How to Use Arcads to Test Hooks on a UGC-Style Video Ad

The short answer: if you have a video ad whose body already works and you want to know which opening sells it, a five-version hook test fits inside one Starter month, at 4,040 of its 8,000 credits (pricing article). Set a spending limit, write one body script and five opening lines, generate the body once with one AI actor, generate each opening as a short clip with the same actor and voice, join them with Stitch Videos at no credit cost, let Mark or Claude draft further openings for a person to approve, add captions, label the ads as AI-generated, and give every version the same budget until your chosen metric picks the winner.

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The first seconds of a video ad decide whether anyone sees the rest. Arcads is built for that problem: its hook variations page describes keeping the body that works and changing only the opening. This guide runs one such test from start to finish. For what Arcads is and how its plans are sized, see the Arcads glossary entry.

What to have ready:

1. A credit budget worked out on paper. For example, one body clip plus four new openings, each under a minute, is 5 x 800 = 4,000 credits, and captions in TikTok style on five finished versions add 5 x 8 = 40, so 4,040 in total, which leaves 3,960 of Starter's 8,000 (pricing article).
2. The script you already run. Take the body of your current strongest video ad and the exact words customers use in reviews. Those words are the claims you can defend.
3. One deciding number and a budget per version. Choose the platform metric that will judge the openings and the spend each version gets before you generate anything.

Step 1: Put a ceiling on spending

Open Settings and set a daily, weekly or monthly spending limit, which stops generation once it is reached, and switch on Confirm before generating under Settings, General, so every job asks first. Both are described in the pricing article, which also says failed generations are refunded automatically.

Step 2: Write the body and the openings apart

Arcads' AI UGC guide suggests the order a creator talks in: a hook, the problem, the product and a call to action. It also advises making the first line the hook, so it can be swapped later without touching the rest. Write the body once, then five openings of one or two sentences each: a question, a number from your own data, a complaint in a customer's words, a demonstration, a contrarian line. Emotion tags such as [excited] or [sarcastic] shape the delivery.

Step 3: Choose one actor and the talking model

Filter the library by gender, age, skin tone, type and situation, such as in a car or a kitchen, and pick one face for the whole test, so the opening is the only thing that changes. The same guide lists three models: Arcads 1.0 for scripts up to 2 minutes, Audio-Driven for your own voiceover file up to 5 minutes, and OmniHuman 1.5 for a delivery matched to the mood of the audio.

Step 4: Put the product in the actor's hands

Generate an image of the actor holding your product, then turn that image into the talking video. The Gestures preset adds movement for 240 credits, and if the face looks too smooth in close-ups, Skin enhancer adds detail for 160, according to the AI UGC guide. App and service businesses without a physical product can turn an app screenshot into a showcase instead (what Arcads is).

Step 5: Generate the openings and stitch them on

Generate each opening as its own clip with the same actor and voice, then join each one to the body with Stitch Videos, which costs nothing. For a second layer of variation, Text Overlay puts a different headline on the first seconds, also at zero credits (hook variations). You now have five versions that differ only in how they start.

Step 6: Let an agent draft more openings, and approve them yourself

Two agents are documented. Mark lives inside Arcads: it takes a brief in plain words, learns the brand from your website, and accepts Custom Instructions of up to 2,000 characters; a preset decides whether Mark checks with you before editing a video (Mark). The other route is Claude: in Claude's Settings, Connectors, add a custom connector with the address https://mcp.arcads.ai, then install the Arcads skills plugin, whose /clone-hook command adapts the hook of a reference ad to your brand (MCP documentation).

Either way, the agent drafts and a person decides. Read every new opening against your list of claims you can prove, delete any that implies the actor bought or used the product, and only then let it generate. Mark can also publish a new ad to Meta; leave that last click with the person who owns the ad account. An agent that can publish exists to shorten the path from idea to spend, and the approval step is the part you add. Every opening the agent drafts is billed in credits once generated, which means a shorter path to publishing also empties the balance faster.

Step 7: Caption, resize and label

Add captions in Instagram or TikTok style, at 8 credits each in the pricing article, and resize for each placement; Resize, Trim and Text Overlay cost nothing. Arcads' own testimonial guide asks you to follow each platform's rules on AI-generated content, and the legal side is summarised in the glossary entry. Label the ads as AI-generated where the platform offers it.

Step 8: Run the test and scale the winner

Upload the five versions to one ad set, give each the same budget, and let them run until the number you chose in advance separates them. Then take the winning opening into a Workflow: one run can turn a script and a product image into 20 videos across 10 actors and 2 languages, and the launch panel shows the total credits before you press Run (Workflows guide). Workflows need the Creator plan or above.

What Arcads' own pages warn about

• Actors presented as customers. The UGC guide says AI actors must not be presented as real or verified customers, and the content rules prohibit misleading or deceptive advertising.
• Running dry mid-month. Starter and Creator stop generating at the monthly limit until you upgrade or the plan renews.
• Chat that costs money. Generations use their normal credits, and chat turns with Mark are also charged by token usage.
• Two rates for one video. The pricing article charges an Arcads 1.0 video 800 credits for up to 2 minutes, while the credits article charges 800 per started minute per actor, and the two also differ on Replace Actor. Arcads says it tests new pricing on some accounts. Keep clips under a minute and trust the figure on the Generate button.

FAQ

How many credits does this test use?

For example, a body plus four openings under a minute each is 5 x 800 = 4,000 credits, plus 40 for TikTok-style captions on five versions, from the rates in the pricing article. The 1,000 trial credits cover the body clip only.

Which model handles a three-minute script?

Audio-Driven, which runs up to 5 minutes from your own audio or a library voice. Arcads 1.0 stops at 2 minutes (AI UGC guide).

Can I test different actors instead of different openings?

Yes. Replace Actor swaps the person while keeping script, timing and scene (hook variations). Test one variable at a time, though, or the result will not tell you which change won.