Okay, let me offer a bit of a contrarian, but still professionally polite opinion.

In the 1900s, a Canadian copywriter named John E. Kennedy called copywriting “salesmanship in print” and the definition has stuck ever since.

Copywriting has gone from just offline media to all types of media including TV, radio, internet, and even video. Every successful infomercial on TV uses a sales script… that was written by a copywriter… usually one who specializes in infomercial copywriting.

Marketing guru Dan Kennedy (no relation to John E.) says 'There is no such thing as a sales letter that is too long… only too boring.' In other words, tell your prospect enough to ethically make the sale but never bore them. On the internet, that's where video *can* help… but there's still a lot of videos on salesletters that are way too long and don't hold people's attention for 10…20…40 minutes of talking head time.

In many cases, simply by cutting the unneeded “fat” from your salesletter will improve response rates.

Using a video sales script instead of ad-libbing what you're going to say will also help as well.

The biggest takeaway that many people might miss is Mike Roussell is actively testing and tracking his results. If his test didn't work, he knew what exactly he did differently and could adjust his marketing and sales letter accordingly. Testing isn't always fun to setup or do but when you find a conversion booster… you'll love the extra monies it produces for your business.

Video isn't always a slam dunk winner either. I've seen client cases where using the wrong style of video… poorly done videos… or for certain niches/products… just depressed conversion rates instead of elevating them. That's why it's really important to test your marketing so you can make quick changes as needed.

Death of long sales letters… nah. The sales letter is being read to the prospect in the video. All of the traditional copywriting and sales elements are there. Then there's the component descriptions. They are in separate sections that pop open independently but still use long style copy instead of 1-2 sentences to describe them.

My quick estimate is the sales letter would be 8-10 pages long if all of those elements were put together in traditional long copy style sales letter format.

Take care,

Mike

Copy generally is having to up its game in what is becoming a very visually oriented society and most of the old-school copywriters are getting out of their depth now. Show is becoming way more important than Tell and we've all got to adapt to that.

Just find out what your customers want and give it to them.

A quick description, benefits, product photo and good product name will do the job.

Eric Beard

I am a newbie and just joined Kennedy/Glazier as well. If I am correct they are saying stick with Times Roman, Georgia not Ariel; keep the long form; cut down on Graphics. When I look at marketing from the Guru's they do the opposite, even people who are members of Kennedy/Glazier. Do you know if anyone has split tested these pages? I like the modern look myself.

P.S. My team took a stab at creating a different format at: http://www.invaluableinc.com/personalsystemspac... but it hasn't been successful. I'd be interested in getting feedback from anyone as to why theythink this approach DIDN'T work.

Great content and a applaud the use of short, digestible amounts.

Is there any way of switching out your video players?
There is no way to repeat a portion of the video unless you start all over again.

Cheers and thanks,
michael

Great content and I applaud the short, digestible format.

One comment though … any chance of switching the video players that you use. There is a pause function but there is no ability to replay a portion of the video unless you start right back at the begining.

Cheers and thanks,
michael