Stop Explaining And Get On With It. aka: Please Stop Using This Hook Transition for the Love of God.

Time for a short one. There’s a common transition people use in their copy and content. You might be using it right now, and I’d very much like it if you stopped using it. Why? Because it is driving me insane.

Let me explain… No! Bad Andy! Don’t say that. 

Let me explain is a common hook transition to move from an attention grabbing hook into the content. 

But most of the time it’s unneeded, adds nothing, and sometimes sabotages your efforts. Most of the time whenever you say “let me explain” you just waste time and space. And you waste time and space in the most crucial part of the copy, the beginning. 

If you’re using this transition in video it’s even worse. Since it takes a few seconds to say “let me explain” you’ve wasted crucial seconds in the opening of your video.

Why It Used To Work & Why It Sucks Now

This transition used to be great. Before social media began crumbling due to enshittification. Before algorithms became absolutely gamified. Before TikTok broke the attention metagame with their short form videos causing every social media or content platform to try and build their own little TikTok in their platform (I’m looking at you Reels.) 

Years ago you could start with an outlandish hook, and the hook was so wild that after you grabbed their attention you’d need to walk it back and say “let me explain.” And boom they’re in your body copy, just like that.

Except we don’t need to do that anymore. Everyone knows what you’re doing with your hook. 

Everyone knows what it feels like to have content creators compete for their attention. The audience is self aware. 

“Let me explain” is a waste of breath.

You know what? I’m wasting breath by rattling on.

Let’s dig into some examples and you’ll see what I mean. 

TikTok Content Case Study

This guy makes Smash Bros content and I love it. But he says “let me explain” in literally every single video and it drives me insane.

So I let’s jump into his video and see how he’s using “let me explain”. Then I’ll show you a new edited version where I remove “let me explain” We’ll compare them side-by-side and you’ll see that everything works better.

I’m not saying there’s never a time and place to use this transition.

Most of the time if your hook is so absolutely outlandish that you need to say “let me explain” then you should, at least, consider rewriting your hook to be more on topic. 

And then if your hook isn’t wildly outlandish, but you’re still using “let me explain”, then that is a sign that either your hook, or the intro to your content is written poorly and you’re using a bad transition to patch over it. 

LinkedIn Post Case Studies

Now let’s look at some text. I went to LinkedIn and searched “let me explain” under posts and this is what I found. 

Names have been blacked out because well… I farmed their content for this article. I’m trying to teach, not roast folks.

Here there’s a transition to exit the hook, and then some body copy, and then another transition into more copy. 

“Here’s the thing:” Is another transition that he could have used in the very beginning. “Let me explain” caused him to use a bad transition, write bad copy to justify the transition, and then use a second extra transition to move into what he actually wanted to talk about in the first place.

Let’s tinker with the copy.

Edit one: No more explaining…

Your “motivation problem” isn’t actually a motivation problem. 

It’s a MAINTENANCE problem. 

Someone once told me “I was so fired up after that conference, but now I’m back to feeling stuck.”

Here’s the thing: Expecting one motivational hit to last forever is like expecting one shower to keep you clean all month….

It just doesn’t work that way.

TRUTH BOMB: Motivation isn’t a one-time event. It’s a daily practice.

Edit two: Let’s condense it further…

Your “motivation problem” isn’t actually a motivation problem. 

It’s a MAINTENANCE problem. 

Here’s the thing…

Expecting motivation to last forever is like expecting one shower to keep you clean all month….

It just doesn’t work that way.

TRUTH BOMB: Motivation isn’t a one-time event. It’s a daily practice. 

This is lazy writing, since the hook is just fundamentally flawed. But it sounded cool in his head so he probably just decided to run with it. Notice how little things change when you remove “let me explain…” it doesn’t make a clear bridge from hook to copy because the hook is too muddled.

Hook is bad, since why I hate something doesn’t connect to the idea of YOU doing something else instead. At least it doesn’t automatically. 

Let’s just cut from the copy and you’ll see that it improves. 

“Why I hate Cinco de Mayo… 

As a Mexican whose mother is from Zacatecas, May 5th has always felt like… 

I think by now you get the idea. Stop using this transition. It’s either a waste of space or a warning sign that you’re getting off track.

And if you try a bunch of different edits to make the copy work and you feel like you really need “let me explain” then go ahead and use it. If you put in the effort to create multiple drafts and you thought critically about your writing and you still want to use it then fine. At that point you’ve earned the right to use what you think is best because you didn’t half ass it.

That’s all for now.

-ANDYOUT!