Looking For Video Sales Letter Software? Here Are Our Top 4 Recommendations

Choosing the right video sales letter software for your business can be a daunting prospect. 

But don’t panic! We’re here to help – by explaining what makes a good VSL and what software tools will help you create great-looking VSLs of different types 🙌.

Source: freepik.com

If you’re in a hurry, check out the TLDR:

TLDR

• Great video sales letters convey your full product pitch in a way that shows you understand potential customers’ pain points and how your product removes that pain, and provides plenty of proof. Video gives you loads of ways to achieve this.
• Sendspark is ideal for video sales letters that replicate the face-to-face sales experience 
• EasyVSL allows you to create kinetic text animations with voiceovers at record speed
• Biteable lets you create a massive range of animations and customize them to an incredible degree
• Camtasia combines screen and webcam recording with extensive editing options for a labor-intensive but polished finished product

What is a Video Sales Letter?

A video sales letter (VSL) is a video that pitches your product or service directly to potential buyers to get them to take immediate action. 

VSLs are the latest iteration of the mid-20th century long-form, direct response adverts and follow almost all the same principles:

• Present a problem that the viewer has and recognize the “pain” it causes – creating an appetite for a solution that removes the pain (Value)
• Show how your product solves the problem, ideally in a way that’s better than any potential alternative (Authority)
• Minimize the perceived risk involved with choosing your product by pointing to as many success stories from people or businesses in the same situation as the viewer as possible (Proof)
• Drive the viewer to make the next move with a clear Call-To-Action

Of course, it is still possible to get results with conventional sales letters delivered through the post. Indeed, this works very well in some sectors and territories. 

But online video has some serious advantages, such as:

• The power to combine sound and visuals with text
• The ability to convey interpersonal nuances – tone of voice, body language, etc – that are vital to creating trust (“people buy people” after all!)
• Convenience: no need to book a time or travel to present your pitch
• Efficiency: one good recording can be used over and over again
• The ability to extract trends and feedback from view data (eg at what point people stop watching)
• The immediacy of response: you don’t have to wait for that coupon to come back in the post!

What makes a good Video Sales Letter?

Let’s be clear at the start. Any VSL is only as good as the strength of the pitch it presents, and no video sales letter software can write that for you. 

 

 

A strong pitch will:

• Frame the audience’s problems and pains in a way they recognize, and that makes them view a solution as something requiring immediate action
• Position your product as the best solution, explaining how it works, why this is better than alternatives, and addressing known objections
• Back up these claims with social proof

This is probably your generic pitch anyways, right? That is the essence of what your sales agents have been going out and delivering in person for years. What they will add to the essence in each case is:

• Personality and presentation skills
• Tailoring to the specific audience
• Real-time interactivity

Let’s assume you’ve got a strong essential pitch down. The video aspect is all about delivering on those extras and on elements that the face-to-face pitch can’t provide (such as objective viewer behavior). 

A common question people ask about VSLs is this:

“How long should a video sales letter be?”

The answer is frustratingly simple. A video sales letter should be as short as possible while conveying your Value, Authority, Proof, and Call-To-Action in as much detail as your audience needs. 

That could be as little as 60 seconds, or it could be over an hour. It depends on the problem, the product, and the price.

So, with all that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the video sales letter software available – and what each tool brings to the table. 

Video Sales Letter Software #1: Sendspark

Sendspark is a screen and webcam recording tool that has been designed for sales and marketing – that is, for getting human, personal videos into prospects’ hands and getting them watched. 

With Sendspark, you can deliver and record your ideal pitch live: with slides, an authoritative voiceover, plus smiles and eye contact – just like you would in person! 

Why is Sendspark good for VSLs?

Capture your personality

Face-to-face sales meetings have lasted this long because the chemistry and trust that a salesperson can create with an audience in person makes a huge difference in decision-making. 

Being able to see as well as hear the presenter – with a webcam and audio recording – alongside the slides can go a long way to capturing the magic of a great salesperson’s charisma. 

Drive immediate actions

Sendspark not only helps you create videos. It also hosts them – on customizable landing pages that can feature your logo and branding, tailored welcome messages, and most importantly of all bespoke Call-To-Action buttons. 

Source: sendspark.com

 

When designing your landing page, choose your ideal CTA wording and direct the button to take viewers through to your lead capture form, your Calendly availability, an order form, etc. 

Send VSLs directly to prospects

Sendspark has been built for video messaging, so it’s ideal for sending personal emails along with your VSLs:

• Simply send a link to a dedicated landing page – no need for downloads or attachments that can consign your email to junk
• Add a customized animated GIF preview (featuring a text caption and your prospect’s logo) to drive clickthrough
• Easily integrate your VSL into all of the

  major marketing automation platforms

  for mass contacts

Track viewer engagement

When you’re pitching in person, you may not have a realistic sense of how engaged your audience is. Sendspark overcomes this problem, with advanced analytics showing how far into your VSL viewers watched. 

 

Source: sendspark.com

 

Not only that, as more and more people watch your VSL, Sendspark generates heatmaps to show those points where people most commonly drop out. That’s critical for being able to improve and optimize your video sales letters over time. 

Create video conversations

Sendspark helps you get interactive with your audience, through its Request Video feature. 

Source: sendspark.com

With one click, you can send leads a link that will launch the Sendspark recorder on their device – enabling them to “speak back” to you. 

Even if prospects don’t use this and email you instead, it’s very easy to record a quick video answering their questions and addressing their points and fire it back to get the conversation going!

But…

No editing, no special effects. Sendspark VSLs are simple, direct, and focused exclusively on clear communication. If you want to add studio wizardry, Sendspark won’t help with that. 

What does Sendspark cost?

Source: sendspark.com

Sendspark has a free-forever version that offers:

• Up to 30 recordings per month with no length limit
• Sharing via email and social media 
• Video viewing stats data

However, the Pro package – which costs $12 per month ($144 per year or $15 per month if you want to pay monthly) – is better suited for creating high-quality VSL experiences. It adds:

• Landing page customization
• Video calls to action, to drive users along your sales funnel
• Video file download options
• More detailed video analytics – including key factors like location and how far through the video viewers watched

Sign up for the free version now and give it a try! 👍

Video Sales Letter Software #2: EasyVSL

EasyVSL is a downloadable desktop app that lets you create animated sales videos at high speed. It has a simple drag-and-drop interface and some pretty impressive tech for syncing text to audio – plus a lot of preset templates that mean even the least “design-y” person can produce something professional-looking fast. 

Source: easyvsl.com

Why is EasyVSL good for VSLs?

Upload script and audio – et voila!

EasyVSL is great for generating “kinetic text” videos – that is, animations that show moving words on screen in sync with a voiceover. 

Source: easyvsl.com

You simply:

• Pick your slide style, color scheme, fonts, etc, and the transitions you want to use
• Upload your script and add the slide breaks
• Upload your audio voiceover (EasyVSL even offers automated Text-To-Speech services to produce the audio for you) and, with one click, sync it up with the slides

Add imagery and sound effects

Customers also have access to a whole host of musical backing tracks, sound effects, stock imagery, and animations that can be inserted to spruce up their videos. 

You can even add in video files within the EasyVSL recording to introduce some live-action footage, a talking head, or other elements that the platform can’t produce itself. 

Experts love it

Russell Brunson of Clickfunnels.com is a fan, and that should mean a lot to you – because he knows how effective a good VSL can be in an efficient sales funnel. 

But…

EasyVSL is really creating Top of Funnel adverts, rather than comprehensive sales letters in the sense we outlined at the start. 

Kinetic text animations are good for grabbing attention, but not so good for detailed explanations. Try watching one that lasts for more than a few minutes…

And if you want to include other video formats, you have to create them in other apps and insert the files. 

It’s also difficult to convey personality with only a voiceover. You lose some of the intimacy and authenticity of the face-to-face experience (and the trust which is its corollary) when selling using a slick animation. 

Finally, EasyVSL doesn’t help you distribute your video sales letters or to track engagement. You’d need to use third-party hosting and configure your website to collect view data. 

What does EasyVSL cost?

Source: easyvsl.com

EasyVSL is a fairly inexpensive tool: it either costs $197 for a year’s access, or $97 plus $9.99 per month – and they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. Reportedly, it goes up in price every year though…

Considering how much this kind of video used to cost to create, that’s a great deal. But the narrow format EasyVSL offers means that it’s either best used for Top of Funnel marketing or directly selling only the simplest of products. 

Video Sales Letter Software #3: Biteable

Biteable is another tool for creating quick, simple animated videos – similar to EasyVSL. 

It’s based on a massive range of template videos that users customize. 

Source: biteable.com

Biteable makes use of a visual editor that’s simple to use, and lets you turn templates into something that is truly your own very straightforwardly. 

Source: biteable.com

Why is Biteable good for VSLs?

Variety!

Biteable has so many templates and standalone assets, and so many parameters for customizing them, that it really does allow you to create practically any kind of animation you can think of (even stop motion claymation!) Customers can also access Shutterstock, Unsplash, and Storyblocks imagery.

If one of the goals of a good video sales letter is to stand out and grab the attention, Biteable can certainly deliver on that point. 

Calls-To-Action and Analytics

Biteable beats out EasyVSL with the inclusion of a CTA button to drive viewers’ next actions and performance analytics tracking that help you to optimize future versions. Like Sendspark, Biteable gives you engagement and viewer location data. 

But…

Biteable suffers from many of the same issues as EasyVSL:

• The animated format is best for Top of Funnel marketing and not suitable for every product
• If you want to include content that’s specific to your own service (eg a demo), you’ll need to record it in some other app and insert it
• No in-built functionality for sharing or messaging

What does Biteable cost?

Source: biteable.com

 

To get the most useful features for video sales letter creation, you’ll need the Ultimate package – which costs $588 per year for three users. 

The free version is not really suitable, because of the watermarks and the lack of CTAs and engagement analytics. 

Biteable is a lot more expensive than EasyVSL, but that reflects the wider range of capabilities it has to offer when it comes to animated video sales letters. 

Video Sales Letter Software #4: Camtasia

Camtasia is a video recording and editing suite that we’ve looked at in previous blogs.

It lets users create high-quality screen and webcam recordings with a wide range of input options, output formats, and post-production effects. 

Source: techsmith.com

That’s in contrast to Sendspark, which is far simpler – capturing only your live delivery and what’s on screen, with no special effects during or after recording.

But do Camtasia’s extra features justify the extra complexity and cost? 

Why is Camtasia good for VSLs?

Webcam and screen recording

On top of these features, Camtasia lets you use various in-recording effects (eg pointer, drawing, etc) to highlight on-screen events. 

Editing

If you’re not a fluent presenter, Camtasia lets you cut out the lines you fluffed and the bits where you pressed the wrong button! 

It also gives you loads of options to add overlay animations, scene transitions, zooms and pans, sound effects, and more. 

New interactive features

Every year, the new version of Camtasia adds some major functionality. In 2021, the best new feature added was interactivity – enabling you to build questions and quizzes into your recordings. 

Source: techsmith.com

This can be incredibly useful for following up with leads after they’ve watched your VSL, as you’re collecting their feedback and responses “as it happens”. 

But…

Camtasia doesn’t make it easy to get your video sales letters into leads’ hands – despite positioning itself as a messaging suite. You have to either download (huge) video files and upload them to hosting destinations yourself or share them via third-party platforms. 

Fine if you just want to put your VSL on your website, but not so much if you want to produce and send out personalized messages. 

Similarly, Camtasia doesn’t help you understand viewer behavior or drive their next steps. It produces the video, not the supporting features that slot your VSL into a working sales funnel. 

What does Camtasia cost?

Camtasia is a downloadable desktop app, which is currently available for $299 or £200.60 for the first year ($50 or £44.58 per year thereafter).

Source: techsmith.com

 

There’s no option to pay for less than a full year upfront, but Techsmith does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. 

That might be good for one version of your VSL, but if you want to optimize it in response to performance data with Camtasia, you’ll need to pay the full price.  

The Bottom Line

The best video sales letter software depends on what kind of VSL you want to create:

• If you want to replicate the face-to-face sales experience and leverage your personality to win customers, choose Sendspark
• If you want to create animations, choose EasyVSL for a lower price and fewer options, or Biteable for more freedom for a higher cost
• If you want to craft something that combines face-to-face authenticity with the option to sprinkle a little studio magic on top, choose Camtasia

But don’t forget what we said at the start: even the best video sales letter software can’t help you write a pitch that people will love! 

Sendspark makes it easy to create or import videos and distribute them across email, social, and the web. Sign up now and start recording and sharing videos for free.