I'm bad at recording scripted videos. I'll admit that. Take 50, take 51, then a call comes in, then a delivery deadline hits, then the hour I had to lock in is gone.
This isn't unique to me. I've worked with five or six owners who hit the same wall. They had the offer. They had the page. They didn't have the time or the on-camera skill to ship a clean VSL, and I didn't have a good alternative to hand them.
Now I do. It's called the DSL — the Deck Sales Letter. I picked it up from Jeremy Haynes and I'm testing it inside my own go-to-market for FormLock. To be clear: the DSL is not an upgrade to the VSL. It's a stand-in while you're perfecting the skill. If you can produce a great VSL, do that. If you can't yet, stop letting the page sit broken.
The DSL slots in exactly where the VSL would go — directly under the offer statement on the sales page. That part is simple.
The execution is where most people get it wrong. It has to be obviously interactive. A clear start button. Visible arrows. A slide counter so the visitor knows what they're getting into. I also add a notes section under each slide — a high-level line for skimmers, plus an expandable note that reads like I'm talking it through. The wording is different from a spoken VSL because reading hits differently than hearing.
You can build this in Google Slides with an embed code. I did that the first time. The version I'm running now is a standalone URL embedded into the page, which lets you expand it full screen on both desktop and iPhone without it feeling cramped. Cleaner experience, better on mobile.
The structure is textbook Problem-Agitate-Solve with a unique mechanism layered in. Roughly 18 slides total. Here's the flow:
Hook and promise. For FormLock, the opener calls out the number one improvement you can make to your ads — whether your leads are inconsistent or you're already profitable. It has to scream curiosity.
Problem and pattern interrupt. Name the pain, then break the scroll.
Agitate. The pain needs a feeling attached to it. Form fillers wasting your ad spend. Calendars full of people who never close.
Future pace. Imagine the leads in your pipeline actually closing. Then — why? Because of the unique mechanism.
Unique mechanism. Without this, your solution looks like everyone else's. This is where differentiation lives.
Objection prevention. Pull these from real sales calls, FAQ emails, and chatbot transcripts. Don't wait for the call to handle them.
Value stack as a secondary mechanism. Reinforce the unique mechanism with backup.
Dream outcome, offer, CTA, proof. Close it.
Eighteen slides sounds heavy. It reads fast because each one does one job.
Most people treat the confirmation page as a dead end. I treat it as a second deck — about 13 slides — focused entirely on reassurance.
When someone submits the form for FormLock, the confirmation content auto-generates inline. They get their embed code, their dashboard credentials, and the second DSL right there. No redirect, no waiting.
The deck reframes what they just signed up for. It walks them through the steps they need to take, or offers the done-for-you setup if they'd rather hand it off. It reveals the engine — what's actually happening behind the scenes — and sets expectations: this isn't an overnight transformation. Then it loops back to the offer and closes.
If your service has a complex onboarding, frequent objections after purchase, or buyer's remorse risk, this is where you kill it before it starts.
I don't know yet if the DSL will beat a VSL for me. I'm testing it. Some buyers prefer reading. Some prefer being talked to. The honest answer is I'll come back in a month with data.
What I do know: a broken VSL — or no VSL at all — is worse than a clean deck that walks the buyer through the same logic. If you're sitting on a sales page with a placeholder video because you keep hitting take 50, ship the deck. Perfect the camera work in parallel.
That's the move. Stand-in now, upgrade later.