Have you ever spent countless hours trying to make a thumbnail just for it to not perform? Did you wish you could’ve spent that time working on your video instead? Well, here are some tips to create high-performing thumbnails in a fraction of the time.
Instead of just creating one thumbnail at a time, why not create all the thumbnails for all the videos you would upload in a week, or even in a month? Now this will require you to plan out your videos in advance; however, if that's not an issue, creating thumbnails in batches could save a lot of time. Research shows that switching between tasks has a “switch cost” that slows down productivity. Now, apply this to the standard video creation process. First, the creator has an idea, then executes it, then finally creates a thumbnail. This process requires going through two “switch costs” before even getting to the thumbnail. Now, unless this process takes multiple days where you could potentially avoid the switch cost (but unless you're a large-scale channel, your time would be better spent condensing this process rather than trying to create your thumbnails faster), it would be more beneficial to plan all your videos for a set period of time on one day, execute them on the next day (or multiple days if needed), and then create the thumbnails on a final separate day. This would avoid the switch cost and ultimately create your videos and thumbnails quicker.
Now there are two benefits to doing this. The first one is that you save time by not having to create overly complicated thumbnails with lots of moving parts. But the second benefit, depending on your niche, is that these simple thumbnails can actually stand out. Let's say you're in a niche where pretty much everyone has an overly edited thumbnail. Having a simple thumbnail will grab potential viewers' attention, getting them to click on your video while not spending excessive time creating the thumbnail.
Disclaimer: Make sure if you're using parts from other people's thumbnails that you have permission. This technique allows you to make thumbnails without having to worry about making every single little detail from scratch. You can even reuse parts of your own thumbnail, which not only saves time but could also help with your brand identity; this is because viewers would see the same parts of your thumbnail (such as background color, font, an image, etc.) and begin to recognize it as your channel. Be careful not to overdo this, though, as you might make thumbnails too similar to one another, which could turn viewers off from watching your videos.
This is similar to reusing parts of other thumbnails. Templates give you a baseline thumbnail to start with, where you can then change things based on where you see fit. This also has the added benefit of helping with brand identity, if you use the same templates enough.
This one might be a little bit controversial; however, tools like NanoBanana can build full-on thumbnails in a matter of seconds. But, if you want, you can use AI to only make certain parts of your thumbnail, such as an image that would be hard to get otherwise.
In conclusion, there are many ways to make thumbnails quicker; however, the ways discussed in this article include making thumbnails in batches, making simple thumbnails, reusing parts of other thumbnails or using templates, and finally using AI. If you would like a thumbnail editor designed to help you make your thumbnails quicker, then check out our editor and finally start making quality thumbnails in record time.