| name | emotional-hook-test |
| description | Pre-publication quality gate that evaluates reader emotional experience. Complements voice-audit (mechanical tells) and like-a-human (during-writing standard) with feeling-level assessment. Applied during content review before publishing any page. |
| version | 2.0.0 |
The 30-Second Emotional Hook Test
Does this page make a cruiser feel calmer, more confident, and more prepared — in 30 seconds?
Where This Sits Among the Voice Skills
- like-a-human shapes the writing — voice markers, rhythms, vocabulary, precision.
- voice-dna measures the corpus — data-driven baseline for the other skills.
- voice-audit reviews the output — scanning for machine tells and authenticity risk.
- emotional-hook-test (this skill) evaluates the feeling — what the reader experiences in 30 seconds.
When a page passes voice-audit and the technical validators but fails the emotional hook test, the technical precision is irrelevant. The reader doesn't feel schema compliance. They feel trust, calm, and preparation — or they don't.
The Curse of Knowledge Problem
The builders of InTheWake live inside the machinery: version trees, superset logic, cache busting, JSON-LD, disclosure tiers, canonical invocations. The reader does not. The reader feels:
- "This feels trustworthy." — or it doesn't.
- "This feels like someone who actually sailed." — or it doesn't.
- "This feels calm." — or it doesn't.
This test bridges that gap. It is the feeling-equivalent of what the technical validators do for compliance.
The Five Questions (30 Seconds)
Apply these in sequence. Each question maps to a time window the reader actually experiences as they scan.
1. CLARITY (0–5 seconds)
Can I tell what this page is for — not what it contains — in 5 seconds?
What to check:
- Title communicates purpose, not just subject
- Lead paragraph answers "why am I here?" not "what is this about?"
- Visual hierarchy draws the eye to the most important thing first
Pass: Purpose is immediately obvious. The reader knows why this page exists.
Fail: Reader has to scroll or parse to understand intent. Title is SEO-first instead of reader-first.
Example — title that passes: "Juneau, Alaska" with "Region: Alaska | Season: May–Sep | Tender: No"
Example — title that fails: "Allure of the Seas — Deck Plans, Live Tracker, Dining & Videos" (this is a feature list, not a purpose statement)
2. CALM (5–10 seconds)
After scanning for 10 seconds, do I feel calmer or more anxious?
What to check:
- Visual density: does the page breathe?
- Information hierarchy: is the most comforting/useful thing first?
- Competing calls-to-action: are there too many things demanding attention?
- Content before chrome: does the reader see content or navigation/infrastructure?
Pass: The page breathes. White space. Clear sections. One clear next step.
Fail: Overwhelmed. Multiple competing elements. Dense text walls. Promotional interrupts before orientation.
Example — calm: "From the Pier" distance bars on port pages. One visual, immediate practical value.
Example — anxious: A stats grid with tonnage, crew count, registry, and beam width before any human context.
3. SEEN (10–15 seconds)
Does this page feel like someone thought about me specifically?
What to check:
- First-person voice or specific detail that signals lived experience
- Reader-addressing language ("If you're nervous about..." "You owe no one your story...")
- Acknowledgment of the reader's actual situation — not generic cruise info
- For vulnerable audiences (disability, grief, solo): does it communicate "someone thought about me" instantly?
Pass: "This was written by someone who's been where I'm going."
Fail: "This could be any cruise wiki. This is scraped content with a logo."
Pastoral guardrail: "Assume the reader is exhausted by being disbelieved or dismissed elsewhere. This is not another place that does that."
4. CONFIDENCE (15–20 seconds)
Do I feel "I can do this" — prepared, not just informed?
What to check:
- Actionable guidance, not just data dumps
- Decision support: does the page help me choose, or just list options?
- Honest limitations acknowledged (builds trust)
- Specific prices, times, distances — not vague qualifiers
Pass: "I know what to do when I get there."
Fail: "I have more information but not more clarity."
Example — confidence: "You will see whales." (Juneau logbook) — direct, specific, earned assurance.
Example — no confidence: A list of 15 excursions with prices but no guidance on which to choose.
5. GUIDED (20–30 seconds)
Would a non-technical 62-year-old first-time cruiser feel guided, not overwhelmed?
What to check:
- Page navigation: can someone find what they need without understanding the site architecture?
- Progressive disclosure: collapsible sections, anchor links, table of contents for long pages
- Page length management: comprehensive is good, overwhelming is not
- The grandmother test: could you hand your phone to someone's grandmother and she'd find what she needs?
Pass: "I could follow this page with no instructions."
Fail: "This is comprehensive but intimidating. I don't know where to start."
Per-Page Feeling Targets
Each page type has a specific emotional target. If the page doesn't hit its target, the technical compliance doesn't matter.
| Page Type | Feeling Target | The Reader's Inner Voice |
|---|
| Home | Trust + orientation | "I'm in the right place. This is trustworthy. I can find what I need." |
| Ship | Personality in 60 seconds | "I understand what it's like to be on this ship." |
| Port | Preparation + anxiety reduction | "I feel prepared stepping off this ship. Less anxious about this port." |
| Restaurant | Clarity + value judgment | "I can see what I'll eat and whether it's worth paying for." |
| Disability/Accessibility | Dignity + being seen | "Someone thought about me." |
| Solo/Grief | Not alone | "I'm not alone in this." |
| Tools | Manageable complexity | "This makes something confusing feel manageable." |
| Article/Logbook | Authenticity + learning | "I learned something real from someone who was there." |
Scoring
For each of the 5 questions:
- PASS — The question is answered positively. The feeling lands.
- PARTIAL — Some elements work but something blocks the full feeling. Note what blocks it.
- FAIL — The feeling target is not met. The page needs revision before this test is re-run.
Overall page assessment:
- 5/5 PASS → Ship it.
- 4/5 PASS, 1 PARTIAL → Ship it with a note on what to improve.
- 3/5 or fewer → Hold. Revise before publishing.
How to Run the Test
- Open the page in a browser (or read the HTML body content).
- Start a 30-second timer.
- Scan naturally — don't read every word. Mimic how a real visitor would land.
- Answer each question honestly. "Partial" is always available.
- Record the results using the format below.
Audit Report Format
## Emotional Hook Test — [Page Name]
**Page:** [filename]
**Type:** [Home / Ship / Port / Restaurant / etc.]
**Feeling Target:** [from table above]
**Date:** [YYYY-MM-DD]
| # | Question | Result | Notes |
|---|----------|--------|-------|
| 1 | CLARITY (5s) | PASS/PARTIAL/FAIL | ... |
| 2 | CALM (10s) | PASS/PARTIAL/FAIL | ... |
| 3 | SEEN (15s) | PASS/PARTIAL/FAIL | ... |
| 4 | CONFIDENCE (20s) | PASS/PARTIAL/FAIL | ... |
| 5 | GUIDED (30s) | PASS/PARTIAL/FAIL | ... |
**Overall:** [X/5 PASS] — [Ship it / Ship with notes / Hold for revision]
**Key finding:** [One sentence summary]
The Antidote
Every time a module is revised, ask only this:
- What does this make the cruiser feel?
- Does this reduce friction?
- Does this reduce uncertainty?
- Does this make them feel calmer?
- Would a non-technical 62-year-old cruiser feel guided, not overwhelmed?
If yes — keep building.
If no — simplify.
The Product
InTheWake is not a database, a cruise wiki, or a modular PDF system. It is:
The feeling of boarding informed.
The feeling of stepping ashore prepared.
The feeling of sailing with a trusted companion.
The PDFs are the cron job. The architecture is the mechanism. The feeling is the product.
Soli Deo Gloria — Excellence as worship means the reader feels cared for, not just technically served.
