did you know that the most important part of your video is the first 30 seconds if you can
keep your audience watching and invested for the entire first 30 seconds of your video then you are
much more likely to increase your retention rate overall and the better your retention rate the
more likely your video is to be recommended to others on the homepage with suggested or browse
one of the best ways to keep people watching for those first 30 seconds though is to provide
value that matches why the viewer clicked and then you can promise them that the video is worth their
time for example you clicked this video because i said it would help with your retention rate
and i've already given you a tip to do just that but another incredibly powerful way to increase
retention rate is to just tell people what the video is about mr beast will often explain his
entire video premise and then promise that it is worth the viewers time in under 10 seconds on
almost every single video that said there is a lot more to boosting retention rate than the first 30
seconds and that is what this video is all about i'm going to be covering incredibly simple tips
to instantly boost your retention rate and at the end of this video i will also reveal the perfect
length a video should be and what percentage of retention rate you should be aiming for on your
videos if you want to break the algorithm and start getting thousands of views first though it
is really important for any youtuber to understand how to read their retention rate graphs so
before we keep going and cover how to increase it let's show you how to diagnose any issues your
videos might have almost everyone knows about the retention rate graphs for individual videos
if you go to the analytics and check out a video you can see the retention rate on average for that
video and how it performed but what you probably don't know about is the relative retention rate
graph this shows the video and how it compared to others of a similar type these are fantastic
tools and every youtuber should use them but i want to show you something else that you should
be reviewing every single video if we go to our channel analytics and look at our content tab
and then scroll down you'll see the key moments analytics this tool will rank and then show you
the videos that hold your viewers attention the best when it comes to the first 30 seconds it'll
also show you the worst ones though the ones that lose viewers before the first 30 seconds if we
look at my graph you can see 76 of viewers watch the entire 30 seconds of one of my latest videos
this video also is one of my best performing videos in terms of views in the first 24 hours
which is not a coincidence it is directly related to my introduction and the retention rate i want
to quickly give you the reason why this is the case with the video in question my thumbnail and
my title ask a question about twitch's new update did twitch just solve small streamer
growth when someone clicks the video my first 30 seconds heavily echoes the title and thumbnail
the viewers expect a video about twitch's new update and i deliver on that expectation
instantly if they clicked and i opened ranting about something completely unrelated like my
love of anime body pillows they'd leave instantly i know you're thinking that this sounds obvious
but i promise you i look at most of your guys's youtube channels and it seems like you're not
clicking with this idea the second reason they stay engaged on this video is because of some
very simple editing that i used i subtitled the entire first 30 seconds with energetic animated
subtitles this grabs the viewer's attention and makes them read or pay more attention
to the video than they normally would keeping them engaged means longer retention obviously
i also back this up by going straight into overlay footage with dynamic zooms and interesting cuts
this means the viewers aren't just staring at my ugly face and some subtitles and instead
they get something more interesting to look at and the third reason they keep watching is something
that you can add right now and that is actually confidence i start with solid energy which exudes
confidence in what i'm saying as an education youtuber this is crucial so viewers trust me
and my content before we move on to the rest of the tips let's summarize all the points so far
one the most important part is your first 30 seconds to increase your first 30 seconds all
you need to do is add subtitles interesting cuts and make sure you provide value almost instantly
so your viewers know what the video is about and why it's important to watch now that said it isn't
just your intro that is so important one of the most powerful tips to boosting retention rate
across the board is to remove as much fluff as possible you'll notice in this video that i didn't
spend a whole minute introducing myself i haven't asked you to subscribe even though you should
totally consider it and i didn't open on a big branded animated intro slide with hyped up music
i'm doing everything i can to remove the fluff and provide value to you the viewer and to keep
you engaged the two major tricks to removing fluff happen unsurprisingly in the editing stages but
also sort of surprisingly in the planning stage as well when planning a video you should think of
your topic sentence the opening line of your video to keep people hooked the value you are providing
should fit that sentence and then anything in the planning stage that doesn't fit that sentence
get rid of it don't film it you don't need it i find most new youtubers when they script a video
or plan a content idea out they lose focus on their topic sentence and then when you get to
the editing stage if you're watching your video back and you find a segment that doesn't add value
cut it out don't be precious about your footage in filmmaking they have a saying called kill
your darlings and this means that just because you love something doesn't mean it needs to be in the
film or in this case your five nights at freddy's dating sim video but what is value well it comes
back again to what i said your topic sentence or the goal of your video for this video the value
is information but for other videos the value might be entertainment jokes opinions on a game
music tech or whatever else your topic sentence is the most powerful actionable tip i can give you is
consider your audience's intent aka why are they clicking this video and then edit
or create content towards that intent another really powerful tip for the editing process is
to ask yourself whether something is needed for the story you're telling imagine you have a video
and it starts at point a goes to point b point c and then ends on point d i often find myself in
these videos looking at segments and asking myself does the viewer need to hear this and specifically
does the viewer need to know this for the next segment if a viewer can go from point b to point
d and the video still provides all the information it still makes sense then i should probably cut
point c this rule works for almost every sentence in your video if you the viewer don't need to hear
this sentence to understand the next one if it doesn't provide value clarification information
entertainment then it can be cut this is all easier said than done though it's very hard to
know what is actually fluff so once you're done and have uploaded the video maybe it's gotten a
few views you can actually go to the video analytics go to those specific and relative
retention rate graphs i told you about and this will show you the exact parts of the video that
underperformed they were essentially less engaging and probably weren't needed use these graphs to
learn what could have been cut tightened up or needed extra polishing to keep viewers watching
now i still want to reveal the retention rate that you should be aiming for and how long you should
make your videos but before i do that i want to talk about how powerful loops are no not the
multi-colored circle sugar we ate as a kid this is a different kind of loop loops are moments in your
videos where you tease what is coming up soon the start of your video where you hook your viewers
in where you explain what a video is all about and provide value is essentially a loop as well
you say something is coming up and then later in the video you close that loop when it finally
comes up for information channels like mine loops are much more literal and easy to understand i say
that something is coming up but first i want to cover another topic quickly that's simple right
but for a gaming video or entertainment video maybe you decide to show something hilarious
that happens later in the video right at the start with the words coming up to keep people interested
that is also a type of loop when you watch almost any of my videos now you'll see that i use
loops a lot i use them to remind viewers that a really important part is coming up
and this helps to keep you engaged and now when you go and watch any content creator whether it's
mr beast ludwig spiffing brit literally any of them you'll realize they are all adding hooks
promises and loops to every single video speaking of every video one of the most important parts of
a video is actually your audio i'd say 60 of your video is actually sound based with most people
watching videos on a second monitor while they game scroll reddit or stalk their ex on twitter
i often have to remind new creators to cut out dead air or to add music that matches the tone
of the video these are two tips that wildly boost your retention rate if used right and by
used right i don't mean using that cheap terrible stock music that everyone uses because you're too
lazy to go find quality professional music for your videos but have no fear because thanks to
our sponsor Lickd your life just got much easier but before i tell you about Lickd this is a video
all about retention rate so to keep you retained i am gonna juggle these balls through this entire ad
read that i've had to memorize this was a bad idea are you tired of using the same music as everybody
else you want your videos to stand out to catch a viewers attention and to boost your retention rate
well then you need to check out Lickds library of over 1 million mainstream tracks that's right i
said mainstream this isn't just another music library this is a library of tracks that you
and your audience already know and love such as olivetree xxx temptation and so many more i fell
youtubers have been excluded from using famous mainstream music for risk of copyright claims
strikes and the loss of monetization but Lickd gives you the ability to license any of the
tracks in their library to use on youtube and stay monetized your sound and music are crucial
for keeping viewers engaged and using famous well-known tracks can not only improve your
video quality but it also gives you a unique but nostalgic feeling for your audience which
helps you keep them engaged and watching longer you don't need to juggle all the different tracks
from any other service because Lickd have all your chart and stock music needs covered
so you can take your video quality to the next level and get 50% off your first chart track and
14 days of free stock music using the link in the description that took me an hour and a half
and over 130 takes since we are on the topic of audio i want to quickly cover how important
it is one more time before we go on to our goal retention rates and how long a video should be
i cannot stress this enough but nothing will destroy your retention rate as much as bad audio
if someone can't hear you or if you're too loud if your audio hurts their ears in any way if it
sounds like it was recorded using a megaphone and a guitar hero microphone from the playstation 2
they will leave immediately it is proven that someone will watch a 480p video with good audio
no problem but they won't watch a 4k video that sounds terrible so please focus on and
sort out your audio before anything else and now for the final question the answer you've
all been waiting for how long should a video be and what retention rate should you aim for one
of my favorite things to do is to compare the last 18 months of videos i've released
and then how they performed in the first 24 hours of their release while doing this i found there
are two main analytics i need to hit to have a viral or well-performing video one of those is
of course retention rate i found that with shorter videos my retention rate needs to reach 50 or even
60 percent in order to just simply get browse or suggested traffic but for a longer video 40 or 50
is fine sometimes even as low as 30 is enough for a longer video to get browse or suggested
on my channel the reason for this well if we look at my 9 minute video i released the other week
a 52 retention rate gave us a 4 minute and 42 second average watch time but my 32 tips
video is roughly 30 minutes long so a 42 retention rate gives a 12 minute average watch time youtube
favors a longer watch time in my opinion because it means they keep you on the platform longer
aka they can serve you more ads on your videos granted if someone watched a hundred percent of
my five minute video and then clicked and watched 100 of another one that's also a long time on the
platform so remember the goal is simply to keep people on platform of course there is a second big
factor to whether it does well it isn't just your retention rate but i'll explain that in a second
first though does this mean you should aim for a 50 retention rate every time no this is just what
i see when i look at my content and my analytics gaming videos or personality driven content often
performs despite having much lower retention rates but also it's important to realize that
while a video i release to my audience might have an amazing retention rate once it starts
going out to new viewers who are less invested in me my content well that retention rate will drop
your only goal for retention rate should be that every video tries to improve and be better than
the last just increasing it slightly with every single video using your graphs to find those
sections where you can improve your editing and finding new techniques to engage people better in
those first 30 seconds and then second does this mean we should all stretch our videos out to be
longer after all my 30 minute video needed a lower percentage to do well and the answer absolutely
not a video should be as long or as short as it needs to be to keep people watching and get the
message goal value or entertainment across if you stretch a video out to be too long people
will fall off and it hurts your retention rate but at the same time if you cut a video so intensely
down to be short you might lose people because the pacing is off the story might not make sense
or it doesn't suit the style of content imagine if i had this entire video edited like an mlg montage
it wouldn't make sense think about your goal of the video does the video need slower edits
to tell a story provide information in a way that's understandable or does it need faster
edits to show off montages highlights or just generally fit your style also think about the
audience demographic that you are aiming for older viewers usually prefer less intense editing that's
a slower pace and easier to absorb but younger viewers often want snappier faster edits to keep
them engaged now just having a great retention rate doesn't mean your video will break the
algorithm it certainly helps but there is a second massive factor to having a video perform well
and that is your click-through rate if you want to learn more about click-through rate
click this video right here and it breaks down everything you need just like this
one did for retention rate i'll see you guys next week thanks for watching you