7 YouTube Editing Tips to Instantly Boost Retention

[00:00] my business partner Maro and I have

[00:01] created videos with retention graphs

[00:03] like this which has led to views like

[00:06] this this and even this and today I'm

[00:09] going to show you these seven editing

[00:10] techniques that we use to make this

[00:12] happen consistently by the way I'll be

[00:14] using capcut to show you these

[00:15] techniques because it's free and they've

[00:17] also sponsored this video but you can

[00:18] use any editing software that you like

[00:21] starting with number one don't overedit

[00:23] for your audience a mistake I see a lot

[00:25] of creators make is that they think more

[00:27] editing equals better performance which

[00:29] simply isn't the case I've even made

[00:31] this mistake myself in the past just

[00:34] take a look at the YouTuber penguin zero

[00:36] the man just throws in a few Cuts in

[00:38] b-roll Transitions and still brings in a

[00:40] few million views per video or take a

[00:42] look at my buddy micaa who's brought in

[00:44] hundreds of thousands of views with very

[00:46] simple a-roll and stock footage the

[00:48] point I'm making is that editing is not

[00:50] the star of the show it's simply the

[00:52] supplement which means that you need to

[00:54] align your style of editing with your

[00:56] audience's preferences and also realize

[00:58] that the value of your content is way

[01:00] more important than the way you present

[01:02] it if you have a younger audience you'll

[01:04] likely need to add more Transitions and

[01:06] fancy editing gimmicks to drive

[01:07] retention but on the contrary if you

[01:09] have an older audience you probably

[01:10] won't need to employ this as much and

[01:12] doing it might even overwhelm your

[01:14] audience so again the level of editing

[01:16] that you're employing in your content

[01:17] really just depends on who you're making

[01:19] videos for and again you definitely

[01:21] don't want to overedit number two is to

[01:23] raise your graphs now everyone knows

[01:25] that intros are the most important part

[01:27] of your video to drive retention so

[01:29] you'll watch to do what's called

[01:30] frontloading your video which means that

[01:32] you'll first want to pay special

[01:33] attention and put more work into the

[01:35] first 30 seconds or so of your video we

[01:38] keep the pace of our videos pretty

[01:39] similar throughout the entire thing but

[01:41] definitely add more animations b-roll

[01:43] and so on if it makes sense for the

[01:45] audience in those first 30 seconds to

[01:47] really Drive retention and keep viewers

[01:49] for the rest of the video but you'll

[01:50] also want to take this a step further if

[01:52] you really want to increase your

[01:54] attention now when you've consistently

[01:55] published videos for a while you'll

[01:57] start to get more and more data on your

[01:59] audience and how long they watch your

[02:01] videos this will obviously depend on

[02:03] video length and also the age of your

[02:05] viewers for the most part so for example

[02:07] if you have a younger audience your

[02:08] average watch time might be in the range

[02:10] of like 3 minutes versus if you have an

[02:11] older audience it might go up to let's

[02:13] say 6 or 7 Minutes whatever this is

[02:15] you'll want to expand the effort that

[02:17] you put into the first 30 seconds of

[02:19] your video to Encompass the same amount

[02:21] as your average watch time so you're

[02:22] pleasing as many viewers as possible now

[02:25] Beyond just raising your graphs you'll

[02:27] also want to flatten them after the

[02:28] front load of your your video you

[02:30] obviously don't have to edit as much in

[02:32] the latter part of your video but you

[02:33] definitely don't want a huge drop in

[02:35] retention after those first let's say

[02:37] three or 4 minutes otherwise you'll see

[02:39] dips like this where people drop off of

[02:41] your video and kill your attention So to

[02:43] avoid this you're going to want to keep

[02:44] a consistent style and relatively

[02:46] consistent pacing to bridge viewers from

[02:48] the beginning of your video to the end

[02:50] of your video and bump up your retention

[02:52] number four is to keep the big

[02:54] transitions for the big moments in your

[02:56] video transitions are a super important

[02:58] part of the editing process but if

[02:59] you're going to throw in a huge whoosh

[03:01] or Zoom or whatever else then you're

[03:03] going to want to make sure you do it at

[03:04] the right time to keep retention High

[03:07] some creators I talk to think big

[03:08] transitions in their edits equal better

[03:10] retention but unfortunately they don't

[03:13] instead they really only work when

[03:14] you're doing something big changing

[03:16] scenes or really anything else that

[03:17] warrants that big transition versus

[03:19] otherwise where people get distracted

[03:21] you overedit and they click off for

[03:23] example take a look at this clip of Mr

[03:25] Beast you can see that he uses a big

[03:27] transition sequence when he's going to

[03:29] one of the biggest houses in the video

[03:31] the key here is that if you're going to

[03:32] use a big transition sequence it needs

[03:34] to be at the right time and in every

[03:36] other scenario you're probably just

[03:38] going to want to use jump Cuts so you're

[03:39] not again being distracting and over

[03:41] editing and losing viewers remember

[03:43] editing shouldn't steal the show it

[03:45] should really just be a supplement to

[03:47] the value of your video number five is

[03:48] to focus on sound design sound design is

[03:51] crucial for creating immersion in your

[03:53] video and that doesn't mean everything

[03:55] needs a sound but for example if an icon

[03:57] slides onto the screen you're going to

[03:58] want to have a SL sliding noise if money

[04:00] falls in the floor you're going to want

[04:01] to have a noise for the money and so on

[04:04] or if you're using actual footage in

[04:05] your video you can even artificially

[04:07] improve sounds to get the exact same

[04:09] effect for example let's take a look at

[04:11] this clip in the movie The Lord of the

[04:16] Rings Bilbo drops the ring here and in

[04:18] order to convey the idea that the ring

[04:20] is super heavy the sound design team

[04:22] behind the movie artificially enhanced

[04:24] the sound obviously don't overuse this

[04:26] for example if you have subtitles in

[04:27] your video you're not going to want to

[04:28] have a pop anytime a subtitle comes on

[04:31] screen because again it gets distracting

[04:33] you're over editing and you lose viewers

[04:34] but otherwise be tasteful with it

[04:36] include sounds when you can to immerse

[04:38] the audience in your video and I promise

[04:39] you your attention will Skyrocket and if

[04:42] you're using cap cut PC like I am right

[04:44] now cap cut even includes a whole

[04:46] library of free sound effects that you

[04:47] can use in your videos to achieve this

[04:50] effect now building off of just using

[04:52] sound effects Tastefully in your videos

[04:54] you're also going to want to

[04:54] purposefully use music as a tool to

[04:57] boost retention I suggest first having

[04:59] the volume quiet enough where you can

[05:00] actually hear your voice over for me

[05:02] this is like -5 to -25 DB below the

[05:05] voiceover volume but for you it could be

[05:07] different however on top of that you'll

[05:08] also want to change the music when big

[05:11] things happen in your video like when

[05:13] you go from the intro to the body of

[05:15] your video or when you move from a

[05:16] section to another section or a place to

[05:18] a different place just like you'd use

[05:20] transitions you're going to want to

[05:21] change music to bring viewers over to

[05:24] these big changes when I first started

[05:25] on YouTube I saw music as an

[05:27] afterthought and I would honestly just

[05:29] throw one one or two songs in a video

[05:30] after I was finished with everything

[05:32] else but I soon realized that it was

[05:34] killing my retention music is powerful

[05:36] so you definitely want to be purposeful

[05:38] and use it to bridge viewers over

[05:40] different sections of your video

[05:42] different moments settings whatever

[05:44] number six is to get creative with your

[05:46] edits for example you can play subtitles

[05:48] on your video as a supplement to

[05:50] whatever you're saying but also if

[05:51] you're going to do that don't make the

[05:52] same mistake I used to and make all your

[05:55] subtitles manually instead if you're

[05:56] using cap cut PC you can use cap Cuts

[05:58] built in autoc captions tool to

[06:00] automatically add subtitles in whatever

[06:03] style you want to your video to use it

[06:05] all you have to do is click a button and

[06:07] if you have an audio track in your

[06:08] timeline capcut PC will automatically

[06:10] create captions for you without you

[06:12] having to do a thing you can also use

[06:14] cap cut or any other video editing

[06:16] software to create motion tracking on

[06:17] objects add text overlays create

[06:19] trending effects and so much more to add

[06:21] just a spice of creativity to your video

[06:24] and cap cut is great because it makes

[06:26] this way easier all this does is keeps

[06:28] your edits interesting for your viewers

[06:29] and also makes you more unique and more

[06:31] likely to stick out to your viewers

[06:33] finally tip seven is to give your

[06:35] viewers a break definitely don't be

[06:37] afraid to give your viewers a break a

[06:38] lot of YouTubers hyper stimulate their

[06:40] viewers with side by-side or even

[06:41] overlapping voiceover tracks and cuts

[06:43] and eventually it just becomes way too

[06:45] much for a viewer to digest if they're

[06:46] getting information thrown at them like

[06:48] crazy so instead in between different

[06:50] sections of your video I'd recommend

[06:52] giving your viewers a little bit of

[06:53] breathing room and you'll notice that

[06:55] some public speakers even do this like

[06:56] for example Barack Obama here has breaks

[06:59] in the way he speaks we know the battle

[07:02] ahead will be

[07:03] long but always remember that no matter

[07:07] what this makes him appear more

[07:09] confident and it doesn't hurt him

[07:10] because his audience is engaged enough

[07:12] to a point where little pauses really

[07:13] just keep them listening as opposed to

[07:15] making them tune you out so definitely

[07:17] cut your voiceovers this way too and

[07:19] you'll have better retention instantly

[07:21] on your

[07:26] videos