Most email advice tells you to "write a great hook."
Cool. Very helpful. That's like telling a chef to "make it taste good."
So I did something different. I pulled the 50 highest-scoring emails from our dataset and dissected the body copy hook — the very first lines a reader sees after opening. Not the subject line. The moment someone decides to keep reading or bail.
Seven patterns showed up. Here they are, ranked.
Pattern #1: The Contrarian Opener
Challenge a widely-held belief in your first sentence. Readers who agree feel validated. Readers who disagree want to find out why you're wrong. Either way, they keep reading.
"Positive visualization often doesn't work. In fact, it can make things worse."
It's short with no buildup. And it does a great job at creating a curiosity gap.
Pattern #2: The Direct Question
Ask something the reader can't ignore — specific enough to feel personal, uncomfortable enough to force self-reflection.
"Pop quiz: How much of your traffic came from AI in the last 12 months?"
Simple, specific, and it makes you realize you probably don’t know the answer.
Pattern #3: Empathy + Pain Point
Name the reader's exact struggle so precisely they feel seen. It’s like holding up a mirror for your reader.
"You have a decade (or more) of expertise. Real results. A track record that speaks for itself. And yet somehow, you're losing opportunities..."
"I'm better, so why am I losing?" — is deeply felt. Fabi shows up 3x in the top 50, and this pattern is her signature move.
Pattern #4: Tease + Reveal
Create a small curiosity gap, then close it immediately. You're earning attention by delivering a quick win in the same paragraph.
"There's a feature on your website that tells you exactly what your people are looking for. But you're probably not even tracking the data! That feature is… your site search bar."
Curiosity opened → curiosity satisfied. The reader learns something useful in 3 sentences. And it primes them for sentence 4.
Pattern #5: The Story Drop
Put the reader in a scene immediately. No preamble, no "I've been thinking about..." — just drop them into something happening.
"For most people, artificial intelligence is inducing more dread than excitement. That's because we're imagining a doomsday scenario: legions of unemployed people living alone with their virtual partners..."
You're in the scene before you realize you're reading.
Note: story drops scored slightly lower than contrarian openers and direct questions
They work best when the scene is genuinely vivid, not just a warm-up.
Pattern #6: Personal Contrast
Channel your inner Dickens and lead with instant contrast. These need to be genuinely surprising — not humble-bragging or fishing for sympathy.
"I haven't written a book in five years. I'm happier than a pig in sh*t."
The juxtaposition between what you'd expect and how he actually felt made it impossible not to read on. Use sparingly. This loses power fast if it becomes a habit.
NextDraft also nailed a less personal version with this tight two-liner: "The House always wins. The same is not true for the Frat House."
Pattern #7: Customer Voice / Reader Quote
Open with someone else's words as a mirror. It’s often more credible than saying it yourself.
"I got an email last week from someone who said: 'My books are a hot mess — I need confidence in QuickBooks.' And honestly? I hear some version of this almost every single day."
Simple and relatable. But don't fabricate these. Authenticity is the entire point.
Cross-Sender Patterns Worth Noting
Fabi Paolini shows up 3x in the top 50 — she consistently uses empathy + pain point or contrarian hooks. Highest engagement pattern from a single sender.
Candid Creator also appears 4x — they rotate between direct questions and tease-reveals. And only rarely open with a story.
The top-performing hooks skew heavily toward contrarian openers and direct questions. Story drops and personal contrast are still strong, but the data suggests challenging a belief or asking a pointed question outperforms narrative openers.
How to Use This
You don't need all 7 patterns. Pick 2–3 that match your voice and rotate them. Here's my suggestion based on the data:
Educational or tactical content → contrarian openers and direct questions.
Personal brand built on story and connection → empathy + pain point and story drops.
Coach or consultant → study Fabi Paolini. She's proof that consistently nailing one or two patterns beats trying to use all seven.
The worst thing you can do is open every email the same way. Even a great pattern gets stale eventually
Now go rewrite your next hook.
– Braden & Jon | This Should Have Been An Email
MODULR Marketing
P.S. All examples pulled from the MODULR email database (2,000+ emails from 180+ brands). Browse the full archive at email.gomodulr.com.