Run a Hook Strength test

Two openings, two fresh groups, and one question that decides it: how much people wanted to keep watching.

Hook Strength is the attention set for the highest-leverage edit on social: the opening. Two openings go out to two fresh groups, one version per person, and the score says which one earned the watch.

What it measures

The primary question is a 0 to 10 rating of how much someone wanted to keep watching in the first few seconds. The verdict is decided on the average of those ratings for each version. The card labels this set research-backed.

What people are asked

• "In the first few seconds, how much did you want to keep watching?" on a 0 to 10 scale running from "Wanted to skip" to "Completely hooked". This is the question the verdict rests on.
• "At any point did you want to stop watching?" as a yes or no.
• An open question on what made them want to keep watching, or stop.

When to pick it

Reach for Hook Strength when the opening is what you changed and you want the lightest read available on it. Skip it when both versions share the same opening, because there is nothing there to separate. For pacing and where attention breaks as well, Attention and Hook asks more of the same people. If the argument is whether the piece earns a stop in a moving feed at all, that is Thumb-Stop.

What the verdict looks like

The report names a winner on this question only when every group reached the size committed at launch, dropout was balanced, and the gap stands clear of chance. Short of that you get a directional advantage or an honest "too close to call", which is a finding rather than a failure. A larger sample per version buys a firmer read; a small one earns a softer claim. See Understanding your verdict.

What it cannot tell you

Stated skip intent is softer than real drop-off. Someone saying they would have stayed is not the same as staying, so read the score as a comparison between two openings, not as a retention forecast. It also cannot tell you why one opening held: nobody saw both versions, and the design measures difference rather than cause. And it speaks to a first look, never to the fifth time someone meets your work.

Formats

Hook Strength is available on video tests and on audio tests.