---
name: "video_sales_letters"
description: "Script video sales letters (VSLs) that convert: beat-by-beat structure from hook to close, proof stacking ordered by consumability, CTA placement, and compliance lines that satisfy FTC endorsement rules. Use when drafting a VSL, sales video, or webinar pitch."
metadata: { "includeInPrompt": true }
---

# Video Sales Letters

## Purpose
Turn a product and its proof into a complete VSL script: the beat order that moves a viewer from attention to purchase, a proof stack ordered so each piece lands, CTAs placed where buyers are ready, and compliance language that keeps the testimonial claims legal. This covers the script. Production hygiene (mic, delivery, captions) is assumed and out of scope.

## Workflow

### 1. Discovery intake
Before writing, collect these. Do not start the script without them.
- Product, price, guarantee (only what the seller will actually honor), and bonuses
- Audience and their awareness level: unaware of the problem, problem-aware, or solution-aware
- Proof inventory: real results, customers, demos, data, reviews, case studies
- Every factual claim the script will make, with its source

Hard rule: never write proof the seller cannot substantiate. If the proof section would be thin, the video is too long. Cut length, not honesty.

### 2. Pick the length
- Cold traffic, low ticket: ~3 minutes
- Warm traffic, high ticket: ~10 minutes
- Read every draft aloud with a timer before approving. A ~120 words-per-minute read means 750 words runs about 6 minutes.

### 3. Write the beats (in this order)
Each section must answer the question the viewer is asking at that moment and make the next section easier to believe. Details in `references/beat-reference.md`.

1. **Hook (first 15 seconds).** Name the viewer's problem or make a claim they want explained. Lose them here and nothing else matters.
2. **Problem.** Describe the problem in the viewer's own words and what leaving it unsolved costs them.
3. **Agitation.** Make the cost of inaction felt: fear, frustration, pride, guilt. Emotion, then reason, in that order.
4. **Mechanism.** The reason the solution works. This is not the feature list. Buyers believe in mechanisms, not bullet points.
5. **Proof.** Stacked per the proof ladder below. Real results, real customers, demos, or data.
6. **Offer.** What they get, price anchoring, bonuses. Anchor price against the cost of the problem before stating it.
7. **Objection handling.** Answer the top questions prospects ask, ranked by frequency. If you have call recordings, mine them.
8. **Guarantee.** State the exact guarantee. Risk reversal, not fine print.
9. **CTA.** One action. One. See CTA placement below.

### 4. Proof ladder (consumability order)
Stack proof from most consumable to deepest, per `references/beat-reference.md`. Rule of thumb:
- Up top: stats and logos (fast to absorb, thin on their own)
- Middle: testimonials (curated, emotional) and ratings/reviews (independently captured, more trusted)
- Deep: case studies (problem to outcome story) and live demos
- High ticket: peer references close deals, but only for buyers who already know and like you

Never open cold traffic with a case study. The viewer has to trust you before they will read one.

### 5. CTA placement
Place three CTA moments, each naming exactly one action:
- **CTA 1, post-mechanism (desire).** For the buyer who is already convinced. "If you want this, click the button below and start now."
- **CTA 2, post-proof (logic).** For the buyer who needed evidence. Restate the outcome, then the action.
- **CTA 3, final close (urgency).** Honest urgency only: a real deadline, real scarcity, or the stated cost of waiting. Invented countdowns rot trust.

Never offer five options at a CTA. Book a call, start a trial, or buy. Pick one.

### 6. Compliance pass
Run every testimonial and results claim through `references/compliance.md`. The two lines that save sellers most often:
- An atypical result is not fixed by a "results not typical" disclaimer. Disclose what customers generally get, with substantiation.
- Every paid or gifted endorsement discloses the relationship, plainly, where the viewer cannot miss it.

### 7. Verify
- Read the script aloud, timed. If a beat drags, compress it.
- Grep the final script for every number, quote, and result. Each one must trace to a source in the discovery intake. Unverifiable gets cut or reframed as opinion.
- Confirm the compliance checklist in `references/compliance.md` is fully green before the script is approved.

## Output Contract
Deliver these, in this order:
1. Filled script outline using `assets/vsl-script-outline.md`, with estimated read time per beat
2. Proof stack map: each proof asset, its type, where it sits in the ladder, and what it substantiates
3. CTA plan: the three CTA moments, the exact action named, and the urgency basis
4. Compliance checklist result: each item pass/fail with the fix applied
5. Source list: every number, quote, and result claim with its source

## Operating Rules
1. Every factual claim must be verified against a source. Never invent numbers, dates, quotes, or events. Unverifiable means cut it or frame it as opinion.
2. One action per CTA. Never split the ask.
3. Guarantee only what the seller will actually honor.
4. Real proof only. No fabricated testimonials, no stock-photo customers, no invented case studies.
5. Urgency must be real. No fake countdowns, no invented seat limits.
6. Compliance is not the disclaimer at the end. It is built into the proof section, beat by beat.
7. If the proof inventory cannot carry the runtime, shorten the video. Never pad proof.