TikTok hooks that stop the right person

A hook is the opening of your video: the first line you say, the first words on screen and the first thing that moves. Most viewers decide in the first 1 to 3 seconds whether to keep watching ^[1], so the minute you filmed between two client calls stands or falls on its first sentence. TikTok's own advice for ads says the same: get your point across in the first 3 seconds and put the hook in the first 6 ^[2].

A good hook passes two tests. It stops the scroll, and it stops the right person ^[1]. A hook that pulls in the wrong people is almost as bad as one that loses everyone: you get views and no buyers ^[1].

For a coach or a lawyer, the right person is someone who could hire you. That's a much smaller crowd than everyone who likes a trend, so a hook that names their problem beats a hook that's merely loud.

Each formula is a shape with blanks. Fill the blanks with something true from your own work.

The free hook generator fills formulas like these from one topic, so you can compare first lines side by side before you pick.

Most hooks that hold people open on one of four moods: a question, a warning, a surprise or suspense. Here are twenty made-up lines, five per mood, written for professionals for you to adapt to your own work.

Start with a question. Ask the thing your buyer is already wondering. Questions beat claims on several top accounts: Sharran Srivatsaa's question openings reach a median of 39K plays against 20K for his claims ^[3].

• "Should you sell before you buy, or buy before you sell?"
• "Is a coach worth paying when there's a free course for everything?"
• "What do you actually get in a first meeting with a lawyer?"
• "Why do my best clients never ask for a discount?"
• "Can you fix your pricing in one afternoon?"

Use a negative hook. Name the mistake, the risk or the thing to stop. Shelby Sapp's Reels framed as a warning or a worry reach 475K against 270K for aspirational ones ^[4].

• "Stop signing anything you haven't read out loud."
• "The worst thing you can say in a salary negotiation."
• "Don't renovate the kitchen before you sell."
• "This habit is costing you clients every month."
• "Three things I'd never put in a proposal."

Lead with a surprise. Say the thing your buyer doesn't expect to hear from someone in your job.

• "I tell half the people who call me not to hire me yet."
• "The best negotiators I know say less, not more."
• "Your CV is the last thing a recruiter reads."
• "The clause that matters most is the one nobody reads."
• "The cheapest listing photos sold the flat fastest."

Build suspense. Open a loop and close it at the end, so the viewer stays for the answer. The story formula does this with "[Person] was about to [lose x] until..." ^[1]

• "My client was two days from signing when the surveyor called."
• "She'd sent eighty applications. Then she changed one line."
• "By Friday the deal was dead. Here's what saved it on Monday."
• "I nearly turned this client away."
• "There's one question I ask every buyer, and the answer decides everything."

Keep only the lines that are true for you, and run each through the checks below before you film. A suspense hook needs a payoff worth the wait. If your answer is ordinary, ask it as a question instead.

A pattern interrupt breaks what the viewer expects to see next in their feed. A face saying hello looks like every other video, so it gets scrolled past. Something moving in the first frame, a line they didn't expect, or something new on screen by second 2 makes them stop ^[1].

In your work, that might look like this:

• A mortgage broker drops a stack of bank statements on the desk on her first word.
• A coach, mid-sentence, already walking.
• A lawyer holds up a thick contract, folds it back to one clause and taps it, so you want to know what it says before she's said a word.
• An agent opening a front door on a room nobody expected.

Tie the interrupt to the idea. A random noise or a prop with no point stops people who'll never hire you, and a hook that brings the wrong people is almost as bad as one that loses everyone ^[1].

A hook works on three channels at once, and the strongest openings use all of them:

• Spoken: the first sentence you say. This is where the formula goes.
• Visual: what moves or changes on screen. You pick up the contract, the result appears on a screen, or the shot cuts to a new angle, and something new shows up by second 2 ^[1].
• Text: a headline of 2 to 6 words on screen in the first second ^[1], for anyone watching with the sound off.

When all three say the same thing, the viewer gets the point even if they only catch one of them.

Never write just one hook. Write three from three different formulas, then test them ^[1]. A confession, a number and a contrarian take on the same idea will pull in different people, and you won't know which suits your buyer until you post. The trial reels guide shows how to test them against each other.

Take the tool or trend name out of the hook. Would your buyer still care ^[1]? If the answer is no, the hook is selling the tool, and the people it stops won't hire you.

Every video should fit the sentence below. If yours doesn't, the hook has no idea behind it ^[1].

[Buyer] thinks [old belief]. Actually [new belief], because [proof]. So [result].

Run every hook through these ten checks. Film only the ones that pass 8 or more ^[1].

1. A number or a clear result in the first 5 words ^[1].
2. 18 words or fewer ^[1].
3. Something moves on screen in the very first frame ^[1].
4. A text headline of 2 to 6 words in the first second ^[1].
5. Your first spoken word is on screen within 0.25 seconds ^[1].
6. It opens on the most interesting moment, with no build-up ^[1].
7. You show the thing instead of only describing it ^[1].
8. Something new appears by second 2 ^[1].
9. Your face shares the frame with something else: proof, a screen or an object ^[1].
10. The payoff word is on screen as you say it ^[1].

TikTok suggests 5 to 10 words a second when you use text on screen ^[2], so a headline of 2 to 6 words ^[1] can be read in under a second.

Start with videos you've already posted. Score your last three against the list before you write anything new. If they open with hello, or describe a document instead of holding it up, you've found your first two fixes.

Paste this into any chat. Your own captions are what keep it from sounding like everyone else's AI.

My buyer: [one sentence: who they are and what they're stuck on].
My video idea: [one line].
My proof: [a number I can back up].

Write 3 spoken hooks, each from a different formula: shocking number, contrarian, confession, before and after, industry death, secret system, time compression, cost of doing nothing, insider leak, story.

Rules: 18 words or fewer, one breath, a number or clear result in the first 5 words, and no tool name my buyer wouldn't care about. Write them the way I talk: [paste 3 of my captions].

For each hook, fill in: "[Buyer] thinks [old belief]. Actually [new belief], because [proof]. So [result]."

Then say each hook out loud and rewrite any word you wouldn't use with a client. Make AI writing sound human has more on getting the stiffness out.

In Postmosis, Write shows you hooks on named formulas first, with one marked as recommended, then three versions of the post or short-video script for the work you do. See the post writer

Long scripts lose people in the middle. The ones that hold are short and answer one question, and every line either raises a question or answers one. Twenty seconds is enough for one idea done well, and short videos are easy to rewatch ^[5].

Talking about something bigger? Keep the same shape and stretch the three beats. Don't add more beats ^[5]. For a full minute with a call to action at the end, use the video script template instead.

List the 10 questions your buyers ask before they hire you. Those are your next 10 videos, and the best ones come from your inbox, your sales calls and your reviews ^[5]. Paste a few real ones into the first prompt.

I sell [your service] to [who]. List the 10 questions my clients ask most before they hire me, in their own words. Rank them by how much the answer changes their decision.

[paste a few real questions from DMs, calls or reviews]

Write a 20-second video script that answers this client question: [question].

Structure: a big question on screen (under 10 words), a 2 to 3 word flip, three short beats under 8 words each, and a one-line payoff.

Write it the way I talk: [paste 3 of my captions]. No jargon. No hashtags.

Read the script at normal speed with a timer running. Wherever you stumble, cut a word. Wherever you'd lose interest yourself, cut the line ^[5]. The free script length calculator times it at your own pace, and the teleprompter scrolls it while you film.

Before you film, check it:

• One question per video ^[5].
• The opening question is on screen in the first 2 seconds ^[5].
• The flip really changes the answer people expect ^[5].
• Each beat adds something new, with no restating ^[5].
• The payoff makes sense without the rest of the video ^[5].
• It reads aloud in 20 to 30 seconds without a stumble ^[5].

A hook does nothing in your drafts folder. Here's the shortest way from the line to a posted video, and you can do nearly all of it on your phone:

1. Take the hook that passed the most of the ten checks.
2. Write the 20-second script underneath it: a big question, a flip, three beats and a payoff ^[5].
3. Film on your phone and start on the most interesting moment. No build-up, no hello ^[1].
4. Add the hook as a text headline of 2 to 6 words, on screen in the first second ^[1].
5. Cut the pauses and add captions. Then post it, and leave it a few days before you decide whether it worked.

A better first line won't fix everything. Check which number is low before you rewrite it:

• Plenty of views, but people leave in the middle. The hook worked and the script didn't, so cut the build-up and give each beat new information ^[5].
• Good watch time, but no messages. The hook stopped the wrong people. Run the buyer test again and name a problem only your clients have ^[1].
• Hardly any views at all. Give it more than one post. Run one hook type for 20 posts before you decide whether it works ^[6].
• Every hook you write sounds the same. Go back to your clients' own words from your inbox and calls, and build the next three from those ^[5].

The same idea needs a different opening depending on who's watching. These are made up, one per profession, each on a different formula:

• Opening with hello, your name or "in today's video". Your clients already see your name on the post. Say the point in the first sentence and let the explanation follow.
• Promising more than the video gives. If the hook says three mistakes first-time sellers make, give three good ones, or the comments will say so.
• Leading with a tool or trend name your buyer doesn't care about ^[1].
• A build-up before the interesting part. Open on the most interesting moment instead ^[1].
• Judging a formula on a single post. Run one hook type for 20 posts before you decide whether it works ^[6].
• Copying another account's exact words. Keep the formula and write your own line.

Hooks that lead with a result keep turning up in top accounts' data. Kallaway opens 52 of his 86 decoded scripts with a result hook ^[6], and Mino Lee's result hooks reach a median of 116K plays, against 66K for his recognition hooks ^[7]. Your version opens on what a client got: "Her offer went up before she said a word."

Telling people what to do works too. Alex Hormozi's Reels that open with an instruction reach a median of 862K plays, and his story openings reach 304K ^[8]. Your version: "Before you sign a lease, read clause four out loud." Questions are the other strong opener, at 39K against 20K for Sharran Srivatsaa's claims ^[3]. Your version: "Hire a bookkeeper or learn it yourself?"

Each account's full breakdown is on its own page, starting with Alex Hormozi's Reels, decoded and Kallaway's Reels, decoded. The figures across all six, and what they share, are in short form video statistics.

For one idea, about 20 seconds ^[5]. A longer explainer is fine when the idea needs it, like walking a client through a contract or a floor plan, but on Instagram keep it under 3 minutes: reels over that won't be recommended to new audiences ^[9].

Postmosis edits the video you filmed on your phone in the browser. It cuts the pauses, retakes and filler words, adds captions in 6 styles and exports 9:16, 4:5, 1:1 and 16:9 in one run. See the video editor

The formulas work for the first line of a LinkedIn post or the first slide of a carousel too. There's nothing moving on screen, so the line has to do all the work, and it's the only part people see before they tap to read more. How to write a LinkedIn post covers that first line in detail.