Let's start with the premise:
If you don't get a person's attention, you can't get them involved.
If you don't get them involved, they can't become convinced to buy.
If they don't buy, you don't make any money.
That's a simplified version of the way that I learned how to sell things online.
You see, it really is all about attention, and the attention-getting step in the process of selling online is called the hook.
It's a fact. The hook matters more than anything else. Ironically, it's the part that trips people up the most.
That's why people broadcast and post and write emails and buy ads and then never make sales.
Because the hook is step one of three steps needed to make a sale.
So how do you know which hook to use?
How do you create a great hook?
How do you even recognize a great hook if you haven't been selling online for a long time or haven't had sales training?
Like many things in life, you model the success of others.
Lest you think this is an internet phenomenon, consider this quote:
"On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar."
David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising (1983)
Ogilvy may well be the best salesman who ever lived. And he is decidedly pre-Internet, much less pre-AI.
What I want to do today is give you a series of bad hooks followed by good hooks.
Then later this week, I'm going to give you a gift that's going to help you create incredibly good hooks.
I want you to use this gift.
It’s fast, easy, and effective in my testing.
I want you to use it on social media, in your email marketing, on your websites.
All I'm asking in return is that you report back and say, "Hey, that was great, easy to use, I hated it, it made more sales."
All I'm looking for is feedback. No obligation. But it would be helpful.
For the record, I'm not going to come back later and try to sell you this product.
I'm going to give you this product, but before I do, look at these hooks and tell me if looking at them is helpful to you.
Pattern recognition is the name of the game in marketing.
The Bad Hooks
These fail because they're vague, condescending, or make the reader feel talked at instead of talked to.
"I have some great news for you today..."
Immediately signals a pitch is coming. Reader's guard goes up before you've said anything."Most people don't realize that email marketing is actually pretty simple..."
Condescending. You've told the reader they're clueless before earning any trust."In today's fast-paced digital world, building an audience has never been more important..."
Zero specificity. Could have been written by anyone, about anything, in any year. Also, duh."You won't believe what happened to me last week..."
Clickbait with no payoff built in. It promises drama but delivers nothing before the scroll."Are you tired of struggling to make money online?"
So generic it's almost insulting. Every reader has seen this 500 times - and skipped it 500 times.
The Good Hooks
These work because they name something real, create a specific curiosity gap, or drop the reader into a story mid-stream.
"I deleted 4,300 emails this morning. Here's why that was the smartest thing I've done in months."
Specific number, bold action, implied payoff. Reader wants to know the "why.""The email I almost didn't send made $1,400 in 48 hours."
Stakes are clear, the tension is built in ("almost didn't"), and it's a real, specific claim."Nobody talks about the part of list building that quietly kills you."
Names an enemy - vagueness - without being condescending. The reader leans in because it feels like a secret."For three years I had the wrong goal. I was building a list when I should have been building a relationship."
Personal confession format. Creates instant credibility and sets up a pivot the reader wants to follow."Your open rates aren't a traffic problem. They're a trust problem."
Reframes the reader's assumed enemy (traffic) and points at a deeper, more interesting one (trust). Short, punchy, zero fluff.
The pattern in the good ones: specific, honest, and slightly surprising.
They don't over-promise - they just make you curious enough to keep reading. That's the whole game.
I'll follow up tomorrow with a few more ideas about this, and then the next day I'm going to reveal to you the gift. You can use it as much as you want to.
I created this for myself and decided it was too valuable to sell, so I'm giving it away for free.
Thanks for reading. I appreciate you being here.
Charlie