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March test results: 20 hooks, 3-second retention, cold audience
Full results attached in the swipe file. Headlines:
- Negation hooks ("this is not a productivity video") averaged 68% at 3s — best mechanism this round
- Number hooks ("7 ways to…") averaged 41%, down from 52% in January. They're fatiguing fast
- Direct address ("if you're a freelancer, stop") averaged 61% but only with correct targeting — miss the segment and it's 22%
The negation result replicates for the third month running. I'm now fairly confident it's not noise: contradicting an expectation the viewer hasn't consciously formed yet is the single most reliable opener we've tested.
44 comments
44 comments
The negation finding matches what I see on X almost exactly. "Don't" and "stop" openers outperform everything for me and I never understood why. Contradicting an unformed expectation — that's it.