We ran A/B tests for two different brands on their ad hooks. Same creative, different talking points.

The only variable? How long it took to for the hook talking points to be said out loud.

This wasn't about banner headlines or the visuals on screen. It was the actual script—the voiceover, the talking points that make people stop scrolling in the first few seconds.

The results weren't even close.

Short hooks delivered 7x more purchases than their longer counterparts.

How did we know? The winning talking points all stayed under 54 characters.

The Winners:

"I've been wearing the same shirt for 46 days in a row" (54 chars) ✅

"Are you tired of airport chaos and luggage headaches?" (53 chars) ✅

"Once you try a pair of these on, you'll never go back" (53 chars) ✅

The Losers:

"Before you go on your next trip you need to know about this" (59 chars) ❌

"Perfect for traveling. Perfect for traveling. Perfect for traveling" (67 chars) ❌

"I just came back from a 4-day road trip, and I only wore this one shirt for the entire time" (91 chars) ❌

The difference? 3 seconds versus 6 seconds to consume.

<54 characters gives you enough space to:

• Create intrigue ("I've been wearing the same shirt for 46 days")
• Ask compelling questions ("Are you tired of airport chaos?")
• Make bold promises ("Once you try these on, you'll never go back")

Why longer hooks lose viewers:

At 60+ characters - Mobile users scroll every 2-3 seconds. If your hook takes 3+ seconds to process, they've attention has already moved on.

At 75+ characters - You're forcing cognitive overload. The brain can only hold 7±2 pieces of information at once. Longer hooks require more mental energy to process, making viewers subconsciously skip them.

At 90+ characters - Short-form content platforms train users to expect quick, punchy statements. Long hooks feel like ads trying too hard, triggering immediate scroll-past behavior.

Here's 5 templates we use to fit our hooks <54 characters...

Try This:

1/ Take your best headline right now.

2/ Paste it in the Hook Performance Calculator below

3/ Rewrite the hook to be under 54 characters. Re-test it.

If it's greater than 54 characters, you're losing money...