Making a Video Sales Letter? Follow These 10 Tips For Maximum Impact

Research shows that people remember only 20% of what they read. On the other hand, they remember 80% of what they see.

When you have a product or a service to pitch, you could spend hours writing a convincing, text-based sales letter to your prospective customers. You could post it on your website, share it across your social media feeds and print it for your direct mail recipients.

The reward for all your hard work? Two out of every 10 people who read your words will retain them.

The missing link keeping you from reaching the other eight? You need a visual component to your written proposal.

Enter the video sales letter.

This is an outreach method that centers on using video to sell your product or service to your target audience. When done correctly, it can help skyrocket your profits, heighten your brand buzz and build your bottom line.

Today, we’re sharing 10 ways to make the most convincing video sales letters that convince and convert.

Ready to learn more? Let’s get into it.

1. Begin By Building Rapport

In the introduction of your video sales letter, or VSL, you want to establish trust with the viewer.

Why is trust so important? Today’s consumers have more options at their fingertips than ever before. This makes them discerning and drives them to only purchase from brands they know can deliver on their promises.

In fact, 65% of people say that the level of trust they have in a company influences their purchasing decision. You may expect this in sectors such as the financial services industry that deal with protected customer data. Yet, the same holds true even for lower-priced items, with 66% of customers considering trustworthiness when purchasing retail items such as footwear.

Yet, before you can earn their confidence, you have to grab their attention.

Begin your VSL by establishing rapport. Rather than launching right into the benefits of your offering, break the ice first. Tell a quick story that relates to what you’re selling. Look at the camera and be as engaging as possible.

Be clear about why you’re there and what you’re about to launch into. You have around seven seconds before you lose their attention, so make those count.

2. Keep Your Landing Page Clean

One of the most common places for your VSL to live is on a landing page that’s linked to on your website. For instance, you may have a hyperlink on your home page with anchor text that reads “Check out our latest software solution!”

Then, when a web visitor clicks on that link, a landing page will pop up. Along with your VSL, may also include a call-to-action, such as signing up for an e-newsletter or mobile text alert or downloading a PDF.

One key consideration to keep in mind when designing this landing page: keep it simple.

Resist the urge to crowd the space around the embedded video with tons of text. Doing so can distract from your message and muddle its intent. Think about the last time you tried to order off a menu that was chock-full of options. It doesn’t take much for it to lead to analysis paralysis, and that’s never a position you want to place your customers in.

Ultimately, you want the main suggested action on your landing page to be to watch your video. If you want to add extra details around your product, do so at the bottom of the player.

3. Don’t Forget SEO

In your efforts to appear at the top of Google search results, you’ve taken meticulous care to integrate Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics into your written website content.

You’ve researched local and long-tail keywords. You’ve added appropriate imagery, created shareable content that generates backlinks and improves your site’s UX design.

Don’t stop there! Your VSL should also optimize for SEO. Here are a few simple steps you can take to do so:

• Make your video headline bold and clear
• Add a transcript of your video in the description to aid with indexing
• Add appropriate meta tags to your video after creation

These steps take seconds to complete but could make all the difference in how easy it is for someone to find your video in an online search.

4. Find a Sweet Spot with Length

You don’t want to wax poetic about your product to the point that you bore your viewers to tears. But, you don’t want to make a video so short that it leaves them with unanswered questions, either.

To this end, stick with a VSL that’s no more than 25 minutes long. Any longer, and you’ll up your drop-off rate. This measures how many people begin your video and then click away from it or close the window before it’s finished playing.

In many cases, you can get away with a video that’s much shorter. You may be able to get your main points across in around five minutes, though the story you tell may be limited in scope.

When determining how long yours should be, consider your target viewers. Are they busy C-suite professionals watching this on their lunch break? Keep it brief.

5. Organize the VSL

Every VSL will be different depending on your organization, offering, and niche. Yet, there are a few standard elements that successful ones have in common. Let’s take a look at a general video sales letter formula.

Description of Pain Point

After you’ve built rapport in the introduction, speak in plain language about the pain point your solution solves. Use concrete data, including statistics, to express the severity of the issue and why it needs solving.

Call-to-Action 1

You’re not hard selling. Rather, this CTA is to encourage them to stick with your video. In some cases, you can insert an element of scarcity here, explaining that this is a limited-time offer or that there’s a deadline to sign-up. Explain the steps to take to purchase.

Explanation of Credentials

Next, explain why you’re qualified to speak on the video.

How long have you been with the company? Do you feel the same pain point that this solution meets? What is your educational and professional background?

Don’t spend too much time here, but a phrase such as “As a 40-year veteran in this industry, I’ve seen it all…” can do a world of good.

Description of Product or Service

Provide an in-depth look at your offering. Provide research-backed reasons why it’s a must-have and explain in detail how it operates. Leverage the power of video to show your product from multiple angles or to showcase a cross-section of its inner operations.

Call-to-Action 2

Now that you’ve outlined the product’s benefits, reiterate how viewers can purchase. A simple “Click the link below to buy” is all that’s needed on a normal basis.

Prediction if Not Purchased

While you never want to use scare tactics, it’s sometimes helpful to help viewers visualize the alternative if they decide to skip out. Will their pain point exacerbate? If so, how?

Call-to-Action 3

Finally, you’ll reach for a sale one last time. Demonstrate how the solution is the best course of action for your viewers to take and where they can go to learn more.

6. Position Your VSL

Along with keeping your landing pages free of distracting text and graphics, it’s also helpful to know where on the page to place the VSL. Embed yours at the top of the page, in the center.

This spot maximizes visibility and keeps your video top of mind. It also gives you room below the player to add any additional data you require.

One approach is to keep the VSL’s message short and to the point. Rather than speaking about your experience, what your company does and what pricing models are available, link below your video to pages that contain that data.

This way, you get to the bottom line on your video quicker and can make it shorter, to boot.

7. Hide Video Controls

When a user has the ability to fast-forward to the end of a video, he will. This is a human inclination, as we’re always eager to see what awaits around the corner.

Moreover, today’s always-on economy has given rise to a new breed of consumers that is increasingly impatient and demanding. If your video is dragging and someone can click to skip ahead to pricing as you drone on about pros and cons, he will do so.

That said, disable the controllers in your VSL if possible. This will dissuade viewers from skipping around your content and instead encourage them to absorb it in its entirety.

This is also one reason to keep yours as short as you can while still getting in all your pertinent points. Especially if you’re pricing your solution high, you don’t want someone to go straight to your last few seconds, where you deliver the number, without watching everything else first.

8. Turn on Auto-Play

One way to grab your audience’s attention is to adjust your VSL settings to auto-play. This means that the video will play as soon as someone opens the landing page or clicks on your website.

When you place a VSL on your home page, you’re sending the message that this is the first thing you want your visitors to see. Watching it is more important than checking out your blog, visiting your subpages or following you on social media.

This can help pique their interest and at the very least, get more eyes on your content.

9. Keep the Tone On-Point

Regardless of the industry, you’re in, your VSL should look and sound professional. As long as it’s polished, you don’t need to think too hard about a theme.

You do, however, need to make sure that the video is appropriate in tone to your brand and what you’re providing. Are you selling inflatable games? A businessman in a button-up suit talking monotonously in front of a gray backdrop will go over like a lead balloon.

At the same time, a lighthearted, playful video is in poor taste if your business sells final expense life insurance policies.

Above all, consider what type of content your target audience would best respond to and let those insights guide your VSL strategy.

10. Don’t Scrimp on Quality

Even the most low-budget small business should invest in a quality video resource to ensure a return on their investment of time and money.

This isn’t the place for a shaky vertical video shot on an iPhone with two black bars on either side. Rather, you need a professional platform to turn your content into video gold. Look for one that allows you plenty of customization features, animated thumbnail previews, advanced controls, and mobile app capability, and more.

Your brand’s reputation (and your earning potential) hinges on how sleek and well-produced your VSL is. With the myriad software solutions available today to help in this regard, there’s no reason your video should be anything less than top-notch.

Create a Video Sales Letter with Our Platform

Now that you know how effective they can be, are you ready to film a video sales letter of your own?

Before you do, perform audience analytics to make sure the interest and potential are there. Then, use the strategies above to turn your VSL from ho-hum to high-paying in no time.

When you’re ready to press “record”, we’re here.

Our video communication platform includes the tools you need to create and share dynamic, professional-quality videos, and screen recordings without the need for fancy, high-priced technical gear.

Request to join today and see for yourself the difference it makes. You’ll never press “pause” on your sales again.