12 UGC hook formulas, and when each one fits
Quick answer. A formula will not save a video that has nothing to say. What it will do is stop you staring at a blank first frame, and give you a shape to pour a real observation into. These twelve cover most of what works in short-form UGC, each with the failure mode that ruins it.
Problem-first
1. The specific complaint. Open on the irritation, stated precisely enough that the right person feels caught.
“I have four half-used bottles of the same thing because I keep forgetting which one I opened.”
Good for products that fix an ordinary annoyance. Breaks when the complaint is generic — “mornings are hectic” describes everyone and therefore no one.
2. The mistake you were making. Admit an error before revealing the fix.
“I was charging this overnight for a year. That is the thing killing the battery.”
Good when the product corrects a common habit. Breaks if the mistake is obviously invented to set up the sale; viewers can hear the difference between a confession and a script.
3. The before state. Show the mess, say nothing.
Good when the result is visual: a desk, a face, a room, a feed of stats. Breaks when the before has clearly been staged worse than reality, which is the most common reason a cleaning or organising video reads as fake.
Curiosity
4. The withheld result. Show the end state first, explain nothing yet.
Opens on the finished thing. “This took eleven minutes.”
Good for anything with a visible transformation. Breaks when the result is not impressive enough to be worth the wait — withholding only works if what is withheld is good.
5. The contradiction. State something that sounds wrong.
“The cheaper one is better and I am annoyed about it.”
Good for comparisons and for products that beat an assumption. Breaks when the contradiction is not resolved honestly later; a viewer who feels tricked does not come back.
6. The number. Lead with a count that implies structure.
“Three things I got wrong in the first month.”
Good because it tells the viewer the video has an end, which removes the “how long is this” objection. Breaks when the number is padded — three real points beat seven where four are filler, and the filler is where people leave.
Identity
7. The conditional open. “If you…” followed by something specific enough to exclude most people.
“If your aim falls apart after the first round…”
Good because it self-selects an audience that will watch the whole thing. Breaks when the condition is broad: “if you use your phone a lot” selects nobody, because it excludes nobody.
8. The confession. Say the thing people think but do not post.
“I did not believe any of the reviews on this either.”
Good for products in categories full of hype, where scepticism is the default. Breaks when it is performed rather than meant — this one depends entirely on sounding like a person.
Demonstration
9. The cold open on the action. No introduction. The hands are already doing it.
Good for anything where the doing is the interesting part. Breaks when the action takes too long to become legible; if the viewer cannot tell what is happening within a beat or two, it reads as a mistake rather than a choice.
10. The side-by-side. Two of something in frame, difference visible before it is explained.
Good for comparisons, upgrades and anything with a measurable output. Breaks when the two sides are not actually comparable, which viewers spot faster than you expect.
Social
11. The reply. Answer a real comment or a real question.
“Somebody asked whether this works on … so I tried it.”
Good because it borrows the credibility of a question somebody actually asked. Breaks when the comment is invented — and it should go without saying that fabricating one is the kind of thing that gets a clip rejected on review.
12. The warning. Tell people what not to do.
“Do not buy this if you are on the older model.”
Good because a warning reads as being on the viewer's side rather than the brand's. Breaks when the warning is fake modesty dressed up — a “downside” that is secretly a compliment fools nobody and costs you the trust the format exists to earn.
How to pick one
Work backwards from the footage, not forwards from the list. Watch what you shot, find the moment you would show a friend unprompted, and then ask which of these shapes puts that moment first. If none of them fit, the problem is usually the footage rather than the opening — there may not be a moment worth leading with yet.
Two practical notes. Do not use the same formula twice in a row on the same account; the second one reads as a format rather than an observation. And do not stack them — a conditional open followed by a number followed by a withheld result is three promises before anything has happened.
The part that is not optional
None of these formulas change the disclosure requirement. A paid video carries the platform's own paid-partnership label — TikTok's Branded Content toggle, Instagram's Paid Partnership label, YouTube's paid promotion setting. It is a platform rule and an advertising rule in most markets, and a post taken down for missing it costs you the views you were going to be paid for.
A hook that hides the fact it is an ad is not a clever hook, it is a liability. The formats above all work with the label on, because what makes them work is specificity, not concealment.
Common questions
How do I know which formula to use?
Match it to what the product actually does. A visible, immediate result wants demonstration; something whose benefit is hard to show wants problem-first or identity. Picking a formula because it is currently popular is how you end up with a hook that does not fit the video.
Can I combine two formulas?
Usually badly. Each formula sets an expectation about what the video is, and two expectations in four seconds reads as confusion. Pick one, commit to it, and let the second idea be the next video.
Do these work outside short-form video?
The underlying question is the same anywhere attention is optional — email subject lines, thumbnails, ad headlines. What changes is how much room you have, and video gives you the least.
Why did my hook work once and not again?
Most often because the audience was different, not the hook. A video that reaches beyond your followers is being judged by people with no context, and a hook that relied on context will fall flat with them.
Next
The principles behind these shapes — what a hook has to do and how to tell whether yours worked — is the companion piece. How UGC campaigns pay covers what a brief asks for before you film.
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