<b>I moved my CTA to second 14 and watched the magic</b>

<b>I moved my CTA to second 14 and watched the magic</b>

And then there was the CTA experiment that broke my own rule. I always parked "follow for more" at the end. On a 45-second clip, only 0.9% of viewers ever heard it — they'd dropped off.

Here's the thing — I tested putting the ask at second 14, right after the first payoff lands, while retention was still at 61%. The line: "Save this before I show you part two."

The result: save rate went from 1.1% to 4.3%, and follows per 1k views climbed from 6 to 19.

The lesson: a CTA at the end only reaches the survivors. Drop it at the retention peak — right after you deliver something — and you're asking the full crowd, not the stragglers.