Hook Formula Library: 40 Fill-in-the-Blank Openers
Forty fill-in-the-blank hook templates organized by archetype, each with the vertical it fits, the funnel stage it's built for, and a target hook rate to test against.
A hook either earns the next three seconds or it doesn't, and guessing wastes render credits. This library gives you 40 proven hook templates with the blanks marked, sorted into six archetypes, so you can swap in your product and start testing instead of staring at a blank script.
What actually makes a hook work
Every hook that clears a strong 3-second view rate is doing one of three things in the first sentence: naming a problem the viewer already has, breaking a visual pattern they expect to see, or promising a specific outcome tied to a number. Vague hooks ('check this out') lose because there's nothing for the brain to latch onto. Specific hooks work because specificity signals relevance — 'if your skin gets oily by noon' filters for exactly the right viewer in half a second. The templates below are built around that filtering mechanism, not around being clever. Clever is optional; relevant is not.
Why you need six archetypes, not one favorite
Different funnel stages need different hook logic. Cold audiences respond to problem-callouts and pattern interrupts because they haven't decided the category matters to them yet. Warm audiences respond better to social proof and myth-busting because they already know the product exists and need a reason to reconsider. Running the same hook archetype across every ad set is the single most common reason testing plateaus — you're not testing hooks, you're testing five phrasings of the same idea. Rotate archetypes deliberately: two problem-callouts, two curiosity hooks, two proof hooks per batch, minimum.
How to fill in the blanks without sounding like a template
The brackets in each template are structural, not literal — don't just drop a noun in and call it done. '[problem]' should be the exact words your customer uses in reviews, not the clinical version from your product page. '[timeframe]' should match how your product actually gets used, not a round number that sounds good. If you're generating variations fast in a tool like Klip Kanvas, feed it the specific language from real customer reviews and support tickets as the blank-fillers — that's what separates a hook that feels written for someone from one that feels written at someone.
The full library below: 40 fill-in-the-blank hook templates across 6 archetypes — problem-callout, curiosity, social-proof, pattern-interrupt (visual direction), myth-bust and direct-offer — each tagged with best-fit vertical, funnel stage and a target hook rate.
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