How to improve your viewer retention on YouTube?

One of the key factors in the success of a YouTube channel is viewer retention, which is the percentage of viewers who continue to watch a video after the first few seconds.

In this post, we’re going over 10 things you absolutely need to look into to improve your retention.

How to improve viewer retention on YouTube?

Here are some tips for improving viewer retention on YouTube:

1. Create high-quality, engaging content that is relevant to your target audience and provides value to them. That sounds obvious but we see so many creators create one video that is tailored at one niche, and then in the next video, they target a different niche. Consistency is key if you want people to keep showing up.

2. Use attention-grabbing titles and thumbnails that accurately represent your content and pique viewers' interest. This does not mean “clickbait”. Clickbait can be very harmful to the credibility and trustworthiness of your YouTube channel. It can make viewers feel misled and betrayed, and may cause them to stop watching or engaging with your video. What signal do you think that sends to the YouTube algorithm if your viewers stop watching very quickly after clicking on your thumbnail?

3. Start your videos with a strong hook or introduction that captures viewers' attention and encourages them to keep watching. Check out the Audience retention chart in your video analytics on YT Tracker (tab My Channel, section Videos). Your hook data can be analyzed to see how well you are retaining users.

4. Use editing techniques, such as cutting out unnecessary or repetitive content, to keep your videos concise and focused. This is super important. Every time you video’s pace slows down, less value is offered to the viewer, you risk having them drop off. Cut out anything that doesn’t add value, do not repeat yourself and keep adding value. It’s ok to throw away content you recorded and re-record it if it’s to improve the quality. Hard work pays off.

5. Use call-to-action techniques, such as asking viewers to like and subscribe, to encourage them to interact with your content and become loyal followers. Pick the right moment to ask your viewer to take action. Ideally, just after you delivered them with the value you promise to offer in that video.

6. Engage with your audience by responding to comments, asking for feedback, and creating videos that address their questions and concerns.

7. Use YouTube’s End Screens and Annotations features to promote related videos and keep viewers on your channel for longer. Playlists can also keep people engaged with your videos longer. Responding to comments shows that you value your viewers' opinions and feedback, and that you are willing to engage with them and have a conversation. This can make viewers feel more connected to you and your content, and can make them more likely to come back and watch more of your videos.

8. Collaborate with other creators and participate in events and communities to expand your reach and build a loyal following.

9. Regularly analyze your video performance data and use it to optimize your content and improve viewer retention. Identifying drops in your video retention is critical and can help you highlight interesting things you do that put people off. If you identify these things and fix them in future videos, your retention is likely to improve drastically. Work doesn’t stop once a video is published. There’s a lot you can learn from past videos.

10. Be consistent in your upload schedule and post new videos regularly to keep your audience interested and engaged. Your viewers will expect you in their feed and YouTube’s algorithm will know that a particular viewer likes to watch you at a particular moment in their week. Feeding that vertous cycle is another great strategy to implement.

Breathe. One thing at a time…

Sounds overwelhming? Don’t worry. You don’t need to work on all of these at once. Actually it’s recommended to pick an objective and dedicate some time to it before trying something else. It’s called “testing in isolation”.

Why is testing in isolation so important?

It allows you to test different elements of your content separately and in controlled environments. This can help you to identify which elements are effective at achieving your goals, such as increasing engagement or conversion rates, and which elements may need to be improved or modified because they don’t perform as well. Testing things in isolation can help you to optimize and refine your content to achieve the best possible results. Additionally, you will avoid making assumptions about what works and what doesn’t, and can help you to make data-driven decisions based on real-world results.

I hope this was useful.

Til next time. Ed