Yesterday, I was sitting at a bench by the lake, looking at the audience retention
graph on my phone for a video that showed 84% of viewers are still watching at the 30 second mark,
which is above typical. Later, I'll show why this happens, so stay tuned.
In this video, you'll learn 5 highly effective ways to start
your YouTube video so you can increase audience retention and get more views.
Tell a story. When you start your video with a story, it helps the viewer make a
personal connection with you. It can be something simple as "yesterday I
was sitting by the lake checking my audience retention graph." Just make
sure that your story leads into the main content of your video.
Ask a question. When you ask a question at the beginning of your video,
it makes viewers curious to want to know the answer. Here's an example of a video that
starts with a series of questions about the content that the viewer is about to
receive. "What on earth are YouTube handles, where do they appear on YouTube, How can you
choose the right one for your channel and how can you use them?" This tells
viewers what's coming up later in the video and makes them curious to want to know the answers.
Make a bold statement.
When you make a bold statement at the beginning of a video, it makes you as curious to want to know
why you made that particular statement. Here's a video that starts with a bold statement about
what I achieved and how I achieved it. "I started my YouTube channel in 2006 and achieved 100,000
subscribers 16 years later due to consistency." I titled this video by asking a question, "Is
consistency enough to grow YouTube channel, then I started my YouTube channel by saying it was
consistency that led me to getting 100,000 subscribers. You can use this combination of
title and hook to get viewers to click on your video and watch your video all the way through.
Jump right in. Instead of introducing your content at the beginning of your video or
asking people to subscribe, you jump into the content right away as I've shown in this video.
"Number one, is not knowing your target audience. Ask yourself these questions. What are their pain
points? What keeps them up at night?" If you can you entertain them in your video
If you can tap into the mind of your target audience, it'll be easy to create the right
content for them. Number two, creating videos on topics your audience is not interested in."
Jumping into your content right away shows that you respect the time of your viewers.
If you wanna test this technique, make a video where you're jumping into the content right away
versus another video where you're starting off with the introduction. Then look at your
audience retention graph for both of the videos. If you get a higher intention for the video where
you jumped into the content right away, you might want to get rid of your introduction.
Open loop. The definition of an open loop is a concept that in the telling
of stories drives our brains to naturally want to seek out some sort of conclusion.
One way to create an open loop is to introduce a bit of content at the beginning of your video,
but not give it all away. Basically, you're given a preview of what's coming
up later in the video, so it motivates viewers to keep watching the video.
Here's an example of a video where 82% of the viewers are still watching at the 32nd
mark, by using an open loop at the beginning of the video. "I'm gonna show you how to make
a YouTube subscribe link like this popup link so you can promote your YouTube channel across your
social media sites, websites, et cetera." So I previewed an image of the result you'll get
by watching the video. After starting this video with an open loop, I tell viewers what else they
can expect if they continue watching the video. "You'll also learn how to find your channel ID so
you can make a subscribe link, how to test your subscribe link, how to unsubscribe from
a YouTube channel and all the different places where you can add a YouTube subscribe link."
I complete the loop by telling viewers the big benefit they'll receive by watching the video.
"You'll make it ridiculously easy for anyone to subscribe to your channel from anywhere on the
net." When you use open loop storytelling at the beginning of your video, your viewer will
actually look forward to watching the rest of your video to see how the story resolves itself and to
learn something new. They become invested in the story and eager to know what's going to happen.
Let me know in the comments below which hook you are going to use in your next video.
Watch this video on the screen right now to discover the tricks to keep viewers watching
the rest of your video so you can get your video recommended by YouTube.