76: 10 scroll-stopping hooks to get more engagement on your emails and posts
If you’ve ever wanted to figure out the secret to increasing the engagement on your emails or posts, it comes down to this one, super important thing.
The hook.
In this episode of ill communication, I’m sharing 10 scroll-stopping hooks to get more engagement on your emails and posts.
If you're not familiar with hooks, they are one of the most important parts of your copy. When you think of the anatomy of an email, a social post, or a video script, it generally goes hook body, call to action.
Now, there are several hook formulas you can use. But, I've compiled ten of my personal favorites here.
Topics We Cover in This Episode:
What is a good hook in your copy? Here's what you need to know
How you can lead with something awesome and juicy that your audience wants
How you can use a cliffhanger at the start of your email
The power of quotes in your emails
The best, but overused, prompt to use to hook your audience
How to ethically tap into fear in your copy
The promise that counts
How to wow your customers with data
Why being a contrarian can be a good thing
We love a success story! How to use this in your emails
My personal favorite hook for your emails
You’ll notice that many of them are a combination of several hook formulas. Remember, you could have an amazing email or post or video script, but if you don't hook your readers right away, they won't pay attention.
Now, I have a challenge for you! Start to pay attention to the copy that causes you to stop the scroll. Notice which subject lines or lead lines of copy hooks you and gets your reading on. Can you figure out which hook formula the writer used? Keep a swipe file or an example file of hooks that caught your attention!
-
[00:00:03] Welcome to ill communication, copywriting tips and sales strategies for small business. I'm your host, Kim Keel. I'm a copy coach, sales strategist, and direct response copywriter. It's my mission to help women leaders and change makers amplify their voices through copy. It's why I'm dishing out all the juicy tips, writing prompts, and sales formulas to help you generate more leads, book more calls, and get more high value clients on repeat. Sounds pretty good. It's time to ditch the overwhelm you might be feeling and find confidence in your copywriting so you can get your message out there and attract more soulmate clients. Let's get started. If you've ever wanted to figure out the secret to increasing the engagement on your emails, posts, video scripts, it comes down to this one super important thing. The hook. Hey there and welcome to episode 76. Today I'm sharing ten scroll stopping hooks to get more engagement on your emails and posts. And I want to thank winning with Grace J, who responded to my IG story when I posted an Ask Me Anything sticker. You might remember a couple episodes back, I did an entire episode answering questions people asked me. Well, Grace's question was so good it deserved its own episode. Grace asked, is there a good framework for hooks now? If you're not familiar with hooks, they are one of the most important parts of your copy. When you think of the anatomy of an email, a social post, a video script, it generally goes hook body, call to action.
[00:01:51] Neil O'Grady, who is an amazing content creator and founder of the company Demand Curve, is a master of hooks. He is the co-founder of a great course I took called The Unanswerable Challenge, which teaches you how to write sticky, unaccountable content. Neil says 80% of your posts success comes down to its hook. Your opening line is critical. If you don't hook your reader right away, they'll keep on scrolling. So Grace is so smart to ask about a framework for hooks. And in fact, there are several hook formulas you can use. I've compiled ten of my personal favorites here. The first one is you know you want it. You lead with something so awesome and so delicious, you know your audience wants. For example, I have a seven figure business in part time hours. Here's how or how I made $250,000 in my copywriting business with no funnels, zero tech, and a tiny email list, or how my client made $90,000 in four days with a cheap and cheerful Google Doc lead with something awesome and juicy you know your audience wants. The second formula is the cliffhanger. I love using a cliffhanger to start my emails. You basically start at the climax of your story, and then you pause and go back to the beginning. So examples of the cliffhanger are I was brought to tears or I couldn't believe it. I was just three meters from the summit of the mountain when I had to turn back. Leave your audience wanting more so they'll keep reading to find out what happens after the cliffhanger.
[00:03:39] The third formula I love using for a hook is the quote. I love starting Facebook ads and emails with a quote or a piece of dialog as an example in quotes. I would have died if I hadn't found you. That's a quote from one of our nutrition clients. She'd been struggling with IBS for decades or in quotes. Kim, are you some kind of genius? It's like you reached into my head and pulled out all the words or in quotes. I hope we don't regret this. That's what my bestie said to me before we made the biggest mistake of our lives. Number four in our scroll stopping hooks is the client call out. Now. This is one of the easiest hooks to use, and I'd say it's almost overused, primarily because it's one of the formulas ChatGPT seems to love using so much, so it's a little bit of a tell. In the first line, write a question or statement that immediately calls in your ideal prospect or reader, such as can't think about what to write or struggling to find scroll stopping hooks for your social posts. The problem when you lead with a yes or no question, though, is that if the answer is no, as in I'm not struggling to think about what to write, you risk losing your reader. So use the questioning technique very carefully and make sure it's broad enough question that most people would probably say yes to it.
[00:05:09] Alternatively, turn it into a statement. So instead of saying are you sick of trying and failing at diets, you'd say, if you're sick of trying and failing at diets, you probably haven't heard this tip. The fifth formula for hooks is fear. You lead with something that your audience might be afraid of. You're probably one wrong post away from being canceled, or your clients don't trust you, or these mistakes will kill your sales. Tapping into fear can be very powerful and also problematic and borderline unethical. So use it very sparingly and never use fear mongering to get a sale. The next hook formula is give them what they need and want, and this is where you promise some kind of educational value when you use. Elite, like six quick tips to accelerate weight loss, or how coaches are finding paying clients even if they don't have much experience yet, you're promising to deliver some juicy information your readers want. Number seven. Wareham, with data lead with some kind of crazy statistic like email, has a whopping ROI of 35 to 1, or 76% of consumers are concerned with misinformation from artificial intelligence. People love data, and if you can show some data at the beginning, people will be hooked to keep reading. Another interesting formula to use for your hooks is called a counter narrative, or I call it opposites attract. It's where you take an oppositional position to a commonly held belief. Go against the grain.
[00:07:01] Be contrarian. Say something like, no, you don't need to find another client. Or some will tell you that starting a business is hard. I call bullshit. The next formula, number nine, is the celebration hook. It delivers value, but it's for celebration. And it works because people love a success story or a win. We love to celebrate. So if you have a great milestone or life event, share it. And here are three examples. I'm celebrating two years as a podcaster. Here's what I wish I knew before I started or I 300 XT my LinkedIn following in three months. Here's how I did it. Or I just turned 48. Here's a playlist of my 48 favorite songs of all time. And I've saved the best for last. This is my personal favorite. Number ten is the this. This is how I three text my email list in 30 days. Or if you want to double your clients without working harder, do this. It's kind of like a cliffhanger, but you use the word this intentionally. Now, what you'll notice from a lot of these examples is that many of them are a combination of several hook formulas. For example, this is how I three text my email list in 30 days is a combination of the this and you know you want it and celebration. Remember, you could have an amazing email or post or video script, but if you don't hook your reader right away, they won't pay attention. Neil O'Grady of the Uninsurable Program says a may post with a wow hook has a better chance than a wow post with a may hook.
[00:08:51] So save this episode. Listen to it. If you need to come up with a hook for your next piece of writing, and I'll create a little cheat sheet graphic with a ten scroll stopping hooks to get more engagement on your emails and posts. I'll link to it in the show notes. And before I go, I'll leave you with a little challenge. Start to pay attention to the copy that causes you to stop the scroll. Notice which subject lines or lead lines of copy hooks you and gets your reading on. Can you figure out which hook formula the writer used? Keep a swipe file or an example file of hooks that caught your attention. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'll see you next time. Hey, thanks for joining me for today's episode. But before you go, I want to make sure you've grabbed a new tool to help you assess the effectiveness of your sales copy. It's an easy to use tool that will help you identify what's working well and what could we improved among all of the copy assets you have in your business? Grab the Sales Copy scorecard right now to find quick and easy ways to improve your sales copy and boost sales. Get your free scorecard over at Kim Kilcommon Scorecard. I'll be back next week with another quick tip writing prompt or sales hack for you.
[00:10:15] See you then.
Additional Resources
Follow & Review
Are you following the podcast? I want to encourage you to leave a review and follow today so you don’t miss any future episodes.
I would also appreciate it if you would leave me a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! I read each of them, and they help me make sure I am providing the content you love to hear! Plus, you get to pay it forward because it will allow other listeners like you to find the podcast!