An example
Acme Watches tests three hooks on one video body. Hook one: a close-up of the second hand with the line 'This watch has not lost a second in two years.' Hook two: a hand lifting the watch out of a gift box. Hook three: on-screen text reading 'Stop buying watches you never wear.' Same body, three openings, three different hook rates.
Why it matters
The hook decides whether the rest of the ad gets seen at all. A great product demo behind a weak opening reaches a fraction of the people it could. Hooks are also the cheapest part of a video to change, which makes them the best place to start testing.
How to improve it
Write hooks from real customer language: the problem they describe, the doubt they had, the result they got. Try different types (a question, a bold claim, the result first, a pattern break, a face talking to camera), and record which types win for which angle.
