🔎 Retention Review #2 - Payoff, Outro, Core Concept
Digging into your YouTube retention curves to explain why people click away.
Hey everyone!
Coming up, we’ll be discussing payoffs, video outros, and whether the core concept of your video is good enough.
Thanks, as always, to everyone who sent their retention curves! 🙏
If you’d like me to review yours in a future newsletter you can DM me on Twitter :)
For this week’s review, I’m adjusting how I do things slightly.
Reducing the number of reviews from 5 to 3 (more focus on each)
Writing each review as though speaking directly to the creator (which feels less cold and unfeeling 😅)
Giving less away on Twitter (because my newsletter subscribers deserve extra value!)
Before we get into it, I wanted to offer you something…
📈 I’ll review your script BEFORE you film it…
I love reviewing your retention curves…
But if you’ve worked hard on a script, I want to help make it the best it can be BEFORE it goes live.
My YouTube Script Review currently has only 2 slots left at the discounted price of $300. Once they’re gone, the price will increase to $500.
If you’d like to learn more, check out the service below:
For now, let’s get into it…
1 - Unclear Payoff
Title: Find the Shiny or BOIL the Pokemon Cards!
Creator: Kanin Games
Average % viewed: 38.0%
Problem: We can’t clearly SEE the payoff in action.
Pros:
The concept is great.
You’re super likeable
The video is really fun to watch.
Suggestion 1 - Get people excited for the payoff.
People need to be invested in seeing the eventual payoff. Try to tease that payoff early.
In this case, you did tease the payoff…but there was a fairly crucial problem…
Sadly, the footage of the boiling cards was overexposed.
People are savages and ultimately they clicked this video to see the cards boiling. That’s the payoff. So getting a good shot of that moment is crucial.
A fair bit of footage was overexposed during the hook, so this may all have contributed to an early drop off.
Suggestion 2 - Reiterate the stakes
It never hurts to remind the audience why they should care and what’s at stake.
Once the video begins we should be reminded of the stakes a little more often.
In the first 2 mins, I’d have liked to have checked back in with you and see you reiterate how much you DON’T want to lose the card.
Combine that with cutting to the timer more, adding ticking SFX, etc. Something visual to remind the audience how urgent the mission is.
Suggestion 3 - Mini-payoffs
Having smaller payoffs throughout any video is good for retention. If the audience has to wait for the end before the tension is released, they’ll get bored/frustrated and leave.
You want to litter your video with a bunch of small ‘wins’ for the audience.
We need to see the cards boiling throughout the video (each time you give them to Jeffrey), because…
It shows us the stakes in action within the first 2-3 mins
It proves you’re really doing what you said you’d do.
We see your reaction (which increases tension for the rest of the video - we know you REALLY don’t wanna lose more)
Having mini-payoffs like this throughout the video might have helped retention.
2 - (Slightly) Overstaying Your Welcome
Title: The Poker Hand That Changed My Life | Degen Diaries 6
Creator: Bitty Plays Poker
Average % viewed: 51.4%
Problem: Too much outro chatter.
Pros:
Straight-line retention (until the end).
Clearly resonates with poker fans.
Suggestion - Outro Spiel:
The right video in the right niche can have a longer outro. But you need to be careful about how much you include in it.
This is a good example which contradicts the usual wisdom of ‘finish the video and get out’.
Because although we see a dropoff during the 2min outro, hearing your reflections on the lost poker hand is very much part of the video.
I think the issue was simply that we heard the same reflections repeatedly.
The interesting info for me is:
How you feel (bad)
Why you feel bad (lost $220 /$1220 from the peak)
How you’re dealing with it (McDonald’s)
That’s a three-act story in itself, and very much a valuable part of the video.
Your video is a great example that ending the video with reflections and personality is ok in the right niche and given the right context. You just need to be more brutal with which bits you cut.
A Brief Interlude…
🔧 My YouTube Script Template
While no two scripts are the same, it always helps my flow to have a clean space to write and repurpose videos. And it certainly helps to have little reminders about what I’m trying to achieve at each point in the script.
So if you’d like the template I use to write for YouTubers, click here. It’s free!
Back To It…
3 - Is The Idea Strong Enough?
Title: If you ever see this on a GAS PUMP at the gas station call 911 IMMEDIATELY!! (STROMEDY INSPIRED)
Creator: Effxayy
Average % viewed: 14.9%
Problem: Core concept.
Pros:
Valuable message
Suggestion 1 - Core Concept:
The most important thing for any YouTube video is whether the core concept is worth making a video about.
In this case, I don’t think the core concept (in its current form) warrants making an 8 minute video.
You provided the entire payoff within the first 30s, which probably explains why 45% of people left in that time.
After the hook, we don’t learn anything new.
The message you’re giving is incredibly valuable, but the first 15s could have been a tweet and that would have provided the same value as the whole video.
I don’t want to knock it too much, because the video has 44,000 views, and you’ve probably saved a few people from trouble!
But the video needs to have something else interesting to stick around for, rather than seeing you repeat how dangerous the needle is (because we already assume this is the case).
Suggestion 2 - Filler Words:
Figure out your “filler words” and try to reduce them when filming.
This may be a personal nitpick, but the repetition of “guys” became a bit distracting.
I checked the transcript, and you say “guys” 62 times in 8 minutes 😅
This may sound irrelevant, but it slows the video down a little.
That’s all for this week!
Thanks so much to everyone who sent their retention curves - I promise I’ll get around to them all eventually.
Once again, feel free to DM me on Twitter with your retention curve if you’d like to feature in a future newsletter.
Have a great weekend!
George 👋