Importance of having a quality thumbnail.
Importance of having a quality thumbnail
Thumbnails are the first thing viewers see when they come across your videos. A well-designed thumbnail will be able to capture the attention of the viewer and communicate the purpose or topic of the video content instantly. This creates a desire for the topic and increases the chance of the person reading the title and clicking, or even clicking on the video without reading the title. A boring or bad thumbnail on the other hand can do exactly the opposite, it will not be noticed or it will deter users from clicking it. These factors make thumbnails a key component in your videos getting selected by viewers ahead of other videos covering similar topics.
Thumbnails can also give your audience an opportunity to familiarize themselves with your style, so it’s good to have some level of consistency in the themes used. To create the right thumbnail to help increase the rate of conversion to impression, there are a lot of factors that have to be taken into consideration when designing the thumbnails. The factors range from image quality, text size, text font, color psychology and more. Below are a few expansions on the different things that can be taken into consideration to create a quality thumbnail with a great conversion rate.
Should you add a text to your thumbnails?
The right combination of pictures and text can instantly grab the viewer’s interest and can be more effective in getting the content’s objective across to the reader instantly. Whether you add in text or not, will all depend on the type of content you have and what type of thumbnail you wish to create. If you have a great image in your thumbnail that is self explanatory and engaging without any text, like the thumbnail used by Tyler Oliveira in the example below, you can get away with not adding any text at all. However, in some thumbnails like the thumbnail used by Ben Morris in the example below, the thumbnail will not be clear without the text, and in that case you can even go as far as saying the thumbnail wouldn’t mean much without the text. It is the text that gives the image meaning.
Thumbnail by Ben Morris
Thumbnail by Tyler Oliveira
Quality of thumbnail image
The type of image and style will very much change depending on your channel and the type of content you create. Different types of content deliver different values and focus on different points. However, since the thumbnail is one of the most important parts for your video to succeed, It is very important to select an image that will stand out and capture the attention of the user immediately. The image selected must be able to act as a teaser for the video, as well as give context on what the video will be about. So, it is very important to take all that into consideration when selecting an image to use for the thumbnail.
Fonts and amount of text on a thumbnail
When choosing a font try to avoid complicated or overly fancy fonts that will require the viewer to have to focus in order to read it, even if it looks really good. People mostly skim through the videos and only stop if they see something that catches their attention. If the font is not clear to read, they will just skip the thumbnail and look at other videos. So, try to use simple bold fonts with good color contrast. Also, try to avoid having too much text. Only add text if it adds value to the background thumbnail image. If there is a lot of text, it will mean that you have to decrease the size of the text and that will make it hard to read when skimming through videos and people will just skip past it. Especially people using mobile devices, as the text will be even smaller and harder to read.
Making the thumbnail text stand out
There are a few different ways in which you can make the text stand out, but you have to make sure to find the right balance. Using contrasting colors that are not seen in the image or using tones that contrast the background image can help the text stand out. If you have a type of content that has a lot of text in the thumbnail, you can create contrast by making the main heading larger and bolder than the less relevant text.
If part of a picture is not worth paying attention to and you want to add a text on top of it, you can use a blur effect on that part of the background image and add text on top. The blur effect can sharpen the focus of the text and make it easier to read.
The layout and positioning of the text can also play a large role in how the information is conveyed, so try to choose according to the content and a good balance of these different factors will make it easier to read and get the message instantly.
Psychology of color
Different colors have different psychological powers and understanding what they convey will help you choose the color that will trigger the correct emotion or feeling that goes with the content. Also depending on the type of content and audience, different color combinations will have different emotional triggers and results.
According to a study in management Decisions, 90% of all the judgments that people make about products is based on their color. There are many studies across the internet elaborating on what the different colors represent, but to summarize in a few short sentences; older people are more attracted to colors like blue, purple and green, while younger people are attracted to colors like yellow, red and orange. But, a wrong mixture of the colors could end up creating the opposite effect and putting people off. So, depending on the content audience try to keep your color theme consistent and right for that particular content and audience.
Avoid misleading thumbnail images
Everyone hates clickbait, so it is important that the video thumbnail you create accurately depicts what will be in the video. The use of clickbait images can sometimes ruin your brand reputation and lead to you losing subscribers or your ranking position on YouTube going down, which will result in lower impressions and less views on the video going forward. If you continuously deliver great content after pulling in a new audience with your thumbnails, you will be able to increase your subscribers, video ranking position and number of impressions to a completely new audience.