How to write a hook that stops the scroll

What a hook has to do

A hook is not a greeting and not a summary. It has one job: give the viewer a reason to stay for the next five seconds. It does that by opening a question their brain wants closed, or by promising something specific they want.

That means the hook is about them, not you. “Hi guys, today I want to talk about budgeting” is about you. “You’re losing $40 a month to subscriptions you forgot about” is about them.

TipSay the hook in the first second, before any intro, logo or “hey everyone”. The text on screen should match it, because many people watch with the sound off.

10 hook formulas that work

Every formula below is a way to create a gap between what the viewer knows and what they want to know. Pick the one that fits your topic honestly.

• Bold claim: “Most phone videos look bad because of one setting.”
• Curiosity gap: “There’s a reason restaurant rice tastes better, and it’s not the rice.”
• Call out the viewer: “If you’re a freelancer who hates invoicing, watch this.”
• Mistake: “Stop washing your face with hot water.”
• Number: “3 dinners under $5 that don’t taste cheap.”
• Story opener: “I posted every day for 90 days. Here’s what actually changed.”
• Before / after: show the result first, then “here’s how I got here in 20 minutes.”
• Question: “Why do some videos get 10x the views with the same idea?”
• Contrarian take: “Posting every day is bad advice for small channels.”
• Quick promise: “In 30 seconds you’ll know if your plant is overwatered.”

If you are stuck, describe your video in our free hook generator and it writes ten hooks, one per technique, so you can compare angles side by side.

Mistakes that kill a hook

• Warming up. Greetings, context and “so…” before the point. Cut everything before the first interesting sentence.
• Being vague. “This changed my life” says nothing. Name the thing, the number or the result.
• Promising what the video doesn’t deliver. People feel cheated, swipe away and stop trusting you. Clickbait wins one view and loses the follower.
• Too long. If the hook needs more than two short sentences, it is an introduction. Aim for under 25 spoken words.
• Mismatched visuals. The first frame should show what the hook is about, not your face waiting to talk.

Deliver the hook well

A good line said flatly still loses. Start talking on the first frame, look into the lens, and say the hook a little faster and with more energy than the rest of the video. Record three or four takes of just the hook and keep the best one.

A teleprompter helps here: you keep eye contact with the camera while reading the exact words you planned, so you don’t ramble into the opening.

Test your hooks

You only learn what works for your audience by trying. Two simple ways:

1. Write three hooks for each video before you record. Pick the one you would stop for yourself.
2. Watch the retention graph after posting. If most people leave in the first three seconds, the hook was the problem, not the topic.
3. When a hook works, reuse the structure on your next topics. Formulas are reusable; specific lines are not.