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How to test hooks with Instagram trial reels in 2026

By Alejandra Estanislao, 22 October 2026 · 6 min read

You have a video you want to post to your feed, and five hooks you could put on it. So you post a few as trial reels to see which one wins. One gets a few hundred views, another gets a thousand, and you put that one on your feed.

WAIT!

Was it actually the better hook? Not necessarily!

I've had exactly the same hook on exactly the same video get 168k views one time and 1.8k views another. If each hook only goes out once, you can't really know which one is better 😫

168k views 1.8k views

(Yes, the font was different, but does the font really explain 100x views? I don't think so, and my hundreds of other tests on trial reels prove me right on this one)

Here's how I test hooks, so I truly know the best one to use before the video goes on my grid.

Why trial reels are made for testing hooks

Instagram shows trial reels to people who don't follow you yet, and they stay off your grid unless you share them. So your followers never see five versions of the same video, and every version is shown to strangers who have never heard of you (don't worry, you won't be spamming anyone!).

How I test hooks for a feed video

1. Start from hooks you've already saved

When I'm scrolling, I save hooks all the time! (Makes it feel like I'm doing something useful, am I right?!). Then, when I have a new video, I go through that list and pick the ones that fit it to test.

2. Ask for the follow in the caption

If your video's purpose is to get you followers, say so in your caption and tag your account, with the @ in it. On Instagram the @ becomes a link that looks highlighted and that they can click on. Yes, they're already on your reel, but trust me, it really helps!

3. Post every hook three times

Let me say something straight away: how a reel does is a bit random, especially for trial reels. They only get shown to 100-200 strangers at first, so if they don't engage or they're just not the right audience, your reel flops. That doesn't mean your video or hook is bad! So I always test every hook at least three times and average the results.

4. Keep everything else to what already works

I'm testing hooks, so I don't test fonts or styles or anything else at the same time. I use the three fonts that have already done best on my account, and one text style that's easy to read on that video. Every hook I'm testing gets the same three fonts, so I can compare how they did after. Let's say you have seven hooks, three times each: that's 21 trial reels total.

5. Wait a week

Give each reel at least two or three days after it's posted before looking at how it did. I usually look at my results about a week later.

6. Post the winner as a new reel

The version with the most views is my winning hook! I don't share that trial reel to my feed though: I post the same video, with that hook, as a brand new reel (I explain why in should you share a winning trial reel).

What a real test looked like on a tiny account

I want to show you that you don't need 10,000 followers to make this work.

On October 9, my salsa account reached 202 followers and unlocked trial reels 🎉 I gave Hookshift one video and four audience callouts, and let it test them. Here's how each one did:

After five reels each, one callout had more than twice the views of the others. Look at its first reel, though: 188 views. Judged on that one alone, I'd have dropped my best hook!

And if you're thinking getting a thousand views is not a lot... I continued posting those two best hooks (and turned off the two other ones) and two weeks later, I now have 652 followers (up from 202!). I'll take it 😌

Finding your best hooks without doing it all by hand

Seven hooks, three times each, is 21 trial reels for one video: every one edited, captioned, switched to trial and posted by hand. And after a week, you have to find them, click on each one, look at their insights and figure out which ones did best. I'm sorry, but in-between my appointments and serving my clients, I ain't got no time for that 😫

That's why I built Hookshift. You upload your video and paste your hooks, and it makes the trial reels and posts about five a day to your Instagram, at the times you choose. A new video's hooks go out first, so 21 reels are done in about four days. A few days later, it shows you the best hook for that video, and that's the one I put on my feed. You set it up in 15 minutes, and it keeps going for weeks (or months!).

And it has been the best growth hack ever! It took my own account from 3k to 22k followers, without spending hours creating content and posting on instagram.

Here's me setting up a hook test for one of my dance videos in Hookshift, in 5 minutes:

Want to give it a try? Your first 7 days are free: start your trial here.

Questions

How long should I wait before I call a winner?

Instagram shows you the views, likes, comments and shares about 24 hours after you post a trial reel. That's when you can start looking, not when you decide. I give every hook at least a week, because trial reels keep reaching new people long after the first day.

Should I judge a hook by views or by followers?

It depends on what the video is for. When I'm linking to a freebie or to my programs, I judge it by comments. When I want followers, it's hard to see which reel brought them, so I use views as a proxy.

How many hooks should I test at once?

I usually test between 3 and 10, as many as I have that fit my video, each one at least three times. More hooks means more reels to post before you know anything, so I pick only the ones from my saved list that really fit the video.