These 6 Editing Techniques Will 10x Your Retention

The difference between an average YouTube video and a great one often comes down to how it’s edited.

I’ve spent over 10 years learning everything there is to editing, and today I’m giving you 6 lessons that I've learned, that’ll instantly level up your edits.

And to start, let me ask you something...

Have you ever clicked on a video with an epic thumbnail & title, only to find the intro is completely unrelated or it takes forever to get into what you clicked on the video for?

It’s frustrating, right?

Now imagine your viewers feeling the same way about your video.

🔑 Lesson #1: Meet their expectations immediately.

If the thumbnail shows you standing in a desert, open the video in the desert.

Hook them visually by delivering what they came for.

But just matching the thumbnail isn’t enough.

What if the intro looks great, but the viewer still clicks away?

It’s probably missing something crucial...

🔑 Lesson #2: A strong hook.

Pair engaging visual edits with a scripted hook that explains the mission of the video, the stakes, and what's to come.

For the videos I edit for the Ireland Boys, the intro is always typically the fastest paced with the most edits, sound effects, and intense music in order to get the viewer's attention and keep it as long as possible to get into the meat of the video.

I always try to open questions in their minds like...

“How will they pull this off?” and “What happens next?” so that they’ll have to keep watching to find out.

But once you’ve hooked the viewer, how do you keep them engaged?

It’s all about structure.

🔑 Lesson #3: The best edits follow at minimum, this 3-Step Story Framework: Setup, Challenge, Payoff.

Start with context & mission (Setup), work towards the goal & overcome obstacles (Challenge), and show the results (Payoff).

When the story flows this way, viewers stay locked in.

And even if this structure is not told through the footage given to you, add title cards, voiceovers, or other elements to help better structure the video in a manner that gives context first, sets up a goal & obstacles to overcome, and then has the payoff at the end.

But even a great structure can fall apart if you’re not ruthless with your cuts.

🔑 Lesson #4: Every clip should serve a purpose

When cutting down clips, ask yourself...

Does this clip add to the story I want to tell? (Story)

2. Does this clip add to the emotion I'm trying to create? (Emotion)

3. Does this clip support the rhythm I want to create in this moment? (Rhythm)

If the clip does not support the video's story, emotion & rhythm, you should likely cut it.

Every clip should serve a primary purpose while still supporting the other two pillars—whether it’s mainly for moving the story forward, mainly adding to the desired emotion you want, or mainly supporting the rhythm you want to create.

But even with good selected clips and a good structure, your video can still get boring.

And that’s why you need B-roll.

🔑 Lesson #5 Add B-roll as much as possible throughout the entire video

As the person is talking in the video, layer in clips that showcase what the speaker is talking about.

If the speaker is reviewing a food dish, layer in different shots of the food as they're talking so the audience isn't just looking at their face and reviewing it the entire time.

It’s an easy way to keep retention high while also making talking points easier to understand and telling your story more effectively.

Finally, let’s talk about endings.

You’ve delivered the payoff, the big moment, the “wow” factor.

What now?

🔑 Lesson #6 End the video as soon as possible.

If you drag out the ending after what viewers already got what they clicked for, the majority of viewers will click off before they get to the end which will tank the video's retention and limit its push in the algorithm.

So to avoid this, wrap things up quickly after giving them what they came for to make them feel satisfied, and ideally even wanting more.

These six techniques are simple, but they will transform how you edit YouTube content and make your videos 100x more engaging, enjoyable to watch, and will tend to drive more views as well.

Which lessons did you learn about in this post and which ones could you be implementing more in your edits?

Let me know down below!

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