JASON DROHNVIDEO SALES LETTER
One of the most effective sales tools in recent years is the video sales letter
(VSL). A video sales letter is essentially a video version of the traditional long-
form sales letter. The great news is that the skills you learn from writing sales
letters and other copy apply to writing VSLs as well.
A video sales letter can contain any kind of video content you can create, even
what you would typically see in TV commercials. However, for this book, we
will focus on slideshow-style VSLs. These videos involve a Powerpoint-type
presentation, narration, and optionally, a bit of music in the intro or close. The
narrator can appear on camera, but that is usually not done.
If the product is something that can be demonstrated on screen, like software,
you can include a short demo within the VSL. In the demo, just briefly show the
product and mention some of the key features. For software you can make a
separate demo or product tour video that goes into more detail; include a call to
action at the end and put this video on its own web page. (Think of TV car
commercials where they show the car and mention a couple of the top features,
like the car gets 40 miles per gallon or seats seven adults, but they don't list
every detail. Customers who want more details can look on the manufacturer's
website or visit a dealer.)
How Long Should Your VSL Be?
When video sales letters first started appearing, some marketers went overboard
and made VSLs that ran as long as an hour. Usually these videos do not have
DVR-style controls that let the viewer fast forward through them. Just as bad,
many of the pages these VSLs were on did not show the buy button until near
the end of the video. So the viewer was forced to just sit there and let the entire
video play or leave the site – even those people who were already ready to buy.