• By michelle
• In Content Marketing, Copywriting

Marketing Cheat Sheet: Test Your Video Sales Letter

 

 

If you’ve written a video sales letter—or you’re thinking about it—wouldn’t it be a dream-come-true if you knew whether or not it would convert?

If you had a crystal ball that revealed the future success of your video sales letter, you’d save time, money, energy, and heartache.

Unfortunately, crystal balls are hard to come by. But not to worry, we’ve got the next best thing…

We’ve created a marketing cheat sheet that enables you to test your video sales letter.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Pull up your video sales letter script.

Step 2: Answer the following questions and read the corresponding examples to see if you have the quintessential elements that ensure your target market takes action.

Have you identified your target market?

Your customer avatar is one person. Even if thousands of people watch your video sales letter, you want to speak to one person.

Successful video sales letters that convert make the viewer feel as if you are speaking directly to him or her.

A low-performance audience call-out would sound something like this…

For the thousands of people who can’t lose weight, this is the solution.

On the other hand, an effective audience call-out makes the viewer feel as if you’re talking to him or her on an intimate and empathetic level.

The following snippet represents an audience call-out that will make the viewer feel as if the business understands his or her unique plight.

For working parents who pull long days at the office, come home and spend time with your family, and take care of all the household responsibilities…

How do you have time to lose weight?

Keep watching this video to discover the only weight loss solution designed for busy moms and dads with very little free time.

See the difference?

When you are able to put your finger on the pulse of what’s really going on with your customer avatar, you are able to identify with the viewer and prove to them that you are the solution.

Have you made a big promise that makes your offer enticing?

Any industry leader in the digital marketing space will tell you about the utmost, make-or-break importance of headlines.

Video sales letters are no exception.

When you have a big promise headline, you pique curiosity and keep your audience listening to the presentation.

Otherwise, what’s the point of hanging around to hear the sales pitch when there are cat videos on YouTube?

Our advice: get specific.

In the example below, you’ll see a concrete promise. There is still an air of mystery involved, but when you partner that with the very specific declaration, you have a recipe to captivate your audience.

                                                    Source: www.writtent.com/blog/

[BONUS: your headline/big promise is a great way to weed out quality leads and arbitrary web traffic that happened to stumble onto your video. Read this article for more information.]

 

Have you backed up your promise with a logical explanation?

It’s not enough to just make a promise.

If you told someone that your product builds an electric fence around his or her financial livelihood, he or she would pay attention…

That is, as long as you explain how that solution works.

In order to explain how and why your big promise is a reality, we recommend a little storytelling.

In the example below, you’ll see the beginning of a story that sets up an explanation of how a product works.

Look at this story and headline first, and then we’ll explain how to back up the claim:

 

 

With the above example, the audience is presented with a clear and present danger—a situation they’d want to have the skills to resolve.

But it’s a tall order. For this reason, it’s important to back up your claims, even if it’s with a simple explanation.

Here is an example of how you can do exactly that:

 

 Have you, without hesitance or sugarcoating, identified a very specific problem?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it best:

“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”

With this thought you have the centerpiece of your video sales letter. And that centerpiece is the pain the audience feels.

In other words, if your video sales letter is going to be successful, the solution should center on the elimination of struggle.

And to do that, your video sales letter script must be brutally honest about the issue at hand. When you grind the pain in your video sales letter script, you are not exploiting a weakness.

You are highlighting empathy.

In the example below, you’ll see a snippet from a video sales letter that showcases the fact that the business understands the struggles of the audience.

 

You know, most people who contribute to an IRA or 401(k) are either forced to do so by an employer, or they’ve been convinced to invest by someone who earns a BIG commission on their investment… but doesn’t really care how it performs.

The problem with this is that when your money is in Wall Street’s hands, you’re essentially spinning a roulette wheel… and there’s a big chance you won’t get lucky.

That’s because Wall Street’s returns can go up… and then take a nosedive based on the stock market, a company’s performance, or when a foreign economy like Greece suddenly goes up in flames.

Simply put, you don’t have any control over what happens to your money on Wall Street.

 

Notice how this content points to the uncertainty involved with Wall Street investing and highlights how the practice often winds up with dismal results.

Have you outlined the ease of use and projected speed of results?

In a world of instant downloads and 140-character quips, most audiences are really into the idea of instant gratification.

Though the product or service you describe in your video sales letter may not offer overnight results, it’s vital that your video sales letter completes two objectives.

• Establish a timeframe.

• Explain how to use the product or service.

Whether you promise to plan, create, and integrate a high-performance marketing funnel within two months…

Or you help cyclists train for the next race and improve their finish times by 5% in six weeks…

Your audience doesn’t only need to know why and how, but they also need to know when the results are expected.

At the same time, it’s equally important to explain how easy it is to use a product. This harkens back to the truth about instant gratification—when results are as easy as possible and happen quickly, your audience is more likely to become customers.

Have you projected a bright future without the struggle?

In your video sales letter, projecting the future is a crucial element. In this way, the audience gets a postcard from the better days that await them.

Our advice: get really specific.

In the example below, you’ll see an example of futurecasting that goes beyond the big promise (to lose weight).

In this instance, the benefit is applied to the customer avatar’s real life.

Imagine being able to take your kids or grandkids to the park and actually play with them. Not having to sit out during family activities because you physically can’t make that hike…
Imagine looking great in and out of your clothes and never ever having to pick through the plus size rack….

OR that moment when you meet friends for dinner and they can’t stop talking about how much younger and happier you look.

Imagine if you could stop worrying about being diagnosed with weight-related diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and joint problems.

In conclusion…

If your video sales letter doesn’t have one (or any) of these elements, go back and splice in some new content. When the conversion rates rise, you’ll be glad you did.

Need help writing or optimizing your video sales letter?
Contact us.