Why Your YouTube Intros Suck

Hey all! 👋 Hope you have a great week ahead. This week I want to talk about something I saw get some traction on my Twitter lately. Intros/Outros of a YouTube video. But today, I want to specifically zoom in a bit more on intros.

Picture this: You make a video you’re proud of, and a week later, the retention graph looks like this:

Disheartening, isn't it? Compare it to this retention graph from a client's video I helped optimize:

Today, I'll reveal three key elements to enhance your video intros, making viewers stay longer and increasing your views.

With my decade of ​making videos ​and strategizing with ​amazing clients​, I've distilled common pitfalls into valuable lessons.
Take Brett's video on baking bread at home for instance. His intro:

"Hey bakers, thanks for watching! Last time we baked a cake. You all loved that video and I want to thank you so much for all the comments and likes. It was heartwarming to see some pictures you send me of your cake creations and I have seen them all. For this video, I want to show you how I bake a loaf of bread from the comfort of my home because who doesn't love the smell of fresh bread? Follow along and I'll show you how to bake a loaf of bread that is extra tasty with some additional ingredients. ''

Now let me show you an intro that I would write with this client:

‘’Today I’ll show you step-by-step how to bake the perfect loaf of bread from the comfort of your home in just 30 minutes, and at the end, I’ll give you my three secret ingredients that will make it taste like it came from a master bakery. So, let’s start the timer, and get baking!’’

This brings us to our first point: 1. Be concise and direct.

Time for a bit of trivia: What's vital for retaining viewers till the video ends?
🤔 
A: Rewarding payoff
B: Tension building
C: Engaging script

Answer? All of them.

Many creators excel in one area but neglect others. A thrilling intro means nothing if the meat of the video is lackluster. Let's go back to Brett the YouTube baker to read a moment in the middle of the video👨‍🍳: ‘’So the bread is almost ready to go in the oven, but I’ll quickly add a few more things and we are ready to bake. These are some ingredients I will show you later, but first, we have some baking to do.’’

A bit boring, don’t you think? What if we spice it up a bit?

‘’Alright we have ten more minutes on the clock (I'm falling a bit behind..) and I’m almost ready to put this bread in the oven, BUT, we need to add these special ingredients I talked about at the beginning of the video. They were an absolute gamechanger for me once I discovered them.’’

That leads us to:

2. Regularly re-engage viewers. Re-engagement reignites viewers' interest, sustaining their attention. Imagine someone saying: "See that rainbow? I know its end, and there's a secret there." You'd be hooked, right?

The intrigue is 3. A Clear payoff. 

Viewers need an enticing end goal, peppered with mini-payoffs and challenges. Remember, respect your viewers' time. Reward their click with immediate engagement and a compelling journey. I will release a video on this topic soon on my YouTube channel that goes a tiny bit deeper into the matter, so hope to see you there!

Also, if you like this stuff and want to support me, send it to a few of your friends who might be interested in all things YouTube.

Thanks and talk soon! 😎

Leroy.