Create a Podcast Intro That Engages Listeners in 60 Seconds — Before They Skip

Before we go into how to create your new and improved podcast intro, I want to tell you about the time I ended up hospitalized after my murder mystery dinner party.

30 minutes into my party, I was lying on my sofa looking like death.

And no, I wasn’t assigned the role of the murder victim.

Let’s rewind a bit…

I hear knocking on the door.

One by one, my friends shuffle in looking, speaking, and even acting like time travelers from the 1920s. We have a huge night of merriment ahead of us.

The house is decorated.

A 3-course meal is ready to be served.

Clues are hidden all over the house.

And in one of my bedrooms, there’s a fake corpse covered in a “bloody” (corn syrup and food coloring) bath curtain.

The sweet sounds of roaring laughter and horrible acting flood my house.

For all intents and purposes, I should be ecstatic, right? After all, this is the night I’ve been planning for months, and everyone is having the BEST time.

But unfortunately, I was feeling a bit sick.

Since this was a whole production and everyone made the time to be there, I didn’t find it in my heart to postpone it.

It’s only a little flu. I’ll just push through it. How bad can it be?

IT WAS BAD.

As the night went on, I started feeling worse and worse.

I lay down on my sofa, pale-faced, stomach abuzz, in full costume, with the back of my right palm resting against my forehead, looking like a 1920s damsel in the grips of a mysterious illness.

My friends periodically checked in with me, fixed me fizzy beverages, gave me a damp towel to hold against my face. They did the whole game and helped clean up afterwards.

At around midnight, I changed into my pajamas and tried to go to sleep, but my body was NOT having it.

I will spare you the details, but I had a stomach bug and ended up in the hospital.

Despite me getting sick and barely participating, my guests had a blast at the murder mystery party.

If there’s one thing about me, it’s that I fucking LOVE hosting random themed events. And in my years of experience, I’ve concluded that you can’t just design a pretty invitation, call it a day, and expect people to have fun.

You have to go beyond that and think about the little details.

What will they eat? Drink? Do? What will they feel when they walk through the door?

When you’re launching a podcast, don’t focus only on marketing (the invitation).

How will you engage your listeners once they hit play?

Marketing is Not Enough

A lot of attention is rightfully given to a podcast’s visibility, especially during its launch.

You might create a podcast trailer and release it a couple of weeks before launch date.

You’ll probably set up a comprehensive content calendar, making sure your potential listeners hear about your new podcast everywhere — Instagram, Threads, your newsletter.

Maybe, you even set up a private community so a select group of people can listen to the podcast early and spread the hype.

All of this is awesome!

Buuuut it’s worth very little if listeners discover your podcast, hit play, and leave 5 minutes later with no plan of returning.

So how do you get them to stay?

The key is to make sure your podcast engages your ideal listener right from the start with a kickass podcast intro.

Hook Them in Minute ONE of Your Podcast Intro

What’s your attention span like these days? I ask because mine feels shittier each day.

I know you can relate. We’re all trying to get our attention spans back from the clutches of social media, but unfortunately everyone is affected.

And on top of that, there are soooooooooooo many options when it comes to what media we consume and what feels like so little time to consume it, that listeners often press play on a podcast episode and immediately change their mind and switch to a different one.

I do this all the time, especially when I’m trying out a new podcast to see if it’s a good fit for me.

For all these reasons, the first minute of your podcast is CRUCIAL.

Most podcasters lose listeners in the first 60 seconds because their intro doesn’t capture their attention fast enough.

Here’s how to fix it.

Analyze the First Minute of Your Favorite Podcasts

Choose a couple of your favorite podcasts and analyze what they do in the first 60 seconds of an episode. Ask yourself if the intro captured your attention or not. And if it did, ask yourself WHY.

For example, I was recently listening to a You’re Wrong About episode titled “Is Your House Too Clean? with Sarah Archer.”

(First of all, A+ on the episode title! Immediately intrigued because I’m thinking, Wait, I’ve never thought about that. It’s a fresh idea, phrased like a question, and it suggests that I might be able to get away with cleaning a liiiitle bit less. Who doesn’t want permission to be a bit lazier?!?)

Here is the breakdown of the first minute of the episode:

0:00-0:05 – Starts with a short, random, and out-of-context snippet from the episode, in which the host says, “If anything, we should make more things smell like vaginas. And with that, I will see myself out. laughs“

0:05-0:16 – Theme music (suuuper fun, almost surfer punk; you’ll get it if you listen to it lol)

0:16-1:00 – “Welcome to You’re Wrong About. I’m Sarah Marshall, and today we have a special spring cleaning episode with our Home Economics correspondent, Sarah Archer. About this time last year, Sarah came on to talk about the tradwife, and now we’re going on a thought cruise through the history of cleanliness and the rise of CleanTok, and we’re going to be asking the question, ‘how clean is clean enough and how clean is too clean?’ I loved this conversation because…”

Then, she explains the reasons she loves it, mentions other related bonus episodes, there’s a little music transition, and the interview starts at 1:57.

What Makes This Podcast Intro Work

A few observations:

Sarah switches gears THREE times in one minute. In this way, it’s almost like she’s resetting your attention. There’s a cold open, music, and then intro. Each shift keeps you engaged.

The guest is mentioned, and we learn only a tiny bit about her. Just enough to know who’s coming, but not so much that you lose momentum.

The intro immediately states what the episode is about and why you should care. There is no rambling, or super long backstory. You know exactly what you’re getting right away.

Sarah asks a relevant question that the episode will attempt to answer. “How clean is clean enough and how clean is too clean?” This serves as a hook because you want to hear the answer.

The meat of the episode starts before the 2-minute mark. Every second of that intro is purposeful and engaging for listeners, and it’s over before they can even think of skipping.

Audit Your Own Podcast Intro

After doing that exercise with other podcasts, it’s time to audit your own podcast intro:

1. Listen to the first 60 seconds of your latest episode.
2. Time-stamp what happens – What’s happening at 0:00-0:15? 0:15-0:30? 0:30-0:60?
3. Ask yourself honestly: Would YOU keep listening if this were your first time hearing this show?
4. Identify what’s working and what’s not.

Keep in mind: different strategies work for different podcasts. Not every podcast needs a cold open or a teaser. Some podcast audiences might want to know a lot more about the guests than others. This is why it’s helpful to do the analysis exercise with a variety of podcasts, not just one!

Common First-Minute Mistakes to Avoid

Based on the podcasts I’ve edited and managed, here are the most common intro killers:

Long pre-recorded intros – If you have a pre-recorded intro that lasts more than 15 seconds, you’re probably losing people.

Rambling welcomes – “Hey guys, welcome back to the show, I hope you’re having a great week, today’s weather is beautiful, I just had coffee…” SKIP!!!

No clear value proposition – If listeners don’t know what the episode is about and why they should care, there’s a higher chance they won’t stick around.

Reading the entire guest bio – Ask yourself what your listeners need to know about your guest in order to understand and enjoy the episode. Then, stick to that and only that! I bet it will make for a super short guest intro.

Missing the hook – Start with something interesting. A provocative question, a surprising fact, a compelling story, a funny comment… Anything that gives people a reason to stay.

Too much housekeeping upfront – Save your Patreon invite, your social media handles, and CTAs for later. Hook them first!

Back to the Party Analogy

Imagine you send your friends the cutest, most enticing party invitation ever, but then they walk through the door and you’re just getting started decorating and warming up the food?

The invitation is your marketing and the minute they walk through that door is minute one of your podcast.

An excellent podcast intro makes listeners feel like they’ve stepped into something already in motion (a party that already started), something they really don’t want to miss.

So audit that intro and make every second earn their attention!

Want Help Creating Podcast Episodes That Hook Listeners?

If you haven’t launched your podcast yet…

You need to check out my podcast launch program Saturday Morning Launch Plan. It will guide you through every single step of starting a podcast as a total newbie, including how to create a unique episode structure that retains listener attention.

If you already have a podcast…

Make sure you’re subscribed to Sounds Like Brunch for weekly tips like this one.

Book a strategy call if you want to go over a specific issue you’re having with your podcast.