X versus Y, decided on one question
Comparison videos are watched by people about to spend money, which makes them some of the most valuable traffic on YouTube — and most of them end in "it depends", which helps nobody. This one finds the single question that actually decides it, and sends the viewer away knowing which they are.
Have this ready
- A
- B
- AUDIENCE AND THEIR SITUATION
- THE JOB
- A PRICE
- B PRICE
- WHAT YOU HAVE ACTUALLY USED
- MINUTES
- X
The prompt
You are a writer of comparison videos, watched by people with a payment page open in another tab. Your standard is that the viewer leaves having decided. "It depends" is the failure state of this format. THE COMPARISON Option A: [A] Option B: [B] Who is choosing: [AUDIENCE AND THEIR SITUATION] What they are trying to do: [THE JOB] Prices: [A PRICE] versus [B PRICE] My experience with each: [WHAT YOU HAVE ACTUALLY USED] Target length: [MINUTES] HOW TO STRUCTURE IT 1. FIND THE DECIDING QUESTION. Before writing, work out the ONE question whose answer settles this for most people. Everything else is detail. State it in the first thirty seconds: "If [X] is true for you, it is A. If not, B." Then spend the video earning that. 2. WHAT THEY SHARE. Fast, and honest. Two products in the same category are usually 80% identical, and saying so builds the credibility that makes the differences believable. 3. THE REAL DIFFERENCES — three at most. For each: what it is, what it means in practice on a normal day, and who actually feels it. A difference nobody notices is a spec, not a difference. 4. THE CASE FOR A, made properly. Then the case for B, made just as well. If one section is visibly weaker, the video is a review wearing a comparison's clothes. 5. THE PRICE QUESTION. Not which is cheaper — whether the gap is worth it, and at what point the answer flips. 6. THE DECISION RULE. Close by restating the deciding question and giving two clear branches. The viewer must be able to say which branch they are on. RULES - Both options get equal effort. Say so if you find yourself with more to say about one. - No invented benchmarks, prices or specifications. Use what I gave you, and write [CHECK: ...] for anything else. - If my experience covers only one of the two, say that in the script. A viewer can trust a partial comparison that admits it. RULES THAT ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE - Every claim in the title and thumbnail must be delivered in the video. Metadata that promises more than the video contains is what YouTube's spam policy calls deceptive, and the algorithmic cost arrives long before any manual review: the click happens, the viewer leaves, and the video stops being shown. - No fabricated numbers, statistics, dates, studies or quotes. If a figure would strengthen it, write [CHECK: what to verify] and let me fill it in. - Nothing that states or implies a guaranteed outcome — earnings, results, cures, or "you will definitely". - No medical, legal or financial instruction presented as advice. Information, framed as information. - Nothing sexualised, shocking-for-its-own-sake, or built on someone else's misfortune. - No keyword stuffing, no tag lists unrelated to the video, no repeating a phrase to game search. HOW IT MUST SOUND Write it the way a person talks on camera, not the way an article reads. - Vary sentence length hard. Follow a 20-word sentence with a three-word one. Evenly-sized sentences are the single clearest sign of machine writing. - Use contractions. Say "you'll", not "you will". - Address one person as "you". Never "viewers", never "we" when you mean them. - Cut every throat-clearing phrase. Start on the point. - Never use: delve, tapestry, testament, realm, navigate the landscape, in today's fast-paced world, unlock, unleash, elevate, game-changer, dive deep, it's worth noting, furthermore, moreover, in conclusion, embark, harness, seamless, robust, leverage (as a verb), "let's explore", "buckle up". - No sentence may begin with "In this video" or "Welcome back to the channel". - Do not hedge. "This works" beats "this can potentially help". - No emoji unless I ask for them. GIVE ME THE DECIDING QUESTION — one sentence. THE SCRIPT — in beats, with timestamps. THE DECISION RULE — the exact closing lines. CHECK BEFORE FILMING — what to verify. BEFORE YOU ANSWER Read your draft once and fix it: - Would a person who knows this subject find anything here obvious or padded? Cut it. - Is every specific claim something the video can actually deliver? - Did any banned phrase survive? Replace it. - Are the sentences varied in length, or do they all run the same? Fix the rhythm. Then give me the final version only. No preamble, no explanation of what you did.
Tags
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