# The first words of a TikTok: which openings get more views?

We transcribed the first 6 seconds of 10,799 TikTok videos from 777 creators and compared each opening with the same creator's other videos. Published 2026-11-10 by Yap & Done. Videos posted August to October 2026.

Canonical page: https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/opening-words/ · Data: https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/opening-words/data.json · https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/opening-words/data.csv · License: CC BY 4.0

## The top lessons

- Open with what they'll learn. Promising to show how to do something ("Here's how to…") got +34% views and +26% shares against the same creator's other videos.
- Start a list. "Here's…" got +36% views, "These are…" +35%, and openings that start a list or give a number +23%.
- Skip the hello. Greetings and intros ("Hey guys", "Hi, I'm…") got -24% views and -15% shares. Setting up first ("So today I want to…") got -9% views.
- Talk to the viewer if you want shares. Openings starting "If you…" got +12% shares; starting with "I" got -11%.
- Make them feel something. Openings that make viewers want a result got +23% views and +27% shares; openings with no feeling in particular got -22% views.
- Don't sweat the exact first word. 23 of the 25 most common first words made no clear difference to views either way.

## Key findings

- **Promising a how-to did best.** Openings that promise to show how to do something (6% of videos) got +34% views against the same creator's other videos (range +20% to 50%) and +26% shares per view. 61% of them beat the creator's usual, against about half for openings in general.
- **Lists and numbers help.** Starting with "Here's…" got +36% views (range +11% to 75%) and "These are…" +35%. Openings that start a list or lead with a number got +23%, and any number in the first sentence +11% (27% of videos have one).
- **Greetings and warm-ups cost views.** A greeting or self-introduction (3% of videos) got -24% views (range -34 to -14%) and -15% shares. Setting up before the point got -9% views and -10% shares.
- **"If you…" gets shared; "I…" doesn't.** Openings starting "If you…" got +12% shares per view, about the same views. Starting with "I" (the most common first word, 12% of videos) got -11% shares. Starting a story got -17% shares and -7% views.
- **Wanting something beats feeling seen.** We also had Gemini name the feeling each opening goes for. Making viewers want a result (9% of videos) got +23% views (range +14% to 36%) and +27% shares. Curiosity got +15% views and worry +9%. Openings with no feeling in particular (20% of videos) got -22%, and frustration -18%. Relief ("it's not your fault") didn't add views but got +15% shares. Openings that put the viewer's own private experience into words (18% of videos) got -12% views.
- **The exact first word rarely matters.** Of the 25 first words and phrases that start at least 1% of videos, 23 made no clear difference to views. Questions, "So…", "Okay…" and "You…" were all within a few percent of the creator's usual. What the opening does matters more than which word it starts with.

## What the first sentence does

Each video's first sentence, sorted into a kind of opening, against the same creator's other videos.

### Views against the creator's usual

- Promising how to do something: +34% ("Here's how to…", "How I…")
- Starting a list or a number: +23% ("3 things…", "These are…")
- Teasing something: +9% ("Something weird is going on…")
- Asking a question: -1% ("Why does nobody…?")
- A bold statement: -1% ("Nobody needs a budget.")
- Calling out the viewer: -3% ("If you're a nurse…", "Stop doing…")
- Starting a story: -7% ("Last week I…")
- Setting up first: -9% ("So today I want to…")
- A greeting or intro: -24% ("Hey guys", "Hi, I'm…")

Sorted by Gemini from the transcript of the first 6 seconds.

### Views and shares

| Opening | Share of videos | Views | Shares per view | Beat their usual |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Promising how to do something | 6% | +34% | +26% | 61% |
| Starting a list or a number | 7% | +23% | +8% | 57% |
| Teasing something | 5% | +9%* | +4%* | 54% |
| Asking a question | 10% | -1%* | -7% | 48% |
| A bold statement | 32% | -1%* | +6% | 49% |
| Calling out the viewer | 13% | -3%* | +10% | 48% |
| Starting a story | 11% | -7% | -17% | 48% |
| Setting up first | 9% | -9% | -10% | 48% |
| A greeting or intro | 3% | -24% | -15% | 44% |

* not a clear difference: the 95% range includes no change. "Beat their usual" is the share of these videos that got more views than the creator usually does (about half for any opening).

## The feeling the opening goes for

Gemini read each video's headline and first words and named the main feeling it aims for in the viewer.

### Views against the creator's usual

- Wanting a result: +23% ("This is how I paid off $40k")
- Curiosity: +15% ("Nobody talks about this…")
- Worry or fear: +9% ("You're losing money every month")
- Something funny: -1% (A joke or absurd set-up)
- Relief: -2% ("It's not your fault…")
- "Finally someone said it": -7% ("Budgeting apps are useless")
- Frustration: -18% ("I'm so sick of…")
- No feeling in particular: -22% ("Today we're talking about…")

Examples are made up to show the kind of opening.

### Views and shares

| Feeling | Share of videos | Views | Shares per view |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Wanting a result | 9% | +23% | +27% |
| Curiosity | 35% | +15% | -0%* |
| Worry or fear | 10% | +9% | +0%* |
| Something funny | 3% | -1%* | -10%* |
| Relief | 7% | -2%* | +15% |
| "Finally someone said it" | 9% | -7%* | +5%* |
| Frustration | 6% | -18% | -6%* |
| No feeling in particular | 20% | -22% | -16% |
| Puts the viewer's own experience into words | 18% | -12% | +3%* |

* not a clear difference. The last row overlaps the others: it's any opening that describes what the viewer privately thinks or feels ("you post, it flops, and you think it's you").

## The first word or two

The most common first words and two-word starts (each at least 1% of videos), against the same creator's other videos.

### First words

| Starts with | Share of videos | Views | Shares per view |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| "Here's…" | 1.5% | +36% | +8%* |
| "These are…" | 1.1% | +35% | +16%* |
| "These…" | 1.3% | +19%* | +14%* |
| "My…" | 1.0% | +13%* | -16% |
| "Do…" | 1.1% | +12%* | +7%* |
| "Here are…" | 1.4% | +11%* | +9%* |
| "Here…" | 1.8% | +10%* | +12% |
| "The…" | 3.6% | +10%* | +2%* |
| "How…" | 1.5% | +7%* | -1%* |
| "Hey…" | 1.3% | +7%* | -5%* |
| "I'm…" | 2.4% | +5%* | -5%* |
| "If…" | 8.9% | +5%* | +12% |
| "This is…" | 2.5% | +4%* | +4%* |
| "If you…" | 4.1% | +3%* | +14% |
| "What…" | 1.7% | +2%* | -4%* |
| "When…" | 1.2% | +2%* | -8%* |
| "One…" | 1.2% | +1%* | -7%* |
| "You…" | 3.9% | +0%* | +4%* |
| "This…" | 3.7% | -1%* | +2%* |
| "I…" | 8.7% | -5%* | -12% |
| "So…" | 3.5% | -8%* | -7%* |
| "Okay…" | 1.2% | -14%* | -2%* |
| "Your…" | 1.0% | -15%* | +16% |
| "If you're…" | 2.0% | -15%* | +13%* |
| "A…" | 1.2% | -16%* | +4%* |

* not a clear difference. With this many comparisons, one or two can look clear by chance; trust the patterns that repeat (lists, how-to, greetings) more than any single word.

## Common opening patterns

Openings matched by their words, wherever they appear in the first sentence.

### Patterns

| Pattern | Example | Share of videos | Views | Shares per view |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Starting with "So" | So I tried… | 3.5% | -8%* | -7%* |
| Starting with "Okay" | Okay, so… | 1.2% | -14%* | -2%* |
| A greeting | Hey guys… | 2.6% | -9%* | -15% |
| "If you…" | If you struggle with… | 6.5% | -4%* | +12% |
| Starting with "You" | You need to… | 5.8% | -5%* | +5%* |
| Starting with "I" | I quit my job… | 12.1% | -4%* | -11% |
| "Stop…" or "Don't…" | Stop doing this… | 1.4% | -6%* | +12% |
| "This is…" | This is why… | 3.6% | +12%* | +7%* |
| "Here's…" | Here's how… | 3.3% | +22% | +11% |
| A question | Why does…? | 10.1% | -5%* | -6% |
| "Why…" or "How…" | How I…, Why you… | 2.2% | +2%* | -6%* |
| A number in the first sentence | 3 things…, $10k… | 26.7% | +11% | +2%* |
| "Let me…" or "Let's…" | Let me show you… | 1.3% | +15%* | +9%* |
| A superlative | The biggest mistake…, The best… | 4.4% | -9%* | +3%* |
| "This…" (pointing at something) | This app…, This trick… | 1.2% | -9%* | -1%* |
| "When…" | When you… | 1.2% | +2%* | -8%* |

* not a clear difference. Patterns found in fewer than 80 videos are left out.

## Short-video script

- Hook: Stop saying "hey guys" at the start of your TikToks.
- The number: We transcribed the first words of 10,799 TikToks. Greetings got -24% views compared with the same creator's other videos. Promising to show how to do something got +34%.
- Show: The "Views by kind of opening" chart, how-to at the top, greetings at the bottom.
- Takeaway: Your first sentence should say what they'll get. Save the hello for the end.
- Credit: Source: Yap & Done study, yapanddone.com/studies/opening-words

## FAQ

- **What should the first words of a TikTok be?** Tell people what they'll get. Openings that promise to show how to do something got +34% views against the same creator's other videos, and starting a list ("Here's…", "These are…") also did better. Greetings got -24%.
- **Should you say hi at the start of a TikTok?** Not first. Greetings and intros got -24% views and -15% shares against the same creator's other videos.
- **Do questions make good TikTok hooks?** Not on their own: opening with a question got -1% views, about the creator's usual, and -7% shares.
- **What emotions make a TikTok hook work?** Wanting a result did best: +23% views and +27% shares against the same creator's other videos. Curiosity got +15% views. Openings with no feeling in particular got -22% and frustration -18%.
- **Is starting with "So" bad?** Not clearly: videos starting "So…" got -8% views, within the range of no difference. Spending the first sentence on set-up ("So today I want to talk about…") is what cost views (-9%).

## Method

- Videos: 10,799 TikTok videos from 777 creators in 10 advice niches, picked from each creator's recent videos without looking at how they did (the hooks study's random and baseline samples). Videos with no speech, or fewer than 4 words in the first 6 seconds, were left out.
- Words: the first 6 seconds of audio, transcribed with Whisper. The first sentence is everything up to the first full stop, question mark or exclamation mark. Kinds of opening were sorted by Gemini from the transcript.
- Against the creator's usual: each video's views divided by the creator's typical views at the time, then compared with the same creator's other videos in the sample, so a big creator who always opens one way doesn't skew it. Shares are shares per view, compared the same way. Only creators with videos both with and without an opening count towards it.
- Feelings: Gemini (gemini-3.8-flash) read each video's on-screen headline and first sentence and picked one main feeling from a fixed list, and whether the opening voices the viewer's own private experience.
- Changes are geometric means. Ranges are 95% ranges from resampling creators.

## Limitations

- This shows what goes with more views, not what causes them. Creators who start with "Here's how…" may also make more useful videos.
- Transcripts of the first 6 seconds can cut off the first sentence, and Whisper sometimes mishears.
- English-speaking advice creators only; entertainment and comedy may work differently.
- We compared many openings, so a few will look clear by chance.

Cite as: Yap & Done (2026). The first words of a TikTok: which openings get more views? https://www.yapanddone.com/studies/opening-words/