Fix the biggest leak first

The problem

A video underperforms. The creator sends a list: new hook, new script, new CTA, new product shot. The next version does better, or worse, and nobody knows why.

The mistake most people make is trying to fix everything at once. So do it in order.

1. Find the leak. Look at the funnel. Find the step where the drop is biggest compared to what a healthy video does. Not the lowest number. The biggest fall. A video can have a low completion rate and still be fine if every good video on that product has a low completion rate too.
2. Look at the step before it. This is the part people skip. If people bail at Click, the problem is usually not the CTA. It is the body right before the CTA. Did the video give them a reason to want the product before asking them to tap? The step before the leak is where the fix usually lives.
3. Fix only that. Change the one thing. Ship the next version. Read the new funnel.
4. Find the new weakest step. There will be one. Go again.

The example

A toner video. Every step is a little under the product’s good videos, but one step is a cliff.

The creator’s list had a new hook on it. The hook is not the leak. The fix is one step before Click: the last ten seconds of the body, which name the product but never say what it does for the viewer. The next version changes those ten seconds and nothing else.

If you find yourself writing a list of six things to change, stop. Pick the one at the biggest leak. The other five can wait, and some of them will fix themselves.

Do this in Verdict

1. 1
   Open the Leak Finder. It does step one for you: it marks the step where a video falls behind the videos that are converting on the same product, and it suggests a fix to try.
2. 2
   Read the step before the marked one. That is usually where the change goes.
3. 3
   Brief the next version as one change. When it has enough views, read its funnel and find the new weakest step.