Hook Score
You have about two seconds. Paste the first line of your short-form video. Get a 0 to 100 score, the reason behind every point, and 5 better versions. Transparent rules, not a black box.
- Length (7 words) why?25/25
On-screen text has to be read in the first second or two, before the thumb moves. 4 to 12 words fits at normal reading speed; longer lines get skipped, very short ones rarely give a reason to stay.
- Pattern: Listicle why?20/20
"Listicle" is a familiar short-form opener. Viewers recognise the shape instantly, so they spend their two seconds on your content, not on decoding the line.
- Speaks to a person why?0/15
Feeds reward lines that sound like one person talking to another. "You" pulls the viewer in; "I" signals a real experience. Neither reads like an ad.
- Specific detail (number, time, price) why?15/15
A concrete number (30 days, $7, 3 mistakes) makes the promise believable and tells the viewer exactly what they get for staying.
- Curiosity or emotion why?0/15
An open loop (a mistake, a secret, a surprising result) or a real feeling gives people a reason to watch the next three seconds.
- Clean, not salesy why?10/10
No sales phrases, hashtag stacks or ALL CAPS in the hook. Save the offer for the end of the video.
Built from proven formulas around your subject, then scored. Starting points: edit them to sound like you.
- 88I tried this cocktail for 30 days. Here's what changedI tried
- 853 mistakes you're making with your cocktailMistakes listicle
- 78POV: you finally found a cocktail that actually worksPOV
- 78Nobody tells you this about your cocktailNobody tells you
- 73Here's how I actually use this cocktail every dayHere's how
Heuristic guidance based on common short-form patterns: length, proven openers, voice, specificity, curiosity, and salesy penalties. It doesn't predict views. Rewrites are generated by fixed rules (no AI), so the same hook always gets the same suggestions. Also on the API: POST /api/v1/hook-score.
The full guide plus a short email series on hooks, disclosure and testing at volume. Five emails, then we stop.
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