#128: Using a Video Sales Letter to Increase Enrollments
In the fast paced internet space that we live in, it feels like a different planet for a lot of people who are new to it.
Many of the companies coming to me are pretty unfamiliar with the acronyms and the terms that we use in our everyday language as internet marketers.
And I've heard more than once that the language creates a little bit of a learning curve for many people who are new to this, and they're trying to figure out which way is up.
Today, I'm going to be talking about one of those acronyms, which is called a VSL, a video sales letter.
When do you use it in your company? When is it effective? When is it ineffective? And how is that different from other types of strategies like webinars, challenges or masterclasses?
Tune into this episode to find out!
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Laura 00:00
In the fast paced internet space that we live in, it feels like a different planet for a lot of people who are new to it. Many of the companies coming to me are pretty unfamiliar with the acronyms and the terms that we use in our everyday language as internet marketers. And I've even created a directory of terms for many of our clients, because it can be really confusing. And I've heard more than once that the language creates a little bit of a learning curve for many people who are new to this, and they're trying to figure out which way is up. And today, I'm going to be talking about one of those acronyms, which is called a V S L, a video sales letter. When do you use it in your company? When is it effective? When is it ineffective? And how is that different than other types of strategies like webinars or challenges or master classes? I know I can't even imagine trying to learn this coming in from the outside. But hopefully, today's podcast will give you some clarity on what a VSL is, and why we use it in terms of creating an online sales process that helps you create that next level leap in your business.
Laura 01:17
Welcome to the next level leap podcast. I'm your host, Laura Meyer top growth strategist to some of the country's fastest growing brands, and mentor to consultants. My signature leap methodology has changed the way 1000s of companies look at growth strategy, and this podcast shares, best practices, and inspirational interviews to help you make that next level leap in your business. Stick around and join me as I share the journey of how we as founders can multiply our income impact and influence by landing on the other side of our next big leap. Let's go!
Laura 01:51
I was recently guiding a client through a series of decisions that we were making. This particular client has a super successful membership. She herself is a superstar, she's been in business for 10 years, she does everything extremely well, which is why she has such a loyal fan and audience base in her membership and within all of the different platforms that she's currently publishing content, which is quite a lot of them. And one of the pain points that she was experiencing is that she had very low enrollment outside of what we would call launches. So for those of you who are kind of new to Internet marketing, launching is when we create a lot of pressure, and we create a waitlist and lots of excitement, and lots of education and lots of what we'll call warming up prior to asking people to enroll in a program with us over a short period of time, so that there is some natural urgency to making a decision, because for many people, when they're invited into a new version of themselves, when they are creating change in their lives or the lives of those around them, the brain tends to have a lot of resistance around those decisions, not necessarily because it's what's in the best interest of the participant but simply because change is that our brains are wired to keep us very safe and comfortable. And so when we're making decisions about something different than what we've
experienced in the past, for the sake of our future, a lot of ways our brains are just naturally resistant. So we do a lot of things to encourage people to make the right decision around creating a time period in which people can enroll in our programs. This also makes it a lot easier for us in terms of fulfillment. So if you are new to the coaching and programs and membership and info, product space, or any type of programs, you are probably going to get an advisement from me to stick to launching very limited open enrollment periods. But once your business gets sophisticated enough, you tend to outgrow that. And you tend to have infrastructure. And you tend to have investments in your company or organization where you want people to come in not just when you're launching a couple times a year, but every day. This is a huge challenge for that next level leap of growth for many, many business owners, many that I consult with and that I speak with. And they do get to a certain point in which those launches have a lower payoff than they did previously because of the infrastructure investments that the business owner made in order to provide the highest quality product possible, which is something I always encourage people to do. So in the decision of trying to figure out how are we going to bring people in every single day and every single month and not just a couple times a year? We have brainstormed a couple different strategies to do that.
Laura 04:58
One of the most popular strategies to do that is what's called an automated webinar. So if you listened to my previous podcast episode, about a million dollar webinar asset, you we be sold on the idea of webinars, you might really like the idea, or maybe I've recommended it to you, you're a client of mine in your company. Or maybe you have one that's working really well, when you deliver it live. And you're thinking about, well, maybe if I delivered it automated, it will also work. We give up a lot in terms of engagement and conversion percentages when we move to automation. So this is always just something to consider when you are thinking about, Okay, do I take something that's working really, really well live? And how do I duplicate it or replicate it in an automated fashion, so that I can enjoy the benefits of seeing people come into my program every single day.
Laura 06:09
Another decision that we can make is, is there any way to build that trust that like no one trust factor at a different point in the customer journey, and this is where a VSL may come in. So here's an example. Let's say somebody buys something small from us, or they opt in to even something free, what we might consider doing is having what's called a video sales letter as the response as the next page that they see. Let's pretend that somebody opts into a free PDF download that complements your offer, they may go to a thank you page with what's called a video sales letter at the top of the page, where you're simply confirming that they've already opted in to something that they wanted. And now they don't have to do anything else. But if they are interested in the next level problem that you solve beyond the free PDF download provides that you have a limited time, one time opportunity for them to benefit from your
services. Another place where a vsl is extremely handy, is let's say that you have a small front end offer that's paid but relatively inexpensive in comparison to your larger offer down the road. If once they invest in that smaller front end offer, typically, you would have a VSL at the end of that purchase sequence that says thank you so much for purchasing my small friend offer, my small workshop, my small toolkit, my small template set my small piece of information that's going to really help you create tons of value. And what I want to share with you today is not only is there nothing else that you need to do, but if you're interested in even more help, I can assist you in a completely transformative way. If you make a decision today, and I'm going to give you an awesome price, because I know that you're probably going to need my help. And I want to be able to make it easy for you to be able to get my help. Once you have implemented this small thing in your business.
Laura 08:34
In both scenarios, what we're doing is we're trying to speed up that like know and trust factor by asking them to take the next step in our business without having to wait until they're ready to make a decision down the road. Because as I've often said to people when I'm sales training, and my sales training background goes way back into brick and mortar, the easiest person to sell to is the one in front of you. Once you have their attention and you've isolated their attention, it's very difficult to get people's attention back. This is true of a webinar. But a webinar requires them to be paying attention for a long period of time. A VSL only requires their attention for maybe five to seven minutes. It may be that they upgrade to a paid half hour call with you, which is a great way to help them and assist them and implementing the small thing that they opted into or purchased on the front end without making a huge decision about your main program quite yet. Another thing that they could be opting into is some kind of free trial, some kind of way in which why wouldn't they say yes to right and with it in that container, the onus is on us as the business owner to build that, like know and trust factor. And we've removed a lot of risk from the decision maker in order to be able to get us to know us better. This is why a VSL can be incredibly effective in bringing people through the customer journey and helping them to make that next best decision in your business.
Laura 10:24
So when do you use a webinar? And when do you use a VSL? When we're using a webinar, this is when we know that we have something really important and fairly extensive to share with the potential buyer in order to get them to make a decision. This is typically more popular at higher price points. But not always, I've seen really effective webinar funnels put into place for lower ticket memberships or even complimentary offers, free offers as part of the nonprofits that I work with. So webinars can be really, really effective. The upside is that you have their attention for a longer period of time. And particularly when marketing to populations who are not used to webinars, this can be so captivating to the right audience. The downside of webinars is that as the world has opened back up in 2022, as the masks have come off, as
people have, have participated in more in person events and gatherings, I have found that the watch rate, and the participation rate in general for webinars has gone down. During the pandemic, I would see much more engagement, much higher show rate, people were at their computers without a whole lot to do looking for interaction. So it was a little bit easier to ask somebody to spend an hour with you learning about the different ways in which you can help them. Whereas a VSL is really great for limiting the amount of time that you're asking people to make a decision, and providing a no brainer offer for a limited time. This is the key here with a VSL, where you only have maybe five or 10 minutes of their attention, you've done something on the front end to just get them into your world. And now you have to isolate that attention and convert them into that next step in a very short and compelling way. So for that VSL to work that video sales letter to work, it is great for providing just that no brainer offer for a really limited period of time. So that it really forces people to say, this could be something that could really help me. And whether it's free or just really well priced. Either way, we want to make sure that we have overcome all the objections in a short period of time. That's why a lot of these video sales letters and copy and landing pages, they are very much an art because you want to be able to communicate extremely effectively. And most importantly, clearly, during the video sales letter so that people say, you know what, this is actually really awesome. It's exactly what I've been looking for. And I can see how it would really help me. Okay, I'll go ahead and I'll opt in or I'll make the small purchase, or I will I'll accept the free trial. And when we do this well, again, we've removed a lot of the risk on the customer, we've put it on us and in exchange for the risk on us, we've gotten them further along the sales process than we would have otherwise.
Laura 13:51
Many people often ask me what goes below the video sales letter? And the answer is depends. When you're first testing a video sales letter, it can truly be a video at the top of a page with very little underneath or above it. And that gives you a sense as to whether or not it's effective in communicating what you want them to do in terms of next steps moving forward. Once you have a video that's working pretty well, you'll want to consider adding copy and design that explains a little bit more about what you're seeing in your video sales letter to the customer so that they have the ability to visually digest what it is that you're saying while listening to you. Most people would probably hit the play button and then they kind of scroll up and down and they're like, Oh, this looks good. This looks professional. It looks legitimate. It has this feeling that appeals to me as the buyer, and I'm going to go ahead and invest in the next step. So what types of offers make for a VSL framework the ideal bridge between where your clients are to where Wherever you want them to be in terms of accepting your offer. First is that the VSL communicates a solution to what the original product or opt in creates. So for example, I have a mini course called the referral code. The referral code helps people organize the referral system. This is particularly helpful for consultants, coaches done for you service providers, any type of coaching program in it, many people struggle with the idea of how do I
get referrals? And how do I organize them. My one Click Upsell of which I use a video sales letter in order to communicate the value of is called powerful partnerships. And it's a short course, that helps people actually get the types of partners that would make implementing the referral code even better. Another really popular upsell that a VSL might be able to help you with is a jumpstart service, what I'll call is a done for you a QuickStart, or a power hour call. All of these types of jumpstart services or jumpstart help can assist people in making sure that they implement the tools that you just provided to them, or the purchase that they just made. And finally, another consideration to make when you're thinking about well, what could I offer that a VSL might be able to help me with is just automation implementation, it's speed, pretty much just getting a faster result or a templated version of the thing that they just opted into of the mini course that they just purchased. So for example, let's say that you are a Facebook ads expert and people download a complimentary PDF that helps them with their audience targeting, what you might find is that a VSL can then sell them into a little setup service, setting up their ads manager or some kind of very simple task that would be pretty easy for you to do if you are comfortable with ads manager and pretty complicated for those of us who don't know our way around ads manager at all. So hopefully this really helps you just get your wheels turning in terms of where you might be using a VSL in your business, and how it can be beneficial to you. I've seen them incredibly effective. What it does is just creates that impulse purchase that easy yes, for somebody who is coming through your customer journey, so that you can expedite the process of them making decisions in order to go deeper with your offer. If you found this podcast really interesting and helpful to you, I have a favor, can you just forward it around. Maybe there is somebody that you've been talking about sales processes with and you are thinking, gosh, this person would really benefit from this podcast episode. Make sure to just grab the link, text it to them right now. I'm really trying to help this podcast get in the hands of more people so they can make a bigger impact with the business that they are creating. I think entrepreneurship is one of the best ways in which we can create that ripple effect of positive change in the world. And these types of tools and tips can really multiply the impact of a mission driven organization. Thanks so much for joining me and I will see you next week on The Next Level leap podcast.
Laura 18:22
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