We’ve all been there, spent a week creating and editing a video, only for it to completely flop upon upload. Maybe it didn’t connect with your audience, or your metadata needs improvement. Perhaps it wasn’t edited well, but a more likely reason is that your video simply wasn’t noticed. This is where creating eye-catching thumbnails is paramount.
A viewer on YouTube doesn’t see the effort you put in. The hours spent editing or the amount of times you re-recorded your talking head segment. All they see are two things, a title, and a thumbnail.
If your thumbnail and title doesn’t capture your audience’s attention, it won’t matter how good your video is. Unfortunately, nobody is going to view it. A well designed and thought out thumbnail is the equivalent of a tasty newspaper headline. Since the dawn of the printing press, editors have known the importance of attention grabbing titles. The same goes for your YouTube thumbnails too.
I see it all too often. Creators will spend well over 3-4 days putting together a thought provoking video. They use great cameras and lighting. Then only spend minutes on the title and thumbnail, casting the video into the depths of the YouTube algorithm. In this article i’m going to run through a couple of the pitfalls of not taking thumbnails seriously. As well as, how you can improve them going forward.
Importance of Thumbnails / Danger of getting it wrong
Your Thumbnail is the asset which takes up the most screen real estate on YouTube. This makes it your biggest tool when it comes to capturing the attention of your audience. It also gives you an opportunity to give them an idea of what the video is about.
Your video may be the most interesting and helpful tutorial going. However, if the thumbnail is boring and uninspiring, the likelihood that a viewer will click on your video is low. The fact of the matter is, your video’s success is almost entirely dependent on how well its thumbnail is designed and the title.
Best Practices to Create an Eye-Catching Thumbnail
An Eye-Catching Thumbnail Must Suit the Video
First thing first, your thumbnail should be a representation of the video itself. A viewer may be put off if the loud and colourful thumbnail – which suggests the video will be a 10 minute riot – turns out to be a relaxing POV episode with chilled-out lo-fi hip hop playing in the background. The opposite is also true. If your episode, if full of fun and is loud and brash. Your viewers could be confused if the thumbnails to the video are minimal and reserved. Much like in photography, there is no right or wrong way to create a thumbnail. It just has to firstly capture attention and secondly fit the vibe of the video it’s representing.
Eye-Catching Color in Your Thumbnails
Certain colours such as red, yellow and green capture our attention more than others. Which is the reason why, for example, road signs are red. We can use this when it comes to creating thumbnails too. Picking striking colours, or colours which contrast well with the background is an easy way to grab your audience’s attention. If a viewer stops to read the text in your thumbnail, they are far more likely to click on the episode too.
Use a Face in Your Thumbnail
Our brains are hardwired to recognise faces. If you include a face in your thumbnail, it’s going to be seen more. It’s the reason why some of the largest accounts on YouTube will often have thumbnails which include closeups of their faces pulling silly expressions. Now, I’m not saying you have to go to that extent, but featuring yourself in the thumbnail, taking a photo or adjusting a camera could really improve your results.
Familiar Objects Make for Eye-Catching Thumbnails
Like faces, familiar objects are also an easy way to capture the attention of your audience. If the viewer sees a camera they are interested in or a lens feature on your thumbnail, they will be more inclined to click on the episode as by default you already have their interest.
An easy way to implement this is to either have a person holding the camera gear or just a hero shot of it will work too.
Large Text Catches the Eye
Like faces and gear, using text in the thumbnail can also help capture your audience’s attention. The Thumbnail also gives a second space to add a second title or describe something that happens in the video that you can’t get into a title. For example, if your episode is set in Tokyo but you don’t have space in the title to include this fact, you can include it in the thumbnail instead.
A mistake made all too often is the size of text on a thumbnail. While you’re editing the text may appear large on your laptop screen however, the viewer will almost always see a tiny version of the thumbnail when they are scrolling down the page. Therefore, make sure the text you include is fairly large, and test it by viewing it on your phone too.
Don’t be Afraid to Change Your Thumbnail
If you upload your video and it hits the dreaded 10/10 for views, it’s not too late to save the day. There have been countless occasions where I’ve uploaded the video completely bomb, only for it to go onto be one of my most viewed episodes after I revamped the title and thumbnail.
If a particular thumbnail isn’t working with your audience, then change it until you see results improve. The key stat to view is the click through rate, this number refers to the amount of people who saw your video on YouTube and decided to click. If your click-through rate is low, it’s a good way to know that your thumbnail isn’t connecting with your audience.
Eye-Catching Thumbnails Require A&B Testing
Fortunately for us, YouTube has introduced A & B testing for thumbnails. Often it’s pretty difficult to know which thumbnail will work and will capture the audience’s attention however, now with A & B testing, YouTube allows us to upload up to three different thumbnails which will be tested across your audience. YouTube will then automatically decide which thumbnail is performing the best and make that one the default for the video.
Conclusion
As I stated in the intro, your video will live and die by its title and thumbnail so make sure you assign a good amount of time to getting it right. There’s nothing worse than a well thought out video you spent a week making going completely ignored as you spend little to no time creating its title and thumbnail.
