

I've found that you don't need much sales copy on the WSO forum. The audience here does not need to be 'warmed up' like they would elsewhere - they are on a make money forum. Just get straight to the point, tell them what you got, what it will do for them, and how much it costs. Don't overcomplicate things. If you do, you won't get the sale.

Maybe it's partly because the first frame I see doesn't seem to make sense combined with the title.

Yeah, I can read faster than I can watch a video. I think you will find most people would rather skim read a page as opposed to watching a vid.

Now with that in mind, make sure your main selling points/benefits are bolded/stand out.

Just my 2c worth.

I stopped watching after it said it was featured as WSOTD when you just said it bombed... now I'm confused (but - to be fair - it's not hard to confuse me :p)

Hi Marian,

I think this is true in the IM world. If the product is not targeted at newbies, video will not work.

On a side note, PDF reports seem to be on the way back and the new thing is the auto webinar. I think the auto webinar will stop working sometime in the future too. When I register and I see many times, I already know it is not live.

I loathe sales videos. The only time I want to see a video is for instructions, and 9 times out of 10 I'd rather read a written tutorial with screenshots, if necessary.

I especially hate when the video narrator/presenter talks at about half the speed I generally talk, which is approximately 30% the speed I can read. So it takes a 10-minute video to get through information I could have read in 2 minutes. And time is money!

I know some people love video, but I don't think the WF is the right venue for it. We are all busy people!


Also take into account that many people have hearing problems which makes it much harder for them to access a video as opposed to written content.

I don't have the time, the inclination, or the bandwidth to watch videos ... at all. I can read through a text sales page very fast to make a decision on whether or not to buy.

I hate videos. Because PDF is easy to access. When I want to skip some basic stuff in the product, Simple I can scroll to the useful content.

My days (and evenings) are pretty full, and I don't have time to sit and watch a video. I'm like Suzanne, I'd much rather read a sales page. I also tend not to purchase wso's that are only videos for the same reason.

Yes ... completely and immediately. I don't look.

I suspect that in the "IM advice niche", video perhaps loses a lower proportion of people than it does in any other niche, and that using it for WSO's isn't therefore quite as clear-cut a mistake as it would be elsewhere, but I'm still very turned off, myself.

Never watch them. prefer to read.

WSO browsers tend to be skimmers as they have no real idea what product they want, so your pitch has to short and to the point.

I will suggest, probably do a shorter video. May be 1 minute in total and put up bix text above video "Watch my 1 minute presentation". I do not have any data to prove this works, neither i know. But, from my personal experience, if i know video is going to be one minute long, i prefer to watch video rather than read text.

I dont like videos to be honest. I much rather a PDF as i can read it in work without disturbing others. Also i can read it on my iphone/ipad

The problem with using a sales video is that you only have the beginning of the video to catch someone's attention. The video starts and unless those first few seconds grabs their attention, they'll stop the video and off they go.

The advantage of having a text sales presentation is that even if the headline only slightly interests them, they can still scroll right down the page, through the whole sales message, and look for anything that jumps out at them and grabs their attention. So you have a lot more chances of pulling them into your sales presentation when using text.

I also think people prefer to have control over the sales pitch which is not something you have when watching a video. In a video the feeling is more like the sales pitch has control over you.

P.S. For those complaining about slow tutorial videos they receive in their products, etc, go and download the free VLC media player and you can then speed up your videos and get through them much faster.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for posting. The result so far

WSO without video = 16
WSO with video = 1

I think I know what to conclude. Unless of cause the guys that like videos are not saying anything?

Thank you all.

Personally for me it depends greatly on the quality of the video. If it is a blogger looking at a camera I'm gone. If it is a very professional decided sales commercial you'll have just enough time to give me an elevator pitch (30 seconds tops). If you want to try and get my attention with a video that's great, but instead of replacing the text - compliment it.

I have only purchased one product that was being pitched via a sales video in the entire 16 years I have been working online. Which product was it? The Best Spinner. Getting to see the product in action sold me big time.

Dax,

Professionally and socially I'm a very busy person, so I prefer text because with text I can skim and scan the copy. I have my brained trained to read this way and make quick decisions on whether I'm purchasing or not.

Video doesn't turn me off, I just choose not to watch it unless it's something that is going to be critical to my business, which doesn't happen very often. I had 3 offers this week sent me in 3 different niches and they were all video only sales letters, I didn't bother watching them. There are exceptions to this rule such as watching a product or service demo, but even then it's got to be something I'm looking for.

I've never used video in any of my WSOs, however, in my non-WSO websites, the ones that incorporate video and text have converted the best for me.

RoD

I've never tried to use a video sales letter in a WSO although I have
used video to demonstrate the simplicity of my software in addition
to my sales letter.

If people read the sales letter and are interested then a short video
demonstration can be the tipping point that makes the sale.

Have a Great Day!
Michael

In the absence of sales copy, the video does worse than text.

Combined with sales copy, video helps you to sell more units.



In this thread, it is almost universal that people prefer to read sales copy than to watch video.

From what I have seen, that only indicates that the persons so far reading this thread are people who prefer to read.

The reality is that some people prefer to read sales copy. Other people prefer to watch video. And some people prefer to watch and read.

In a forum setting such as this, most people prefer to read, but there are a number of people who still prefer watching videos.

You provide sales copy to reach the majority, and you add video to give you the opportunity to reach those who prefer not to read.



Now, with this having been said, sales copy is only as effective as the story on the page. And video is only as effective as the story on the video.

I could say the words on the page or the words in the video, but I don't believe that it is the words that sell, but rather the stories that sell.

Ineffective sales copy and ineffective sales videos are simply that, ineffective.



Our experience has shown that videos do help the sales of a product, but we keep videos generally under 90 seconds. We only use videos as a teaser for the sales copy.

Under what username was this WSO posted?

You're not a War Room member, so you didn't post it under this account...


Paul