How To Use The Hello Hook Formula To Convert Your Website Visitors (With examples)

Is it obvious when someone visits your website what you do? What you offer? What they can buy from you and how they buy?

It’s surprisingly hard to know the answer. If you aren’t sure, ask a friend, or better, a stranger to tell you. Watch them navigate your site, are they clicking where you want them to?

If asking a friend gives you the fear, you could use a tool like UserLook or join the Digital Marketing Superheroes Club on Facebook.

If it’s bad news don’t worry. Now you know you have a problem you can fix it.

There are many ways to tell your website visitors what you do, you can use images or videos but I want to focus on the text. That one paragraph on your website that tells your audience what you do and why it’s for them. I call it…

The Hello Hook

This is the text that welcomes your audience at the door of your site, it answers the questions ‘What do you do?’ ‘Is it the right solution for me?’ and ‘What should I do next?’.

It says hello and it hooks your customers so you can draw them into your website.

These words aren’t for the search engines, they are for your audience so forget keywords and think about the value you provide.

To make it easier, I’ve created a formula that will help you write your hook.

But before I share that I have two questions for you to answer:

1. Who is your product or service for?

It’s hard to sell if you don’t know who you are selling to.

Even if you haven’t built a detailed customer persona, you need to have a general idea of who you want to target.

The more you know the better but even if you only have a general idea like ‘accountants’ or ‘single people under 30 living in Athy’ it will help you sell.

The second question can often help you answer the first one. So if you’re stuck, move on and return to question one later.

2. What problem does your product or service solve?

You’ve seen enough episodes of Dragons’ Den or Shark Tank to understand that your business needs to solve a problem.

If it doesn’t you won’t get Dragon or Shark investment and you’ll struggle to make money from your business.

Although it’s a problem, it doesn’t always have to be a hardcore one. It could be an itch that needs scratching.

For example: 

Or:

When you know your problem and your audience you are most of the way to writing your Hello Hook.

The formula

Now you’ve done the hard work it’s time to put it into action with the Hello Hook formula.

Here it is:

Let’s break that down:

Present the problem

This could be as simple as asking a question based on the problem you identified in question 2.

Describe how you solve it

This is the easy bit, it’s the part where you tell people what you do.

Call to action

This tells your visitor what you want them to do next. Do you want them to fill a form, visit your sales page, visit a product or shop page?

For example:

Or:

The Hello Hook doesn’t have to be the end of your homepage text, now you’ve got them hooked you can go into more detail about what you do, or even better send them to a sales page that outlines it in full.

Real life examples

Here’s a couple of Hello Hooks in the wild.

Complete Architecture

This hook from Complete Architecture is way shorter than my examples but it hits all the elements of the formula. It tells me exactly what they do, who the do it for and there is a call to action (or three).

Tax Assist Accountants

Accountancy is a hard sell. Most of us pick an accountant and stay with them for years. Tax Assist offers something different and their Hello Hook tells us that clearly.

Revolut

Banking is another dull and dry industry but I was convinced to give Revolut a go after I arrived on their website. The hook of less or no bank fees is a strong one and the CTA is the strongest from my examples.

What’s next?

If you write a Hello Hook or are struggling to nail it drop over to the Digital Marketing Superheroes Group on Facebook and share it with us.